As 3G mobile services are set to be rolled out soon in the country, cyber experts sounded a word of caution about the high-tech enabled mobile phones, which they say are more vulnerable in the world of technology related crimes.
While the next generation technology aims to make life simpler enabling downloading of movies and music within minutes, it can also be used for various unscrupulous activities.
"With 3G, cellphones will have faster broadband Internet and with such speeds you can watch television live, make video calls and download music and movies in no time. But through spying software and virus, the hacker can easily break into your system," says Ankit Fadia, an ethical hacker and cyber security expert.
"The hacker can record all the audio conversation and video files. Not many people in India install anti- virus in their phones. I would recommend them to install anti- virus and fireballs while using 3G," says Fadia who recommends switching off the Bluetooth function of the phone when not required in order to protect the user's password.
Not limited to an individual's privacy issues, the 3G technology will also lead to rise in piracy of films and music, thereby giving staggering losses to the entertainment industry that is battling the piracy threat.
"It will become extremely easy for anybody to download an entire Bollywood film in a few minutes using 3G. This is going to lead to further tremendous growth of websites like torrents," says advocate Pavan Duggal, a cyberlaw expert. The Internet and Mobile Association of India ( IAMAI) points out that Bollywood would be hit most by 3G and has asked service providers to adopt a stricter approach to check cybercrimes.
"Today it takes several hours to download a newly released Bollywood film but with 3G it will take only minutes that will encourage people to use illegal means to view a film," says Rakshit Tandon, consultant, IAMAI. According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report titled Indian 3G broadband subscribers, the mobile subscriber base is projected to cross one billion in 2014.
Special 
