Emergence of Cyber Crime : An Analysis with respect to Recent Legal Developments

By Ashlesha Suryawanshi (MNLU, Mumbai)

Social media is part of our day to day life. It is a medium of information, communication, commerce and entertainment. Today’s world dominated by the internet, without the internet we can not do our basic work, we are not able to start our day. The Internet has not any limit it crosses all boundaries like space, age, time, nationality, gender, jurisdiction. Though the internet has all benefits it is also an appropriate breeding place for persons interested in making use of the net for illegal gain and prohibited purpose.
We are depended on the computer and the internet for commercial works in banks, schools, offices, companies, the information technology gives a boost to data processing in a productive manner. Increasing threats of cybercrime harm the commercial world as well as a common user too. So the ‘cyber’ is a prefix word for the internet and cyber crime’ is a terminology which deals with all offences committed on the internet it involves the used of a computer network to commit a crime. So online crimes are referred as cybercrime. Because of new technology and the expansion of human being in a diverse  area, the various forms of crimes have multiplied. The Internet has its huge network across the globe so cybercrime is borderless, any material which is illegal like pornographic film, defamatory, malicious spread like wind and access globally within a seconds. It is to easy to access such information and send it on the social media platform with a click of the mouse. Some times hackers collect all the personal information of users and share it on social media platforms.

The different types of cybercrime include:

1. Malware attack- it is a type of virus attack which infected the whole computer system and network. Attackers steal confidential data, cause damage to data and carry another criminal act. Ransomware is a type of malware attack used to extort money from users.

2. Phishing: phishing campaign is a kind of infected message attack with malicious contain spam emails or other forms of communication the hackers asked the receiver to respond to their confidential information.

4. Distributed Dos attack:  distributed dos attacks are broke down by a system or network this attack spam the system with connection requests,  by using DDOS hackers demand money by cyber extortion. 

4. Botnets- these are computer network which is controlled by external hackers, though these botnets hackers attack a whole computer system. These botnets are also used to perform malicious tasks. 

6. Cyberstalking: this is a major cybercrime that involved online harassment, usually cyber stalkers know their victim and they blackmail them and concerned about their safety.

7. Hacking – this includes sending illegal instruction to the computer and then the personal computer get hack and users personal information can be easily accessed by hackers. Sometimes government websites are on target and hackers gain notoriety.

Though cybercrime hackers easily get money by targeting rich people and big organizations. Hackers easily access information like codes, retina image and other private information also computer store data in a very small space this makes a lot easier for hackers to steal data and use it. Slight negligence by users opens the door for the hackers to earn a profit, again the data related to the crime can be easily vanished and destroyed so finding evidence becomes very hard.

We need strong law enforcement agencies, in India the information technology act 2000 deal with cybersecurity and cybercrime it provides legal recognition and protection for electronic transaction it also contains lawful provisions that are aimed at safeguarding personal data, private information or records. IT act also punishes this crime. With the increase in the number of cybercrimes, the need for cyber laws and their application has become very urgent in modern times.

The IT act 2000 is based on the United Nations model law on January 30, 1997, which came into force on 17 October 2000

The Indian cyber law makes us share write publish any information in electronic form and it is valid under the law. It also legalizes the concept of digital signatures and electronic authentication. IT Act 2000 promote e-commerce,  e-business by providing legal,  infrastructure to them.  All the statutory remedy monetary damages compensation provided by this act if then is a cyber crime on a computer system or Network. Also, companies can issue digital certificates by becoming certifying authorities, as well as the government also issue notices through e-governance. But this law has some Flawback such as the IT act 2000 does not address any issue relating to domain names and liabilities of Domain names and the whole electronic system is based on domain names. The main problem with this act is, it is not covered the protection for intellectual property rights like copyright, Patent, Trademark etc. This act does not cover all types of cyberstalking and cyber fraud and the main issue that this law does not lay down any parameter for its regulation. In 2008, amendment of the IT technology act has improved certain provisions.

The usage of the internet is increasing day by day while we use social media platforms. We post our private information our data on social media and due to this Hackers hack our all personal information. It has also increased the convenience of cybercrime to access any data or private information of an individual. So awareness of people about cyber crimes is most important.

A state must protect the individual interest and made a strict provision so state intervention and enforcement of the law is necessary for the safety of users government need to impose strict punishment for cybercrimes such as hacking, child-porn, counterfeit currencies. IT act 2000 solve the issue of crimes but a need for efficient law is very evident. Cyber Law is important because it secures all transactions and activities involving the Internet. And provide legal safety to the individual. Technology is a double-edged sword that is sometimes harming the individual and society.  Hence it should be the main duty of lawmakers to ensure users safety and make a healthy environment. So as we more dependent on the internet the scope of cyber law is increasing day by day to punish and prevent  criminal attacks, activities that violate the right to safety of the internet using the cybercrime prevention law is necessary.