Hacker Strikes Again on JNU with Same Story

Cyber attackers have once again targeted JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University), India, just a few months after fraudulent e-mails soliciting help in cash and kind were sent from the mailbox of a professor.

In early June 2007, Amita Singh of Centre for Study of Law and Governance at JNU received calls from friends, acquaintances and relatives from around the world.

The reason behind this was that Singh's email account was hacked and all the email addresses present in her account received emails. In the e-mail, the hacker sought money to release Singh from a hotel located in Nigeria. It also said that Singh was stranded in the hotel after losing her passport, money and valuables.

In the recent incident, the hacker targeted Prof. Rajendra Prasad's Hotmail account, the Rector at the university. Prof. Prasad realized that someone had hacked his Hotmail account and had sent out e-mails to all the e-mail Ids on his account. This time too, the hacker used the same method he used in earlier case.

The e-mail claimed that Prasad has lost all his money while he was traveling to visit a friend. In the end, it asked for help by remitting $3,500 to clear Prasad's hotel bills and to buy a ticket for his return to India. JNU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. B.B. Bhattacharya, said that the matter was grim. ExpressIndia.com reported this on September 26, 2007. The fraudster could have contacted various parties in the university that they were dealing with and asked for money, thus causing trouble, Bhattacharya added.

Prasad discussed the issue with the university officials on September 26, 2007. Prof. Bhattacharya reported that JNU has filed a complaint with Delhi Police's Cyber Crime Cell to probe into the matter.

According to Prof. Prasad, all important e-mails and files were missing from his inbox. He also said that one of his friends even reverted to the e-mail asking where he should send the money.

An eminent lawyer on cyber crime, Pavan Duggal, said that it was not too difficult to track the criminal because when the computer is logged in, it reveals the IP address of the sender, which can help to locate the geographical address of that sender. But when criminals use cyber café computers, it becomes difficult, Duggal added.

Related article: Hacker & Virus in MySpace

» SPAMfighter News - 10/9/2007