“CYBER CRIME AND ITS PREVENTION”

Visvesvaraya Technological University

Belagavi, Karnataka, 590 014

SEMINAR REPORT

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of
BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
IN
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
Submitted by
Vishwanath G Desaigoudar 2KE17EC026
Under the guidance of
Mr. Prasant Hanasi

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

(NBA Accredited)

K.L.E Society’s
K. L. E. INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
HUBBALLI – 580030

2021-2022

i
 K.L.E Society’s
K.L.E. INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
HUBBALLI-580030

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the “Seminar Report” submitted by Vishwanath G Desaigoudar with USN:
2KE16EC113 of VIII Semester B.E., Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
is work done by him/her and submitted during 2020 – 2021 academic year, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of the degree of of Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and
Communication Engineering of Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum during academic
year 2020-2021.

(Mr. Prasant H) (Dr. Manu T. M.) (Dr. B. S. Anami)

Guide HOD Principal

Name of Examiners Signature with date

1.

2.

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 DECLARATION

I, Vishwanath G Desaigoudar (2KE16EC113), student of VIII Semester B.E., in

Electronics and Communication Engineering, K.L.E. Institute of Technology, Hubballi,
hereby declare that the Internship has been carried out by me and submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the VIII Semester degree of Bachelor of Engineering
in Electronics and Communication Engineering of Visvesvaraya Technological
University, Belagavi during academic year 2020-2021.

Vishwanath G D 2KE16EC113
Date:--2022 DDesaigouda
Place: Hubballi

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The sense of contentment and elation that accompanies the successful completion of my
internship and its report would be incomplete without mentioning the names of the people
who helped me in accomplishing this. For this I acknowledge and express my profound
gratitude and thank to my guides Mr. Prasant H for initiating the importance of study of
this concept. I acknowledge that I have learnt the importance of technical research and
good presentation skills.

I feel deeply indebted to our H.O.D. Dr. Manu T. M. for the constant support and
encouragement in all my endeavors. The academic ambience has helped us to excel in my
academics.

I take this opportunity offer our sincere thanks with to our beloved Principal Dr. B. S.
Anami who is always keen on enhancing the quality of teaching-learning and always a
source of inspiration to us. I would like to thank our Dean Academics Dr. S. G. Joshi
for his constant encouragement for our academic progress.

I take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to coordinators Prof. Santosh H, for
dedicating time to arrange for critical evaluations that helped for proper flow of seminar
work.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank my parents and friends for their well wishes
for my success.

Vishwanath G Desaigoudar 2KE16EC113

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 ABSTRACT
“Cyber” refers to imaginary space, which is created when the electronic devices
communicate, like network of computers. Cyber-crime refers to anything done in
the cyber space with a criminal intent. These could be either the criminal activities
in the conventional sense or could be activities, newly evolved with the growth of
the new medium. Cyber-crime includes acts such as hacking, uploading obscene
content on the Internet, sending obscene e-mails and hacking into a person's e-
banking account to withdraw money. Computer crime, or cybercrime, refers to any
crime that involves a computer and a network, where the computers played an
instrumental part in the commission of a crime. Cyber Crime has nowhere been
defined in any statute /Act passed or enacted by the Indian Parliament. The
concept of cyber-crime is not radically different from the concept of conventional
crime. Both include conduct whether act or omission, which cause breach of rules
of law and counterbalanced by the sanction of the state. particularly those
surrounding hacking, copyright infringement through warez, child pornography
and child grooming.

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 CONTENT
Certificate ii
Declaration iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract v
Table of Content vii
List of Figures ix
Chapter Name Page No.

No.
1. Introduction 1
2. Reason for cyber crime 3
3.Cyber Criminals
4 Mode and Manner for committing cyber crime 3
.
4.1 Unauthorized access to computer system/Hacking 5
4.2 Theft of information contained in electronic form 6
4.3 Email Bombing 7
4.4 Data diddling 8
4.5 Salami Attacks 9
4.6 Denial Of service Attacks 10
4.7 Virus /Worms Attack 12
4.8 Logic Bomb 12
4.9 Trojan Attacks
4.10 Internet time Theft
4.11 Web jacking

5. Classification 13
5.1 Against Individuals 13
5.2 Against Organizations 14
5.3 Against Society at Large 15
6. Some Case Studies 16
7. Prevention 16
8. Conclusion 17
9. Bibliography 19

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 19
21

List Of Tables
6. Snapshot of Important Cyberlaw Provisions in India 18

6. Computer Related Crimes Covered under Indian Penal Code and Special
Laws  18

List Of Figures
5. The subject of cyber-crime may be broadly classification. 10
6. Statistical data on Cyber Crime. 17

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CHAPTER 1
1. Introduction:

The term ‘cyber crime’ is a misnomer. This term has nowhere been defined in any
statute /Act passed or enacted by the Indian Parliament. The concept of cyber
crime is not radically different from the concept of conventional crime. Both
include conduct whether act or omission, which cause breach of rules of law and
counterbalanced by the sanction of the state.

Before evaluating the concept of cyber crime it is obvious that the concept of
conventional crime be discussed and the points of similarity and deviance between
both these forms may be discussed.

 CONVENTIONAL CRIME-

Crime is a social and economic phenomenon and is as old as the human society.

Crime is a legal concept and has the sanction of the law. Crime or an offence is “a
legal wrong that can be followed by criminal proceedings which may result into
punishment”. The hallmark of criminality is that, it is breach of the criminal law.
Per Lord Atkin “the criminal quality of an act cannot be discovered by reference
to any standard but one: is the act prohibited with penal consequences”.

 A crime may be said to be any conduct accompanied by act or omission

prohibited by law and consequential breach of which is visited by penal
consequences.

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CYBER CRIME-

 Cyber crime is the latest and perhaps the most complicated problem in the cyber
world. “Cyber crime may be said to be those species, of which, genus is the
conventional crime, and where either the computer is an object or subject of the
conduct constituting crime”. “Any criminal activity that uses a computer either as
an instrumentality, target or a means for perpetuating further crimes comes within
the ambit of cyber crime”.

A generalized definition of cyber crime may be “ unlawful acts wherein the

computer is either a tool or target or both”. The computer may be used as a tool in
the following kinds of activity- financial crimes, sale of illegal articles,
pornography, online gambling, intellectual property crime, e-mail spoofing,
forgery, cyber defamation, cyber stalking. The computer may however be target
for unlawful acts in the following cases- unauthorized access to computer/
computer system/ computer networks, theft of information contained in the
electronic form, e-mail bombing, data diddling, salami attacks, logic bombs,
Trojan attacks, internet time thefts, web jacking, theft of computer system,
physically damaging the computer system.

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CHAPTER 2

2. REASONS FOR CYBER CRIME:

Hart in his work “ The Concept of Law” has said ‘human beings are vulnerable
so rule of law is required to protect them’. Applying this to the cyberspace we may
say that computers are vulnerable so rule of law is required to protect and
safeguard them against cyber crime. The reasons for the vulnerability of
computers may be said to be:

a) Capacity to store data in comparatively small space-

The computer has unique characteristic of storing data in a very small space. This
affords to remove or derive information either through physical or virtual medium
makes it much more easier. 

b) Easy to access-

The problem encountered in guarding a computer system from unauthorised

access is that, there is every possibility of breach not due to human error but due
to the complex technology. By secretly implanted logic bomb, key loggers that
can steal access codes, advanced voice recorders, retina imagers etc. that can fool
biometric systems and bypass firewalls can be utilized to get past many a security
system.

c) Complex-

The computers work on operating systems and these operating systems in turn are
composed of millions of codes. Human mind is fallible and it is not possible that
there might not be a lapse at any stage. The cyber criminals take advantage of
these lacunas and penetrate into the computer system.

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d) Negligence-

Negligence is very closely connected with human conduct. It is therefore very

probable that while protecting the computer system there might be any negligence,
which in turn provides a cybercriminal to gain access and control over the
computer system.

e) Loss of evidence-

Loss of evidence is a very common & obvious problem as all the data are
routinely destroyed. Further collection of data outside the territorial extent
also paralyses this system of crime investigation.

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CHAPTER 3

3. CYBER CRIMINALS:

The cyber criminals constitute of various groups/ category. This division may be
justified on the basis of the object that they have in their mind. The following are
the category of cyber criminals-

a) Children and adolescents between the age group of 12 – 18 years-

The simple reason for this type of delinquent behaviour pattern in children is seen
mostly due to the inquisitiveness to know and explore the things.  Other cognate
reason may be to prove themselves to be outstanding amongst other children in
their group. Further the reasons may be psychological even. E.g. the Bal
Bharati (Delhi) case was the outcome of harassment of the delinquent by his
friends.

b) Organised hackers-

These kinds of hackers are mostly organised together to fulfil certain objective.
The reason may be to fulfil their political bias, fundamentalism, etc. The
Pakistanis are said to be one of the best quality hackers in the world. They mainly
target the Indian government sites with the purpose to fulfil their political
objectives. Further the NASA as well as the Microsoft sites is always under attack
by the hackers.

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c) Professional hackers /crackers-

Their work is motivated by the colour of money. These kinds of hackers are
mostly employed to hack the site of the rivals and get credible, reliable and
valuable information. Further they are ven employed to crack the system of the
employer basically as a measure to make it safer by detecting the loophole.

d) Discontented employees-

This group include those people who have been either sacked by their employer or
are dissatisfied with their employer. To avenge they normally hack the system of
their employee.

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CHAPTER 4

4. MODE AND MANNER OF COMMITING CYBER CRIME

4.1 Unauthorized access to computer systems or networks / Hacking-

This kind of offence is normally referred as hacking in the generic sense.

However, the framers of the information technology act 2000 have nowhere
used this term so to avoid any confusion we would not interchangeably use the
word hacking for ‘unauthorized access’ as the latter has wide connotation.

4.2 Theft of information contained in electronic form-

This includes information stored in computer hard disks, removable storage

media etc.  Theft may be either by appropriating the data physically or by
tampering them through the virtual medium.

4.3 Email bombing-

This kind of activity refers to sending large numbers of mail to the victim, which
may be an individual or a company or even mail servers there by ultimately
resulting into crashing. 

4.4 Data diddling-

This kind of an attack involves altering raw data just before a computer processes
it and then changing it back after the processing is completed. The electricity
board faced similar problem of data diddling while the department was being
computerised.

4.5 Salami attacks-

This kind of crime is normally prevalent in the financial institutions or for the
purpose of committing financial crimes. An important feature of this type of

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offence is that the alteration is so small that it would normally go unnoticed. E.g.
the Ziegler case wherein a logic bomb was introduced in the bank’s system, which
deducted 10 cents from every account and deposited it in a particular account.

4.6 Denial of Service attack-

The computer of the victim is flooded with more requests than it can handle which
cause it to crash. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is also a type of
denial of service attack, in which the offenders are wide in number and
widespread. E.g. Amazon, Yahoo.

4.7 Virus / worm attacks-

Viruses are programs that attach themselves to a computer or a file and then
circulate themselves to other files and to other computers on a network. They
usually affect the data on a computer, either by altering or deleting it. Worms,
unlike viruses do not need the host to attach themselves to. They merely make
functional copies of themselves and do this repeatedly till they eat up all the
available space on a computer's memory. E.g. love bug virus, which affected at
least 5 % of the computers of the globe. The losses were accounted to be $ 10
million. The world's most famous worm was the Internet worm let loose on the
Internet by Robert Morris sometime in 1988.  Almost brought development of
Internet to a complete halt.

4.8 Logic bombs-

These are event dependent programs. This implies that these programs are created
to do something only when a certain event (known as a trigger event) occurs.
E.g. even some viruses may be termed logic bombs because they lie dormant all
through the year and become active only on a particular date (like the Chernobyl
virus).

4.9 Trojan attacks-

This term has its origin in the word ‘Trojan horse’. In software field this means an

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unauthorized programme, which passively gains control over another’s system by

representing itself as an authorised programme. The most common form of
installing a Trojan is through e-mail. E.g., a Trojan was installed in the computer
of a lady film director in the U.S. while chatting. The cybercriminal through the
web cam installed in the computer obtained her nude photographs. He further
harassed this lady.

4.10 Internet time thefts-

Normally in these kinds of thefts the Internet surfing hours of the victim are used
up by another person. This is done by gaining access to the login ID and the
password. E.g. Colonel Bajwa’s case- the Internet hours were used up by any
other person. This was perhaps one of the first reported cases related to cyber-
crime in India. However, this case made the police infamous as to their lack of
understanding of the nature of cybercrime.

4.11 Web jacking-

This term is derived from the term hi jacking. In these kinds of offences the hacker
gains access and control over the web site of another. He may even mutilate or
change the information on the site. This may be done for fulfilling political
objectives or for money. E.g. recently the site of MIT (Ministry of Information
Technology) was hacked by the Pakistani hackers and some obscene matter was
placed therein. Further the site of Bombay crime branch was also web jacked.
Another case of web jacking is that of the ‘gold fish’ case. In this case the site was
hacked and the information pertaining to gold fish was changed. Further a ransom
of US $ 1 million was demanded as ransom. Thus web jacking is a process where
by control over the site of another is made backed by some consideration for it.

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CHAPTER 5

CLASSIFICATION:

The subject of cyber-crime may be broadly classified under the following three
groups. They are-

Classification

Against society
Against organization
Against At
Or
Individuals Large
Company

5.1 Against Individuals: –

i. Harassment via e-mails.

ii. Cyber-stalking.
iii. Dissemination of obscene material.
iv. Defamation.
v. Unauthorized control/access over computer system.
vi. Indecent exposure
vii. Email spoofing 
viii. Cheating & Fraud

 Against Individual Property: - 

i. Computer vandalism.
ii. Transmitting virus.
iii. Unauthorized control/access over computer system.
iv. Intellectual Property crimes
v. Internet time thefts

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5.2 Against Organization: -

i. Unauthorized control/access over computer system

ii. Possession of unauthorized information.
iii. Cyber terrorism against the government organization.
iv. Distribution of pirated software etc.

5.3 Against Society at large: -

i.     Pornography (basically child pornography).

ii.    Polluting the youth through indecent exposure.
iii.   Trafficking
iv. Financial crimes
v. Sale of illegal articles
vi. Online gambling
vii. Forgery

The above-mentioned offences may be discussed in brief as follows:

a) Harassment via e-mails- 

Harassment through e-mails is not a new concept. It is very similar to harassing

through letters. Recently I had received a mail from a lady wherein she
complained about the same. Her former boyfriend was sending her mails
constantly sometimes emotionally blackmailing her and also threatening her. This
is a very common type of harassment via e-mails. 

b) Cyber-stalking-

The Oxford dictionary defines stalking as "pursuing stealthily". Cyber stalking  

involves following a person's movements across the Internet by posting messages
(sometimes threatening) on the bulletin boards frequented by the victim, entering
the chat-rooms frequented by the victim, constantly bombarding the victim with
emails etc.

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c) Dissemination of obscene material/ Pornography (basically child

pornography) / Polluting through indecent exposure-

Pornography on the net may take various forms. It may include the hosting of web
site containing these prohibited materials. Use of computers for producing these
obscene materials. Downloading through the Internet, obscene materials. These
obscene matters may cause harm to the mind of the adolescent and tend to deprave
or corrupt their mind. Two known cases of pornography are the Delhi Bal Bharati
case and the Bombay case wherein two Swiss couple used to force the slum
children for obscene photographs. The Mumbai police later arrested them.

d) Defamation-

It is an act of imputing any person with intent to lower the person in the estimation
of the right-thinking members of society generally or to cause him to be shunned
or avoided or to expose him to hatred, contempt or ridicule. Cyber defamation is
not different from conventional defamation except the involvement of a virtual
medium. E.g., the mail account of Rohit was hacked and some mails were sent
from his account to some of his batch mates regarding his affair with a girl with
intent to defame him.

e) Unauthorized control/access over computer system-

 This activity is commonly referred to as hacking. The Indian law has however
given a different connotation to the term hacking, so we will not use the term
"unauthorized access" interchangeably with the term "hacking" to prevent
confusion as the term used in the Act of 2000 is much wider than hacking.

 f) E mail spoofing-

A spoofed e-mail may be said to be one, which misrepresents its origin. It shows
its origin to be different from which actually it originates. Recently spoofed mails
were sent on the name of Mr. Na. Vijaya Shankar (naavi.org), which contained
virus.    

Rajesh Manyar, a graduate student at Purdue University in Indiana, was arrested

for threatening to detonate a nuclear device in the college campus. The alleged e-
mail was sent from the account of another student to the vice president for student
services. However, the mail was traced to be sent from the account of Rajesh
Manyar.

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g) Computer vandalism-

  Vandalism means deliberately destroying or damaging property of another. Thus,

computer vandalism may include within its purview any kind of physical harm
done to the computer of any person. These acts may take the form of the theft of a
computer, some part of a computer or a peripheral attached to the computer or by
physically damaging a computer or its peripherals.

h) Intellectual Property crimes / Distribution of pirated software-

 Intellectual property consists of a bundle of rights. Any unlawful act by which the
owner is deprived completely or partially of his rights is an offence. The common
form of IPR violation may be said to be software piracy, copyright infringement,
trademark and service mark violation, theft of computer source code, etc.

The Hyderabad Court has in a land mark judgement has convicted three people

and sentenced them to six months imprisonment and fine of 50,000 each for
unauthorized copying and sell of pirated software.

i) Cyber terrorism against the government organization-

 At this juncture a necessity may be felt that what is the need to distinguish
between cyber terrorism and cyber-crime. Both are criminal acts. However, there
is a compelling need to distinguish between both these crimes. A cybercrime is
generally a domestic issue, which may have international consequences; however
cyber terrorism is a global concern, which has domestic as well as international
consequences.  The common form of these terrorist attacks on the Internet is by
distributed denial of service attacks, hate websites and hate emails, attacks on
sensitive computer networks, etc.  Technology savvy terrorists are using 512-bit
encryption, which is next to impossible to decrypt. The recent example may be
cited of – Osama Bin Laden, the LTTE, attack on America’s army
deployment system during Iraq war.

Cyber terrorism may be defined to be “the premeditated use of disruptive

activities, or the threat thereof, in cyber space, with the intention to further social,
ideological, religious, political or similar objectives, or to intimidate any person in
furtherance of such objectives”.

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 Another definition may be attempted to cover within its ambit every act of cyber
terrorism.

A terrorist means a person who indulges in wanton killing of persons or in

violence or in disruption of services or means of communications essential to the
community or in damaging property with the view to –

(1) Putting the public or any section of the public in fear; or

(2) Affecting adversely the harmony between different religious, racial, language
or regional groups or castes or communities; or

(3) Coercing or overawing the government established by law; or

(4) Endangering the sovereignty and integrity of the nation

and a cyber terrorist is the person who uses the computer system as a means or
ends to achieve the above objectives. Every act done in pursuance thereof is an act
of cyber terrorism.

j) Trafficking

Trafficking may assume different forms. It may be trafficking in drugs, human

beings, arms weapons etc. These forms of trafficking are going unchecked
because they are carried on under pseudonyms. A racket was busted in Chennai
where drugs were being sold under the pseudonym of honey.

h) Fraud & Cheating

Online fraud and cheating is one of the most lucrative businesses that are growing
today in the cyber space. It may assume different forms. Some of the cases of
online fraud and cheating that have come to light are those pertaining to credit
card crimes, contractual crimes, offering jobs, etc.

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CHAPTER 6
SOME CASES STUDIES:

1. Pune Citi bank Mphasis Call Center Fraud-

US $ 3,50,000 from accounts of four US customers were dishonestly transferred

to bogus accounts. This will give a lot of ammunition to those lobbying against
outsourcing in US. Such cases happen all over the world but when it happens in
India it is a serious matter and we cannot ignore it. It is a case of sourcing
engineering. Some employees gained the confidence of the customer and
obtained their PIN numbers to commit fraud. They got these under the guise of
helping the customers out of difficult situations. Highest security prevails in the
call centers in India as they know that they will lose their business. There was
not as much of breach of security but of sourcing engineering. 

The call center employees are checked when they go in and out so they cannot
copy down numbers and therefore they could not have noted these down. They
must have remembered these numbers, gone out immediately to a cybercafé and
accessed the Citibank accounts of the customers. 

All accounts were opened in Pune and the customers complained that the money
from their accounts was transferred to Pune accounts and that’s how the
criminals were traced. Police has been able to prove the honesty of the call
center and has frozen the accounts where the money was transferred. 

There is need for a strict background check of the call center executives.
However, best of background checks cannot eliminate the bad elements from
coming in and breaching security. We must still ensure such checks when a
person is hired. There is need for a national ID and a national data base where a
name can be referred to. In this case preliminary investigations do not reveal
that the criminals had any crime history. Customer education is very important
so customers do not get taken for a ride. Most banks are guilt of not doing this. 

2. Parliament Attack Case-

Bureau of Police Research and Development at Hyderabad had handled some of

the top cyber cases, including analyzing and retrieving information from the
laptop recovered from terrorist, who attacked Parliament. The laptop which was
seized from the two terrorists, who were gunned down when Parliament was
under siege on December 13 2001, was sent to Computer Forensics Division of
BPRD after computer experts at Delhi failed to trace much out of its contents. 

The laptop contained several evidences that confirmed of the two terrorists’

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motives, namely the sticker of the Ministry of Home that they had made on the
laptop and pasted on their ambassador car to gain entry into Parliament House
and the fake ID card that one of the two terrorists was carrying with a
Government of India emblem and seal. 

The emblems (of the three lions) were carefully scanned and the seal was also
craftily made along with residential address of Jammu and Kashmir. But careful
detection proved that it was all forged and made on the laptop.

3. Andhra Pradesh Tax Case-

Dubious tactics of a prominent businessman from Andhra Pradesh was exposed

after officials of the department got hold of computers used by the accused person.
The owner of a plastics firm was arrested and Rs 22 crore cash was recovered
from his house by sleuths of the Vigilance Department. They sought an
explanation from him regarding the unaccounted cash within 10 days. 

The accused person submitted 6,000 vouchers to prove the legitimacy of trade and
thought his offence would go undetected but after careful scrutiny of vouchers and
contents of his computers it revealed that all of them were made after the raids
were conducted. 

It later revealed that the accused was running five businesses under the guise of
one company and used fake and computerized vouchers to show sales records and
save tax.

4. Baazee.com case-

CEO of Baazee.com was arrested in December 2004 because a CD with

objectionable material was being sold on the website. The CD was also being sold
in the markets in Delhi. The Mumbai city police and the Delhi Police got into
action. The CEO was later released on bail. This opened up the question as to
what kind of distinction do we draw between Internet Service Provider and
Content Provider. The burden rests on the accused that he was the Service
Provider and not the Content Provider. It also raises a lot of issues regarding how
the police should handle the cyber-crime cases and a lot of education is required.

SELECTED ASIA / PACIFIC CASES: 

The following section provides a selection of actions taken against file-sharing

Web sites and P2P services in the Asia/Pacific region, focusing on Australia,
China, Japan and South Korea. 

1. In Australia’s largest copyright infringement case, three university students

received criminal sentences for running a Web site called MP3/WMA Land,
which offered more than 1,800 pirated songs for download. In light of their age at

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the time and the fact that they never profited from their actions, the court
warranted 18-month suspended sentences for two of the students and an additional
fine of US$5,000 for one of them.

2. Reportedly, China has become a leading exporter of counterfeit and pirated

goods to the world. The U.S. industry estimates the value of counterfeit goods in
China at US$19 billion to US$24 billion, with losses to U.S. companies exceeding
US$1.8 billion a year. The severe piracy problems derive from a combination of
cultural, historic and economic factors and are further aggravated by inconsistent,
weak enforcement by officials. File-sharing Web sites and networks such as
Jelawat and Kuro have been developing rapidly, too. The distributors of P2P
software claim that file-sharing falls within the private use exception to copyright,
but the Supreme People’s Court of China rejected this interpretation. Increasingly,
copyright owners and right organizations are challenging file-sharing Web sites on
copyright infringement claims. 

Statistical data on Cyber Crime:

Complaints and Losses over the Last Five Years

301,580
2017 $1.4 Billion 2.76 Million
Total Complaints
351,937
2018 $2.7 Billion $18.7 Billion
Total Losses
467,361
2019 $3.5 Billion

791,790
2020 $4.2 Billion

847,376
2021 $6.9 Billion

Complaints Losses

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Snapshot of Important Cyberlaw Provisions in India

 
Section under
Offence
IT Act
Tampering with Computer source
Sec.65
documents
Hacking with Computer systems, Data
Sec.66
alteration
Publishing obscene information Sec.67
Un-authorized access to protected
Sec.70
system
Breach of Confidentiality and Privacy Sec.72
Publishing false digital signature
Sec.73
certificates
 
 

Computer Related Crimes Covered under Indian Penal Code and Special
Laws 
 
Offence Section
Sending threatening messages by
Sec 503 IPC
email
Sending defamatory messages by
Sec 499 IPC
email
Forgery of electronic records Sec 463 IPC
Bogus websites, cyber frauds Sec 420 IPC
Email spoofing Sec 463 IPC
Web-Jacking Sec 383 IPC
E-Mail Abuse Sec 500 IPC
Online sale of Drugs NDPS Act
Online sale of Arms Arms Act

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CHAPTER 7

PREVENTION OF CYBER CRIME:

Prevention is always better than cure. It is always better to take certain
precaution while operating the net. One should make this his part of cyber
life. Mr. Saileshkumar Zarkar, technical advisor and network security
consultant to the Mumbai Police Cyber-crime Cell, advocates the 5P
mantra for online security: Precaution, Prevention, Protection,
Preservation and Perseverance.  A citizen should keep in mind the
following things-

 To prevent cyber stalking avoid disclosing any information

pertaining to oneself. This is as good as disclosing your identity to
strangers in public place.
 Always avoid sending any photograph online particularly to
strangers and chat friends as there have been incidents of misuse of
the photographs.
 Always use latest and update anti-virus software to guard against
virus attacks.
 Always keep back up volumes so that one may not suffer data loss in
case of virus contamination.
 Never send your credit card number to any site that is not secured, to
guard against frauds.
 Always keep a watch on the sites that your children are accessing to
prevent any kind of harassment or depravation in children.
 It is better to use a security programme that gives control over the
cookies and send information back to the site as leaving the cookies
unguarded might prove fatal.
 Web site owners should watch traffic and check any irregularity on
the site. Putting host-based intrusion detection devices on servers
may do this.
 Use of firewalls may be beneficial. They provide access to only known
users, or people who the user permits.

 Web servers running public sites must be physically separate

protected from internal corporate network.

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CHAPTER 8
CONCLUSION:

Capacity of human mind is unfathomable. It is not possible to eliminate cyber-

crime from the cyber space. It is quite possible to check them. History is the
witness that no legislation has succeeded in totally eliminating crime from the
globe. The only possible step is to make people aware of their rights and duties (to
report crime as a collective duty towards the society) and further making the
application of the laws more stringent to check crime. Undoubtedly the Act is a
historical step in the cyber world. Further I all together do not deny that there is a
need to bring changes in the Information Technology Act to make it more
effective to combat cyber-crime.
However, a lot of work  has  to be  done in this field. Just as human mind is  
ingenious enough    to devise   new ways for perpetuating crime, similarly,
human ingenuity needs to be channelized into developing effective legal and
regulatory mechanisms to control and prevent Cybercrimes.
I would conclude with a word of caution for the pro-legislation school that it
should be kept in mind that the provisions of the cyber law are not made so
stringent that it may retard the growth of the industry and prove to be counter-
productive.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Ndubueze, P.N., Cyber Criminology: Contexts, Concerns and Directions,
Ahmadu Bello University Press, Kaduna State, Nigeria, July 2018.

 Ghate, S. and Agrawal, P.K., A Literature Review on Cyber Security in

Indian Context. J. Compute. Inf. Technol., 8, 5, 30−36, 20th October,
2017.

 J. Dudovskiy, Google Patent, Jul. 14, 2016, Pub. No.: US 2016/0203337

A1.

 Gunjan, V.K., Kumar, A., Avdhanam, S., A Survey of Cyber Crime in

India. Conference: ICACT 2013At: Rajampet, Andhra Pradesh, India,
September 2013.

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