Kathmandu, December 1

The Department of Crime Investigation under the NP has provided the Central Investigation Bureau and Metropolitan Police Crime Division necessary digital forensic equipment to assist it in fighting cyber-crime.

CIB and MPCD are two key branches of Nepal Police that deal with cases of cyber-crime as per the Electronic Transaction Act, 2008.

AIGP Surendra Bahadur Shah, chief of DoCI handed over the digital forensic equipment to the CIB and MPCD officials amid a function organised in the capital yesterday.

“We are confident that this state-of-the-art technology will assist the concerned officials in making the crime investigation scientific and evidence-based,” he said.

At a time when criminal groups have increased access to cyberspace, Nepal Police has been carrying out scientific investigation of physical evidences collected from the incident site to make the investigation process result-oriented. For this, the law enforcement agency has already established Central Police Forensic Science Laboratory.

Digital forensics science encompasses the recovery and investigation of material found in digital devices in relation to cyber crime.

According to officials, the equipment is helpful in uncovering and interpreting electronic data, while preserving any evidence in its original form in the course of conducting structured investigation by recovering, collecting, storing, identifying and validating the data to track down past events.

Cyber crimes include activities like raiding bank accounts, stealing identities and violating privacy, among others. Nepal Police statistics show that the number of reported cyber-crime surged by 105 per cent in fiscal year 2014/15 compared to 2013/14.

A total of 39 cyber crime-related cases were filed in 2013/14 against 19 in 2013-14. Many cases go unreported due to fear of retribution from the perpetrators. E-mail theft, phishing, data hacks and online fraud are major forms of cyber crimes in the country.