If the statistics are anything to go by, India will overtake USA and become the second largest internet user by the end of 2015, only second to china with 302 million users, which means, 24% of India’s population will be online by the end of this year. The reason why this information is so significant is because internet has a highly profound impact on every aspect of human life. The very idea that someday, someone can decide to hold you to ransom against something you created or shared unknowingly or left a trace of, is petrifying and this article includes all that you need to know on how to prevent such situations from arising.
The current scenario:
Cybercrimes happen by virtue of the existence of a World Wide Web connecting, disseminating and dispatching data to every part of the globe. So, if you receive some pornographic or objectionable content from an unidentified or unknown source in your mailbox, you should know that you are silently giving way to cybercrime. This file may as well be an instrument of virus dissemination. Cybercrimes take different forms.
1. Hacking- illegal intrusion into computer system or network.
2. Child pornography- Sending pornographic images, inviting children to chat rooms with abusive content being floated on the group etc. are methods used by paedophiles to sexually exploit children in the virtual world.
3. Cyber stalking: cyber stalking is harassment or threatening behaviour using internet services.
4. Denial of service attack or excessive spamming- flooding the email inbox of a person with excessively irrelevant content so as to disrupt his/ her usage of the service
5. Virus dissemination- attaching malicious viruses to software and directing it to suggested software updates in a network. (virus, worms, Trojan Horse, Time bomb, Logic Bomb, Rabbit and Bacterium are the malicious)
6. Software piracy- theft of software through illegal piracy of genuine programs or counterfeiting and distributing products intended to pass off as original.
7. IRC crime- internet relay chat servers have chat rooms in which people from anywhere in the world can come together and chat with each other. This facility is used with a lot of fake names to lure people into shady activities.
8. Credit card fraud – unauthorized and illegal use of credit card.
9. Net extortion- copying or forging company data to extort huge amount from a company.
10. Phishing- the act of sending an email to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft and provide fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims.
The national crime record bureau, ministry of home affairs released cybercrime statistics for the year 2013 which shows a steep rise in the number of reported cybercrimes by 50% from 2012. The maximum offender came from the age group of 18 to 30. Among all states, Maharashtra had the highest reported cases at 907 followed by U.P. at 682 and Andhra Pradesh at 651.
The lead to follow
The World Economic Forum’s Global Technology report of 2014 has declared U.K. as having the best developed E-Commerce in the world with one of the most vibrant and secure customer information sharing and payment mechanisms by tackling cybercrime. A vision was set out by U.K. cyber security strategy published in 2011 and subsequently 260 million pounds were allocated to the national cyber security program to ensure a secure cyberspace by 2016. A national cybercrime unit was set up within the national crime agency in 2013 and dedicated cyber units in each of the nine regional organized crime units (ROCU) A single reporting system for people to report financially motivated cybercrime through Action Fraud, the UK’s national 24/7 fraud and internet crime reporting centre - recording incidents of fraud centrally enables intelligence being gathered about crimes to be shared and analysed, resulting in more targeted enforcement action. U.K. has also deemed cybercrimes to be a threat to national security and has classified it as serious an offence as terrorism. It is this policy of dealing with cybercrime with an iron fist which has made U.K’s dream of having a safe cyber space possible.
Cyber law and I.T. act of 2000
The I.T. act of 2000 which governs the cyber space in India also defines the offences which constitute cybercrime and prescribes punishment for them. For example- under this act, the punishment for hacking a computer system which causes wrongful damage to the public or destroys, alters or deletes any information residing in a computer or network of computers shall be imprisonment for three years or fine which may extend up to two lakh or both.
Punishment for misrepresentation or publishing of digital signatures and other data for fraudulent purposes are also prescribed under this act. The I.T. act also has an overriding effect over anything that is inconsistent contained in any other law which is in force.
This act also provides for Cyber appellate tribunal to deal with cases arising out of a violation or breach in cyber space.
What can we do?
The Criminal investigation department, Mumbai has issued some guidelines for surfers to ensure safe environment in cyber space.
• Do not share passwords with anyone except your close family.
• Take precautions while using credit card or debit card. While shopping online make sure you use only those websites which offer a secure online payment gateway service for payment.
• Take a test before downloading email attachments. (Is it from a person you know, were you expecting this attachment etc.)
• Computer security is the process of preventing and detecting unauthorized use of your computer. Prevention measures help you to stop unauthorized users (also known as “intruders”) from accessing any part of your computer system. Detection helps you to determine whether or not someone attempted to break into your system, if they were successful, and what they may have done.
• Use strong passwords to protect the frequently accessed websites.
• Learn about the legal remedies and seek help when necessary. Experts say only around 5% cybercrimes are reported with most victims either not knowing about legal remedies or hesitating to take advantage of them. Awareness has to be spread about the legal remedies available and when to invoke them.
Section 66A
Some cyber laws are considered too draconian for a modern, democratic society, being forced open by the spread of the Internet. These laws are now being opposed by various experts, lawyers and free-speech activists. With regards to the contentious section 66A, which deals with “offensive” messages sent through a computer or other personal communication devices, anyone found guilty can be imprisoned for up to three years and fined. In the recent times, cases filed on the ground of section 66A, of the Information Technology Act, 2000, have invoked the section solely as well as with other sections of Indian Penal Code against certain persons for posting/communicating certain content which was considered by the police to be harmful. A recent Supreme Court judgment however change the course for cases arising out of allegedly offensive content on the internet, when the Court ruled that this section was unconstitutional and disproportionately invades right to free speech. This move was celebrated as a victory of free speech and a pioneering moment in the development of cyber law with removal of contentious and ambiguous provision.
Legal remedy
• If a person is a victim of any of the above mentioned cyber abuse, he/she can file a complaint with the cyber cell of the local criminal investigation department by submitting data such as server logs, copy of compromised data, list of suspects(if the victim suspects someone) and details of target network.
• If a person is a victim of hacking, e-mail abuse, vulgar e-mail etc., he-she can file a complaint by submitting the details of the offensive e-mail after saving a copy of it on the concerned device.’
• For any grievance in this respect, help must be sought at the earliest. The latest amendment in the I.T act in 2008 provides for investigation to be conducted by an officer not below the rank of inspector.
The internet is slowly but steadily creeping into every sphere of modern life. As internet has started occupying a pivotal position in our lives, we need to develop and evolve a ‘modus operandi’ on how to ensure a better use of this indispensable instrument and tackle the looming threat of criminal interference in cyber space.
-Sharanya Shivaraman.
A The InfoMission Project Writer.
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