Karnataka Police commissions fully equipped cyber forensic lab

“The rising trend of cyber crime in the state and Bangalore warrants a dedicated cyber forensics unit that can not only extend professional help to investigators but also provide findings that will be used in court,” Director of the Forensic Science Laboratory and IPS officer B Dayanand said.

Since 2001, as many as 509 cyber crime cases have been booked under the IT act – 309 phishing or hacking cases, 93 obscene mail cases, 21 cases of theft of computer source codes, 57 cases of offensive messages, 29 cases of false proposal by impersonation – but the total number of convictions has been zero.

“In the absence of scientific analysis by the FSL, the hardware and software submitted by the cyber crime police are not treated as material evidence. This makes it difficult to obtain convictions against persons accused in cyber crime cases,” a police official said.

With the new lab commissioned, the Bangalore police will not have to depend on labs in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad to authenticate evidence in cyber cases, police officials said.

“The software and hardware tools that we have acquired are of international standard. The lab is equipped with cyber crime scene management equipment to enable proper collection of preliminary data,” a cyber forensic lab official said.

Home Minister KJ George who commissioned the facility said that the government would ensure financial and other support to enhance crime investigation standards in the state and to increase the credibility of investigations conducted by the state police department.