CYBER CRIME AND LEGAL REMEDIES

This article will be discussing about the concept of Cybercrime, its various forms, preventive measures and recent scenario of cybercrime.

1. INTRODUCTION:

Cybercrime is the latest and perhaps the most complicated problem in the cyber world. Any criminal activity that uses a computer either as an instrumentality, target or a means for perpetuating further crimes comes within the ambit of cybercrime. Computers are easy to access and store a lot of data in a small space, which make them vulnerable to criminals. Cybercrime includes sending obscene massages through e-mail, committing theft of information, e-mail bombing to crash servers etc.

2. TYPES OF CYBERCRIMES:

Cyber terrorism, online gambling, cyber stalking, software piracy, IP theft, theft computer vandalism, money laundering, phishing, e-mail bombing, cyber war, child soliciting and abuse, hacking etc. cybercrime is different and more heinous than conventional crime as the crime is committed in an electronic medium. Hacking is a common cybercrime. In hacking the criminals use a variety of software to access the computer of a person and the person may not even know that his computer is being accessed from a remote location. Hackers access the computers through the use of password cracking softwares and can also import files on their computer. The details of crime are as follows:

Theft:

This type of cybercrime occurs when a person violates copyrights and downloads music, movies games and softwares. There are even peer sharing web sites which encourage softwares privacy and many of these websites are being targeted by different intelligence agency.

Cyber stalking:

Cyber stalking is a type of online harassment where the victims are harassed through online massages and emails. Normally these stalkers know the victims and instated of resorting to offline stalking, they use internet to stalk.

Identity theft:

This is a major problem with people who use internet for cash transaction and banking services stalk. in this cybercrime, a criminal accesses data about a person’s bank account, credit cards, debit cards, full name and others sensitive information to drain off money or to buy things online in victim’s name. it can result in major financial losses for the victim and even spoil the victims credit history.

Malicious software:

This software, also called computer virus, is internet-based software or programs that are used to disrupt a network. The software is used to gain access to a system to gather sensitive information or data or to cause damages to software present in the system.

Child soliciting and abuse:

This is also a type of cybercrime in which criminals solicit minors via chat rooms for the purposes of child pornography.

Computer Vandalism:

It is a type of cybercrime that damages or destroys data rather than stealing. It transmits virus.

Cyber terrorism:

It is a use of internet in terrorist activities. 

Software piracy:

It is a theft of software through the illegal copying of genuine programs. Software piracy causes great loss to the software companies.

E-mail bombing:

E-mail bombing is the term used to describe the sending of many e-mails to the victims with a view to crash servers.

Sale of illegal objects:

Now a days internet is largely used by the criminals to sale illegal objects. Due to the net banking system now, it has been very easy to buy thing sitting at home for those who wish to buy anything. Now prices of different articles are fixed through the use of internet and the money is transferred through the online banking system which has made it easy for the criminals to sell illegal objects.

Online gambling:

Online gambling is also another cybercrime. It includes poker, casinos, sports betting etc. Many countries ban or restrict online gambling.

IP theft or Intellectual Property theft:

IP theft involves robbing people or companies of their ideas, inventions and creative expression known as intellectual property which can include everything from trade secrets and proprietary products to movies, music and software.

Phishing:

Phishing is the fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by disguising as a trust worthy entity in an electronic communication. Phishing is done/carried out by e-mail or by instant messaging. It often directs users to enter personal information at a take website which look identical to the legitimate site. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques which is used to deceive users. Users are often deceived in the name of take social websites, auction sites, banks, online payment processors or IT administrators.

3. PREVENTION OF CYBERCRIMES:

In order to prevent cybercrime computer users may adopt various methods to prevent cybercrime. Computer users may use a firewall to protect their computer from hacker. It is advised by cyber experts that users must shop only at secure websites. Users must develop strong password on their accounts. Besides personal measures contained in the Information Technology Act, 2000 and in the Indian Penal Code which provide adequate provisions to deal with prevailing cybercrimes. It provides punishment in the form of imprisonment ranging from two years to life imprisonment. However, the Government has taken following steps for prevention of cybercrimes –

      

I. Cyber crime cells have been set up in States and Union territories for reporting and investigation of cybercrime cases.

II. Government has set up cyber forensic training and investigation labs in the states of Kerala, Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur and Jammu & Kashmir for training of Law Enforcement and judiciary in these states.

III. In collaboration with Data Security Council of India (DSCI), NASSCOM, Cyber Forensic Labs have been set up at Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Kolkata for awareness creation and training.

IV. Programs on cyber crime investigation: - National Law School, Bangalore and NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad are also engaged in conducting several awareness and training programs on cyber laws and cyber crimes for judicial officers.

V. Training is imparted to Police officers and Judicial officers in the training labs established by the Government.

VI. Intelligence agencies are acting as watch dog and continuously monitoring different activities through the use of internet.

4. RECENT CYBERCRIMES IN INDIA: -

Now a days the people of India are facing new form of cyber crime and one of which is video call recording. In this type of cybercrime, the girls start conversation with the people and while talking to the people the audio-visual scene is recorded in the device of the caller and later the innocent people are threatened to pay huge amount of money. Other recent cybercrimes are – fake call center, cheating foreigners, false post of accommodation for rent, fake car insurance offer, posting of fake obscene photos of women in social media and so on. In India cybercrime rate in increasing rapidly.

Cybercrime is not the problem of India alone. It is a global problem and so strong measures should be taken.

5. CONCLUSION:

In the conclusion it can be said that cybercrime is the new form of crime which is increasing rapidly in all over the world. In cybercrime most of the criminals are educated and it includes students also. It has been seen in many cases that students of schools and collages are involved in committing crimes using computers and android phones. Governments of different countries have taken various initiatives to stop such an advanced crime. New policies are being adopted to tackle cybercrime.