ED to enhance cyber operations with Gujarat forensic university's help
New Delhi, June 25: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is to take help of Gujarat Forensic Science University (GFSU) to strengthen its cyber and digital forensic operations while dealing with money laundering cases, an agency statement said on Monday.
ED Director Karnal Singh last week signed an MoU with Dr J.M. Vyas, DG, GFSU at the university office in Ahmedabad for this purpose, it said.
"As per the MoU, both ED and GFSU have decided to contribute to exchange of information on research and educational programmes, organise seminars, conferences and workshops on topics of mutual interest, use the expertise, facilities and resources available with each other.
"Both the institutes will also strengthen the capabilities of each other in cyber and digital forensics in developing state of the art infrastructural facilities at various centres of ED. They will offer their infrastructural facilities and expertise in pursuit of professionalism in cyber and digital forensics and design courses in the field of cyber forensics specifically tailored for ED officials," said the statement.
The collaboration would be a big step for ED in effective money laundering investigation as it will result in trained manpower in the field of digital and cyber forensics, faster analysis of seized digital data during investigation and development of advanced infrastructure facilities.
"Although, the field of operation of both the organisations are different yet it can prove complimentary by synergising the efforts in the field of cyber and digital forensics. Therefore, these two agencies have collaborated to exploit and extract best in them. This collaboration aims at providing regular exchange of information, innovation, knowledge, technological developments and skills development which contribute to mutual benefits of the institutions," said the statement.
The GFSU is an international standard learning resource centre which provides excellent theoretical knowledge and advanced technical training in the real-time investigation scenario with high level ethical practices.
To deal with cyber challenges, the ED has set up cyber labs in five regional offices in Delhi, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata along with a central cyber lab in Delhi, the statement said.
"As cyber forensics is a relatively new field, it is an utmost necessity that ED officials are well versed with digital evidences and their extraction," it added.
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Rare polar bear showed up on shores of Iceland. Police shot it
A rare polar bear that was spotted outside a cottage in a remote village in Iceland was shot by police after being considered a threat, authorities said Friday.
The bear was killed Thursday afternoon in the northwest of Iceland after police consulted the Environment Agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, Westfjords Police Chief Helgi Jensson told The Associated Press.
“It's not something we like to do,” Jensson said. “In this case, as you can see in the picture, the bear was very close to a summer house. There was an old woman in there.”
The owner, who was alone, was frightened and locked herself upstairs as the bear rummaged through her garbage, Jensson said. She contacted her daughter in Reykjavik, the nation's capital, by satellite link, and called for help.
“She stayed there,” Jensson said, adding that other summer residents in the area had gone home. “She knew the danger.”
Polar bears are not native to Iceland but occasionally come ashore after traveling on ice floes from Greenland, according to Anna Sveinsdóttir, director of scientific collections at the Icelandic Institute of Natural History. Many icebergs have been spotted off the north coast in the last few weeks.
Although attacks by polar bears on humans are extremely rare, a study in Wildlife Society Bulletin in 2017 said that the loss of sea ice from global warming has led more hungry bears to land, putting them in greater chance of conflicts with humans and leading to a greater risk to both.
Of 73 documented attacks by polar bears from 1870 to 2014 in Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, and United States — which killed 20 people and injured 63 — 15 occurred in the final five years of that period.
The bear shot on Thursday was the first one seen in the country since 2016. Sightings are relatively rare with only 600 recorded in Iceland since the ninth century.
While the bears are a protected species in Iceland and it's forbidden to kill one at sea, they can be killed if they pose a threat to humans or livestock.
After two bears arrived in 2008, a debate over killing the threatened species led the environment minister to appoint a task force to study the issue, the institute said. The task force concluded that killing vagrant bears was the most appropriate response.
The group said the nonnative species posed a threat to people and animals, and the cost of returning them to Greenland, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) away, was exorbitant. It also found there was a healthy bear population in east Greenland where any bear was likely to have come from.
The young bear, which weighed between 150 and 200 kilograms (300 to 400 pounds), will be taken to the institute to study. Scientists took samples from the bear Friday.
They will be checking for parasites and infections and evaluating its physical condition, such as the health of its organs and percentage of body fat, Sveinsdóttir said. The pelt and skull may be preserved for the institute's collection.
A Coast Guard helicopter surveyed the area where the bear was found to look for others but didn't find any, police said.
After the shot bear was taken away, the woman who reported it decided to stay longer in the village, Jensson said.
