CYBER CRIME AND LAWS AGAINST IT

                        CYBER CRIME

Computer crime refers to any crime that involves a computer and a network. The computer may have been used in the commission of a crime, or it may be the target. Net crime refers to criminal exploitation of the Internet. Cyber crimes are defined as: "Offences that are committed against individuals or groups of individuals with a criminal motive to intentionally harm the reputation of the victim or cause physical or mental harm to the victim directly or indirectly, using modern telecommunication networks such as Internet (Chat rooms, emails, notice boards and groups) and mobile phones (SMS/MMS)". Such crimes may threaten a nation’s security and financial health. Issues surrounding this type of crime have become high-profile, particularly those surrounding cracking, copyright infringement, child pornography, and child grooming. There are also problems of privacy when confidential information is lost or intercepted, lawfully or otherwise.

Internationally, both governmental and non-state actors engage in cyber crimes, including espionage, financial theft, and other cross-border crimes. Activity crossing international borders and involving the interests of at least one nation state is sometimes referred to as cyber warfare. The international legal system is attempting to hold actors accountable for their actions through the International Criminal Court.

            Cyber crime is vast and has wide ranges of activities involved in it. Therefore it can be divided into two parts:

                                 (1)- Crime which targets computers directly.

Are further subdivided into following:

                                              

·       MALWARE: Malware is a short form of malicious software which are designed to damage or do unwanted action on a computer system.  

                                        

·       VIRUSES: It is a piece of a code or a program which is loaded on are computer without we being aware of it and it runs against our wishes.

                                                         

·       DENIAL OF SREVICE ATTACKS: this are the cracker or hacker attacks on a computer system or website aimed to disrupt its normal functions.

                                 (2)- Crime by computer network or devices.

Are further subdivided into:

·       CYBER STALKING: Cyber stalking is a crime in which the stalker harasses the victim with the help of electronic communication such as Emails, Instant Messaging (IM), or messages posted on a website or at discussion groups.

                                          

·       IDENTITY THEFT: Identity theft is in which the thief uses the users identity like credit cards, driving license, or other number security to create new accounts or for accessing his existing accounts.

·       PHISING SPAMS: Phishing spam’s are spam’s which are sent to the predator which are legitimate spam’s to gather information about the  predators personal and financial information.

The Cyber Graph for the year 2001-2002 is as follows:

Cyber Graph For 2001-2010:

Cyber Graph from January to June 2012:

 To avoid the cyber crime there are laws known as cyber laws

CYBER LAW: Cyber law is a term used to describe the legal issues related to use of communications technology, particularly “cyberspace”, i.e. the Internet. It is less of a distinct field of law in the way that property or contract are, as it is an intersection of many legal fields, including intellectual property, privacy, freedom of expression, and jurisdiction. In essence, cyber law is an attempt to apply laws designed for the physical world, to human activity on the Internet. In India, The IT Act, 2000 as amended by The IT (Amendment) Act, 2008 is known as the Cyber law. It has a separate chapter XI entitled “Offences” in which various cyber crimes have been declared as penal offences punishable with imprisonment and fine.

The laws and punishment for different cyber crimes are as follows:

·      Hacking

Hacking is not defined in The amended IT Act, 2000. Hacking means unauthorized attempts to the security mechanisms of an information system or network. Also, in simple words Hacking is the unauthorized access to a computer system, programs, data and network resources. (The term “hacker” originally meant a very gifted programmer. In recent years though, with easier access to multiple systems, it now has negative implications.)

Law & Punishment: Under Information Technology (Amendment)Act, 2008, Section 43(a) read with section 66 is applicable and Section 379 & 406 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 alsoare applicable. If crime is proved under IT Act, accused shall be punished for imprisonment, which may extend to three years or with fine, which may extend to five lakh rupees or both. Hacking offence is cognizable, bailable , compoundable with permission of the court before which the prosecution of such offence is pending and trialble by any magistrate.

·      Data Theft

Data Theft is a growing problem, primarily perpetrated by office workers with access to technology such as desktop computers and handhelddevices, capable of storing digital information such as flash drives, iPods and even digital cameras. The damage caused by data theft can be considerable with today’s ability to transmit very large files via e-mail, web pages, USB devices, DVD storage and other hand-held devices. According to Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, crime of data theft under Section 43 (b) is stated as -If any person without permission of  the owner or any other person, who is incharge of a computer, computer system of computer network - downloads, copies or extracts any data, computer data base or information from such computer, computer system or computer network including information or data held or stored in any removable storage medium, then it is data theft.

 Law & Punishment: UnderInformation Technology (Amendment)Act, 2008, Section 43(b) read with Section 66 is applicable and under Section379,405 & 420 of Indian Penal Code,1860 also applicable. Data Theft offence is cognizable, bailable, compoundable with permission of the court before which the prosecution of such offence is pending and trialble by any magistrate.

·      Spreading Virus or Worms

In most cases, viruses can do any amount of damage, the creator intends them to do. They can send your data to a third party and then delete your data from your computer. They can also ruin/mess up your system and render it unusable without a re-installation of the operating system. Most have not done this much damage in the past, but could easily do this in the future. Usually the virus will

install files on your system and then will change your system so that virus program is run every time you start your system. It will then attempt to replicate itself by sending itself to other potential victims.

Law & Punishment: Under Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, Section 43(c) & 43(e) read with Section 66 is applicable and under Section 268 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 also applicable. Spreading of Virus offence is cognizable, bailable, compoundable with permission of the court before which the prosecution of such offence is pending and triable by any magistrate.

·      Identity Theft

Identity theft is a form of fraud or cheating of another person’s identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person’s identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person’s name. Information Technology (Amendment)Act, 2008, crime of identity theft under Section 66-C, whoever, fraudulently or dishonestly make use of the electronic signature, password or any other unique identification feature of any other person known as Identity Theft. Identity theft is a term used to refer to fraud that involves stealing money or getting other benefits by pretending to be someone else. The term is relatively new and is actually a misnomer, since it is not inherently possible to steal an identity, only to use it. The person whose identity is used can suffer various consequences when they are held responsible for the perpetrator’s actions. At one time the only way for someone to steal somebody else’s identity was by killing that person and taking his place. It was typically a violent crime. However, since then, the crime has evolved and today’s white collared criminals are a lot less brutal. But the ramifications of an identity theft are still scary.

Law & Punishment: Under Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, Section 66-C and Section 419of Indian Penal Code, 1860 also applicable.

Identity Theft offence is cognizable, bailable, compoundable with permission

of the court before which the prosecution of such offence is pending and triable by any magistrate.

·      E-Mail Spoofing

E-mail spoofing is e-mail activity in which the sender addresses and other parts of

the e-mail header are altered to appear as though the e-mail originated from

a different source. E-mail spoofing is sending an e-mail to another person in

such a way that it appears that the e-mail was sent by someone else. A spoof email is one that appears to originate from one source but actually has been sent from another source. Spoofing is the act of electronically disguising one computer

as another for gaining as the password system. It is becoming so common that

you can no longer take for granted that thee-mail you are receiving is truly from the person identified as the sender. Email spoofing is a technique used

by hackers to fraudulently send email messages in which the sender address and

other parts of the email header are altered to appear as though the email originated from a source other than its actual source.

Hackers use this method to disguise the actual email address from which phishing and spam messages are sent and often use email spoofing in conjunction with Web page spoofing to trick users into providing personal and confidential information.

Law & Punishment: Under Information Technology (Amendment)Act, 2008, Section 66-D and Section 417,419 & 465 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 also applicable. Email spoofing offence is cognizable, bailable, compoundable with permission of the court before which the prosecution of such offence is pending and triable by any magistrate.