Visakhapatnam to get a cyber crime lab by March end

The much-awaited cyber crime police station and cyber forensic laboratory might soon turn out be realities in Visakhapatnam.

“At present, the special cell in the II-Town Police station dealing with the cyber crime cases is not adequate, given the complexities of the cases. The available equipment is not capable of pursuing difficult cases. The proposed cyber crime police station and the laboratory will receive assistance from the Centre for Development of Advanced  Computing (CDAC), Thiruvananthapuram,” cyber crime inspector V Gopinath was quoted as saying.

It has been learned that the facilities will run from the VUDA Complex near Siripuram on a temporary basis before the authorities finalize the suitable land for the project. Meanwhile, the works for the project have already started. If the plans fall in place, the lab might be opened by the end of March or early April.

The lab will possess the latest facilities and advanced tools such as mobile forensic tools, USCD and a few other sophisticated equipment.

While the government had given the nod for the setting up of the lab back in 2015, it got delayed due to various invariable reasons. Andhra Pradesh currently depends on the cyber forensic laboratory in Hyderabad.

The recent past has seen an increasing number of cyber crime cases being reported from Visakhapatnam. The upcoming lab will, in addition to Visakahaptnam, also prove to be useful to the rest of the state and reduce the dependence on Hyderabad’s lab, the authorities feel.