With India becoming the fourth worst-hit from Chinese Net hackers, the Indian police is still not equipped to counter the use of Internet and modern spying technologies by terror groups which pose a serious challenge, say cyber experts.

A Chinese cyber spy network has hacked into nearly 1,300 computers across 103 countries and the infected machines include those at Indian embassies and other government organisations, according to an investigation by Canada-based internet research firm Information Warfare Monitor (IWM).

"Although India is IT leader of the world, in computer security it is far lagging behind. Indian police is not adequately equipped to handle cyber crime investigations. Many times when I am contacted for help, the kind of questions I am asked are very basic," says Ankit Fadia, a cyber security expert.

"Look at engineering colleges across the country. None of them offer any courses on computer security. This is the primary reason for a lack of experts in the country. We need more courses, education and awareness," he adds.

Cyber law experts say there are many loopholes that makes it difficult to keep track of terror transactions.

"At the time when different countries have come up with legislation to deal with Cyber Terrorism, having a single provision on Cyber Terrorism, is not likely to help India in the long run," says Pavan Duggal, a cyber law expert.

India ranks fifth among countries reporting the maximum number of cyber crimes, according to the latest report released by Internet Crime Complaint Centre of the United States.

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