Lashkar, Jaish remain ‘cyber-active’

              New Delhi – May 19,2003 – “Stop press: see the new www.jamatdawa.org”.  Whatever the status of the Pakistan-based terrorist organizations, such as, the Lashkar-e-Taiba and their  “parent organisations” on the ground in Pakistan, they remain active on the internet.  The new website - www.jamatdawa.org -, which carries detailed accounts of Lashkar “fidayeen” operating in Jammu and Kashmir, is clear proof of the Pakistan Government has not been able to do much about the ”cyber activities” of these groups.  The site is being updated regularly and has “news” both in Urdu and English apart from a host of links.   One of the interesting “links” is to the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (www.ummah.net.pk/harkat), a group which has supplied many fighters to the cause of “Jehad” not just in Kashmir but in other parts of the world as well. 

The Hindu – May 20, 2003

  The boy who hacked Al-Qaeda

            New Delhi – May 17, 2003 – While investigating 9/11 attacks, on the basis of an encrypted message, the Americans approached a 17-year old boy, Ankrit Fardia,  in Delhi about whom The New York Times had done a feature.  The worst fears of American investigators came true – Al-Qaeda was using a sophisticated technology, called stenography, to communicate.  It involved sending encrypted messages concealed in a photograph or series of photographs.  “I was lucky in some ways but I am still proud that I was the only one in the world to be able to crack the code,” Fardia told the Hindustan Times from Pune, where he is lecturing students and corporate employees on cyber security.  Fardia is the author of Guide to Ethical Hacking.

Hindustan Times – May 18, 2003

IACC seeks data protection law

                     New Delhi: Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) has called for protecting privacy of databases outsourced from India. The chambers said India has to put in place a Data Protection Legislation to protect the privacy of data outsourced from other countries for processing to Indian companies, which can give a boost to the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) business in India.  The European Union has already put in place a legislation to protect the secrecy of data.  “It would be ideal if a distinction is maintained between Indian and foreign databases.  While the Indian databases could be intercepted by the enforcement authorities, foreign databases should not be subjected to such scrutiny,” said Vinod Chandiok, the IACC President. 

  The Times of India – May 12, 2003.