Cybercrime: Cyber experts express concern over easy access to personal data | Mangalore News
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Mangalore: Amid reports of parents of school students receiving threatening calls from people impersonating police officers, cyber experts have expressed concern over the ease with which personal information is available online. Several parents reported receiving threatening calls from people impersonating police officers claiming to have arrested their children and demanding money in exchange for their release. “These impersonators are exploiting the easy access of personal information online which can be obtained for as little as Rs 2,500,” said Anant Prabhu G, cyber law and security expert and professor at Sahyadri Technological University. He said, “Databases containing details of SSLC candidates (name, roll number, parents’ names, mobile numbers, school or any competitive examination held across India) are easily available online and are not even on the dark web.” While PU college authorities buy these databases to send bulk promotional SMS, criminals are using them for more nefarious purposes, such as making threatening calls targeting parents. Prabhu said criminals are finding it difficult for parents to verify such claims as schools and colleges ban mobile phones on campus and contact information is often not accessible online. It is important for parents to save the landline numbers of their children’s schools, principals and teachers so that they can immediately verify any suspicious calls. “Despite the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, student data from exams like MBA, NEET, JEE etc. remains easily available. Cybercriminals exploit this data and use it for various schemes, including phishing. To combat this, stricter measures by data protection officers are essential,” he said. Spoofing, i.e. calls that appear to be coming from familiar numbers, further compounds the issue. “While a professor fell victim to a spoofed call on Wednesday, parents are immediately concerned as calls appear to be coming from their child’s number. “I would recommend hanging up and dialing again to expose the impersonation. This way, the return call will not connect to the spoofed number and the real caller will be revealed,” he said. Moreover, deepfake voice technology is also increasing the threat, he said. “AI algorithms can impersonate voices with just 10 seconds of audio, allowing criminals to impersonate familiar voices. This has led to incidents of people receiving scam calls from their bosses or loved ones demanding payment. Therefore, people are advised to be careful when uploading voice messages on Instagram and other social media platforms,” he said.