Students are most susceptible to cyber crime, said police inspector Sangeeta Shinde Alphonso from the Pune Cyber Crime Cell, while addressing the students of the Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC) during the ongoing Cyber Safe Week on Monday.
Highlighting the sharp rise in cyber crimes, Alphonso said that the cyber cell received only 5 cyber crime cases in the year 2003, whereas as many as 390 cases were lodged till November this year. "These figures reflect a 100% rise in cyber crime every year," she said. From the total complaints received so far, 30 per cent are against Nigerian frauds, 25 per cent against credit card frauds, 20 per cent against phishing attacks, 15 per cent against crimes on social networking sites and 10 per cent against data thefts, she added.
Discussing about the vrious job opprtunities in the IT sector, Anshul Anant Abhang, an information security expert said, "People can opt for the post of security analyst, licence penetration tester, associate-compliance and governance, security administration and engineers and chief information security officer." Citing ethical hacking as an offence, Alphonso said that it should be avoided as a career opportunity.
The team also discussed topics related to software and internet piracy, cyber crimes against girls and women, cyber murder, mobile related safety tips and precautionary measures to be taken during credit card transactions. "What you post online is not private, so be careful about the content you upload. Besides, add people as friends only if you know them in person and never agree to meet a fellow chatter in real life. And do not open email or instant message attachments unless you are sure they do not contain viruses," said Alphonso.
The initiative from December 16 to 22 has seen representatives from Pune's Cyber cell and Nasscom spreading awareness in city's schools, colleges, banks, IT companies as well as housing societies. The cyber crime cell has also roped in students from different colleges to spread awareness about the same.