Cyber terrorism by proxy

Proxy servers, which were recently used by a teen to send an email blackmailing his former classmate, can be a handy tool for far more sinister activities like cyber terrorism.

Some of these can affect the security of the country and even paralyse important websites of the government. "Proxy servers can be easily used to spread cyber terrorism in the country," police inspector, Cyber Crime Cell, Detection of Crime Branch, Kiran Patel told DNA.  Patel said that most often terrorists use a proxy server to convey their message during and after a terrorist attack on the country.

Citing a recent example of cyber crime in which a teenage boy used a proxy server, he said that a similar method is used by the terrorists to hack into various email accounts as this helps them hide their identity. The cyber crime cell has been dealing with cases where the accused had used the proxy server for many such activities.  Patel said that proxy servers are also used by many to hack into government website to get sensitive data.

"Sometimes locating a hacker, who uses a proxy server, becomes difficult as it is a time consuming process and the internet protocol (IP) address is not immediately revealed," Patel said.

"Use of the proxy server is a common thing among hackers and it is easily available on the internet. But tracing one is difficult," he said. Another source in the department said that often they are at the mercy of the service providers in getting details about an accused who may have used the proxy server.

"This causes delay and hence more time is consumed in solving such cases," said the source.