VSNL hunts down hackers

Last year8217;s large number of complaints from baffled users who found their allotted 100-hour access to the Net inexplicably depleted, led VSNL to police the information superhighway by using sophisticated Caller ID8217; caller identification technology, he adds. 8220;When a Net user logs on, his phone number flashes on our screens as we have developed a special software for this purpose. Once we know the number, it is easy tolocate the culprits,8221; he explains.

Though bills like the Information Technology Bill, Electronic Commerce Bill and Electronic Commerce Support Bill, which were drafted at the beginning of the year to control cyber-crime, they legislation has yet to be tabled in Parliament. These bills allow people to be taken to court for wrongfully obtaining control hacking, damaging, concealing or blocking access, introducing a virus in computer networks and systems. The definition of cyber-crime is based on the Indian Penal Code and can be upheld in court once the bills are passed in Parliament.

The drafts were prepared by a committee which included representatives from the Department of Electronics and the Ministry of Commerce.

In the meantime, Kumar reasons, it should not be difficult for police to take action against the 19 identified as they can be booked for theft under conventional law. 8220;This is beacuse they steal other people8217;s internet time. They can also be booked for impersonation since they use thesecret password of someone else to log on the Net,8221; he explains.

Author of several books on computers, Vijay Mukhi, welcomed VSNL8217;s crackdown, but with a guarded optimism. 8220;Till yesterday, it was literally child8217;s play for a hacker to break into someone else8217;s account, using a special computer softwares like Back Orifice8217; and Trojans8217;.8221; He, however, felt that diehard hackers may take this as a challenge to come up with more innovatiions to beat this crackdown.

Hack-job 8212; How it8217;s done

The Indian cyber pirates have come a long way since the introduction of the Internet on August 15, 1995. 8220;While a hacker can effectively decode someone else8217;s password for his own use, a cracker can wreak havoc on a machine by injecting any virus. The most interesting are phreakers who illegally make free local phone calls and long distance STD and ISD calls at very cheap costs,8221; said a fellow hacker who wants to be called RaY14.

Already a veteran in the art of hacking, RaY14 is just 19 years old, but hehas already sneaked several shell account passwords up his cyber sleeve. 8220;The Trojan trick is on the lines of the legendary Trojan Horse art of warfare. You send an e-mail to your victim, and while he looks at jokes or a porn image on his screen, a hidden file is insidiously executed at the same time which keeps a port on the victim8217;s computer open,8221; he explained.

Now whenever the victim is online, a button on the Trojan software of the hacker will flash and bingo!8230;you know the secret password. Ray14, however, is cautious, now that bills are being introduced to guard against hacking in the country. 8220;With VSNL getting tough, it will be difficult, but not impossible, to hack for confidential data. Just wait and see hackers unite and fight back with a vengeance,8221; he remarked.

VSNL chief Amitabh Kumar, though, is equally certain that no one can escape the long arms of the law.