Nothing is cent per cent safe, declared Ankit Fadia at the Crossword bookstore on Friday (picture by Aranya Sen). From mobile phones, personal and office emails, Windows and even ATM accounts, everything can be hacked into. All it takes is some knowledge and software tools easily accessible from hacking sites on the Net. So what?s the point of more ?how to? books?

Ankit, who stunned the world as a 12-year-old hacker who traced Pakistani hackers, has gone on to write seven bestselling titles on hacking. His two new books from Vikas Publishing House are E-mail Hacking and Windows Hacking. With help from two volunteers, Ankit demonstrated how easy it was to crack Yahoo! email passwords with a software called Revelations. The Internet has signalled freedom of information, but every individual movement is routinely scanned by companies like Google, Hotmail and Yahoo!, he warned.

Ankit said his intention has always been to make people aware. ?Of the people who buy these books, 10 per cent, I agree, may take to cyber crime or play pranks on friends. But the remaining 90 per cent will become more careful and can even foil criminal activities against them.? Drawing attention to the sub-heading ?Even you can hack?, Ankit said that ?like Sanjeev Kapoor?s cook books, even the uninitiated can use these?.

Between sitting for tests at the business management course at Stanford University, this 20-year old works as an independent computer consultant offering ?customised cyber security, training and solutions? to global clients like Google, Citibank, Volvo, Thai Airways and more. ?We need government investment and more hackers to step up cyber security,? said Ankit.

For this, Ankit is with Reliance Infocomm, launching India?s first hacking course from March. The month-long course titled ?Ankit Fadia Certified Ethical Hacker? has only 200 seats, but there have already been 1,000 registrations. People of all ages can register at www.hackingmobilephones.com Course fee of Rs 5,999 includes tutorials, reading material and free membership to Reliance WebWorld.

Ankit is now writing a book tentatively titled People Hacking Through Smooth Talking, Sympathy Inducing and Threatening. He is also discussing a film story with a leading Bollywood producer.