Mumbai police tightens noose on cyber culprits

MUMBAI: In a bid to save time in cyber crime investigations, the city police is creating a database of all the internet protocol (IP) addresses across the cosmopolitan which will help in detecting the details of an Internet user in a few minutes.

"We have written to all the Internet service providers (ISPs) operating in the city to provide us with the IP addresses of their subscribers," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Preventive) Sanjay Mohite said.

Each Internet terminal has a distinct IP address and the ISP has the physical address of each of the IP addresses serviced by them, he said.

The police department has written to all the 10 operational ISPs in the city and so far six of them have furnished details in a CD containing all the IP addresses of their customers, he added.

"Earlier, investigations had to suffer delays as the police had to write to the ISP asking for information and then it used to revert. It took almost a week but now we can find the physical address of the offender within minutes," Mohite said.

If an e-mail threat is sent to a person or if some online transaction is made using fraudulent financial instruments, police can detect the physical address of the computer from where the activity took place in minutes using the database, he added.

The police did not face any hurdle in convincing the ISPs to provide them with the IP addresses as, legally, the IP address is not a private information and can be shared.