Eknath Khadse slams govt over cyber security

Mumbai: Former minister Eknath Khadse criticised the state government for its alleged failure to tackle cyber security breaches. A hacker had allegedly forged documents to claim that the former minister had received calls from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim last year. Facing flak from Mr Khadse, the state government said that it would soon tighten cyber security in the backdrop of growing cyber crimes.

The issue of cyber security was discussed in the monsoon session of the state assembly on Tuesday. The state government assured the Legislative assembly that it would propose an amendment to the existing laws for tackling cyber crime. Unsatisfied with the government’s reply, Mr Khadse asked, “Will the government have a separate act to deal with the cyber crime cases?”

He added, “I am a victim of cyber crime. The allegations were made against me that I was have links to Dawood and I suffered for a year. Later, no truth was found in those allegations. Even the women MLAs receive obscene messages.”

A hacker Manish Bhangale had claimed that Mr Khadse received calls from Dawood. After the issue and other allegations of misuse of the office emerged, Mr Khadse had to resign from the post of the revenue minister. “The government is struggling to provide cyber security as it does not have an act of its own and depends on the central law for regulation. The quality of training which cyber officials receive is poor,” said Khadse,

Replying to the query, minister of state for home Ranjit Patil admitted that a large number of ATMs details were being leaked from the e-wallet of consumers. “The government has taken note of these incidents and seriously considering amending the law,” the minister added.

The government has said that so far a total of 8,108 cases of cyber crimes have been reported since 2014. It informed the house that accused have been arrested in 3,736 cases. While the state has been criticised in the past for not being able to prosecute cyber criminals despite chargesheets, the minister said Rs 837 crore has been provisioned for a special cyber cell of the national cyber emergency response team (CERT).  Maharashtra has put in place a basic infrastructure for setting up its own CERT on the lines of Indian-CERT.  It will cost around Rs 2 crore.