Bangalore's IT firms told to be on alert

Bangalore, India's infotech capital, is feeling the heat of the local angle to the terror plot in the United Kingdom. The city police has now directed IT firms to beef up security and remain on high alert.

The city police claims that the IT sector is the main target on the terror map, as any attack on it would affect the Indian economy.

M N Vidyashankar, Karnataka's secretary, IT, biotech and science and technology, said there is a need to set up more cyber crime police stations in the state to effectively tackle terrorism spreading through the Internet. At present, the state has just one cyber crime cell, and it has solved only 13 cases so far.

Vidyashankar also spoke about stepping up surveillance in cyber cafes across the state. He said cyber cafes will be asked to maintain registers and told to permit people to use them only after proper ID is established.

The IT Professionals Forum has requested the state government to enforce more stringent laws to prevent cyber crime and to educate the law enforcement wing with cyber crime skills and knowhow on how to check Internet fraud.

Infosys CEO S 'Kris' Gopalkrishnan says his company is in regular touch with the state government regarding the terror scenario in Bangalore. Infosys has beefed up security to protect employees and clients.

Another demand being made by the IT sector in Bangalore is for cyber crime cases to be registered at all police stations in the state. Currently, regardless of where cyber crimes occur in Karnataka, complaints and cases can only be registered at Bangalore's cyber crimes cell.