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Karnataka home minister gives police a new target: Crack the dark web
Chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who chaired the meeting, said that the government would give all support to equip the force to fight cybercrime, which has emerged as “the biggest challenge for the state police”
Following a year-long crackdown on drug rackets in Bengaluru, Karnataka home minister Basavaraj Bommai has asked the Karnataka police to focus on a new target – the dark web. Bommai said the dark web is the new source of cybercrimes, drugs, and illegal arms. He added there is a need for investing more resources into fighting cybercrimes.
The new directions were given during the annual meeting of senior police officers in Bengaluru on Friday.
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Chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who chaired the meeting, said that the government would give all support to equip the force to fight cybercrime, which has emerged as “the biggest challenge for the state police.”
Officials, who were part of the review, quoted Bommai saying the police have cracked some cases but they were only the tip of the iceberg. He is learnt to have said that the force needs to be alert to the possibility of illegal weapons also being procured through the darknet, something that is happening in other global metropolitan cities.
A police officer said that there have been several cases, where police have caught peddlers who procured drugs from abroad using the dark web.
Police have arrested 25-year-old Srikrishna, who had allegedly hacked into three bitcoin exchanges, multiple online poker apps, and one government e-procurement website. Bitcoins worth ₹9 crore were recovered from him, which he had either stolen using data theft or through online extortion.
Investigators said that Srikrishna would encrypt data and demand payment from owners for sites to be unlocked by attacking the sites online. He was caught after police arrested some drug dealers to whom he had allegedly sold drugs procured from the dark web. Astonished by the technical Srikrishna’s skills, Bengaluru police had decided to create new standard operating procedures for tackling cybercrimes, people aware of the matter said.
