As the world hurtles towards an increasingly computerised and technological society, the issue
of cyber crime attains greater importance. Recent incidents relating to cyber crime have highlighted the need for a reorganisation of the existing enforcement and legal capabilities. Moreover, as the Indian IT success story turns firmer, industry stakeholders are realising that they need to be more careful. Any instance of fraud and misconduct could have a strong bearing on the future of the industry.

Understanding this, NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies) – the premiere industry body for the technology sector in India – and the Mumbai Police have been jointly organising the Cyber Safety Week since 2003. The purpose behind the Cyber Safety Week is to spread the message of cyber safety and IT security across all user communities. This week had its third edition in 2005 and has become a national model for public private partnership. The week comprises of various events and workshops that educate the participants on how systems can be compromised and where complacency in IT security can turn dangerous.

During the 2005 edition, the 'India Cyber Cop Award' was instituted and announced - for encouraging police professionals involved in investigating some of the cyber crimes in the country. This award is intended not just to recognise, reward and honour law enforcers doing commendable work, but also bring awareness of better and useful investigative skills in resolving cyber crimes.

This book, a compilation of cases that were nominated for the award, is intended to fulfill the above objective. The process of nomination and selection of this award, facilitated by KPMG, was detailed, objective and thorough. Some key elements of this process were:

1. Finalisation of the parameters, through meetings conducted with the judges and other stake holders, for selection of the best cyber cop cases.
2. Requesting police heads of all states in India, to nominate top three cases of cyber crime investigations from their state.
3. Data collection and collation of sixteen cases in summary form.
4. These summaries were debated by the panel of judges, and the top three cases were decided based on the finalised parameters. The awards were presented at the closing ceremony of the Cyber Safety Week 2005 on 26 November 2005.