Over 100 students get cybersecurity training from police

Students will cover subjects such as social media threats and securities, website threats, email threats, e-commerce threats and, cyber laws and their implications.

Police in the city are training 100 college students from across the country as well from other countries in cybersecurity and cybercrime investigation as part of a summer programme launched in 2013. The training is being conducted from June 7 to July 7.

Participants will discuss concepts and case studies pertaining to issues such as ethical hacking, cyber forensics, blockchain technology, bug bounty and cybersecurity in healthcare. (Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Muhammad Akil, the commissioner of police, said they had received over 3,800 applications to join the summer internship programme this year but they had only 100 seats. “It was a tough decision as the applications were from all states and from the best colleges. “We selected the applications based on qualification, interest, gender and background. This programme is suited to students who want to pursue a career in cybercrime or related fields,” he said.

The police said that the students will go through 20 interactive sessions organised by cyber experts from law enforcement agencies, industrial experts from banks and online financial companies dealing in applications of monetary transactions and experts from internet giants. They will discuss different concepts and discuss case studies pertaining to issues such as ethical hacking, cyber forensics, blockchain technology, bug bounty, cyber security in healthcare and careers in cybersecurity.

“I had no idea how cyber experts and police work in close coordination and how they crack the cases. I will also get a chance to be a part of the discussion panel on the impact of social media tools on young minds, especially children, who are largely under the influence of social media,” said Raghav Arora, a student of bachelors in cybersecurity, at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.

Students will cover subjects such as social media threats and securities, website threats, email threats, e-commerce threats and, cyber laws and their implications.

Another student Manya Bhardwaj, a BTech student of IP university in Delhi, said they will be working on projects with cybercrime teams of the city police and will develop modules and applications that can be used by the department.

“The city police has different cases studies that are technical and unheard of. I want to spread awareness and come up with a solution to help people understand how not to fall prey to frauds,” she said.

Students who have undergone this training have helped police with case investigations before. In August 2016, a group of students helped the police solve a case, in which a social media account of a 24-year-old woman was hacked and the accused had sent objectionable messages to her friends, within 15 days.

“The students in this batch are pursuing bachelors and masters courses in computer sciences and law with specialisation in cybersecurity,” said Rakshit Tandon, a cybersecurity expert who is conducting the workshop.