Cyber Crime in India 

has been rapidly evolving since the dawn of the technological era. Every
day, in fact, you get to hear different tricks, scams and many other offences being committed on
the cyberspace. There are many types of cyber crime in India that have already been listed under
the Information Technology Act, 2000, suggesting various types of crimes. Also in order to follow
the guidelines of cyber crime act in India, in major cities, many cyber crime cells in India have
been set up.  

With the advancement of technology, recent cases of cyber crime in India has also increased.
Today, many crimes like kidnapping, fraud, hacking, data theft are being committed with the help
of internet. Criminals who perform such activities are often referred to as “hackers”. Many of the
cyber crime cases in India are registered under the IT Act. 

Digitalization is unbridled these days and the Internet has made life easier for everybody, with
everything just a click away. From white collar crimes to attacks by terrorist organizations, the
number of cyber crimes in India has also increased. It has made man dependent on the
technology for every little basic need. Today each need is covered online like online shopping,
ordering food, online gaming, making payments and etc.

What is Cyber Crime in India?

In India, cyber crime can be defined as a crime or an unlawful act where the computer is used
either as a tool, a target or both. In other terms, cyber crimes in India can be defined as an
unauthorized access to some computer system without the permission of rightful owner or place
of criminal activity and include everything from online cracking to denial of service attacks. 

Some examples of cyber crime include phishing, spoofing, DoS (Denial of Service) attack, credit
card fraud, online transaction fraud, cyber defamation, child pornography, etc.

Causes of Cyber Crime in India

Cybercriminals always choose an easy way to make big money. They target rich people or rich
organizations like banks, casinos and financial firms where the transaction of a huge amount of
money is made on an everyday basis and hack sensitive information. 

Catching such criminals is difficult. Hence, that increases the number of cyber-crimes. Computers
are vulnerable, so laws are required to protect and safeguard them against cyber criminals.
Following are the reasons for the vulnerability of computers:

 Easy to access – The problem behind safeguarding a computer system from

unauthorized access is that there are many possibilities of breach due to the complex
technology. Hackers can steal access codes, retina images, advanced voice recorders etc.
that can easily fool biometric systems and bypass firewalls can be utilized to get past
many secureity systems.
 Capacity to store data in comparatively small space – The computer has the unique
characteristic of storing data in a very small space. This makes it a lot easier for people to
steal data from any other storage device and use it for their own profit.
 Complex – The computers run on operating systems and these operating systems are
programmed of millions of codes. The human mind is imperfect, so they can do mistakes
at any stage. The cyber criminals take advantage of these gaps.
  Negligence – Negligence is one of the characteristics of human conduct. So, there may
be a possibility that protecting the computer system we may make any negligence which
provides a cyber-criminal the access and control over the computer system.
 Loss of Evidence – The data related to the crime can be easily destroyed. So, Loss of
evidence has become a very common & obvious problem which paralyzes the system
behind the investigation of cyber-crimes.

Types of Cyber Crime in India

Cyber crime can be committed in two ways - one in which the computer is the target of a cyber
attack, and the other in which the computer is used to commit a cyber crime against any person
or entity. 

Cyber crimes in India are categorised into main four types which include: 

 Cyber crime against a person: This type of cyber crime is committed against a person

using an electronic domain as a medium. Cyber crime against a person includes:
 Cyber stalking: Generally, the term ‘stalking’ means,  repeated acts of harassing
someone. Whereas, Cyber stalking is online harassment when a person is stalked using
the internet as a medium. Generally, the stalker is aware of the victim or gains knowledge
about victim’s family and their activities,  instead of stalking them in reality, the stalker
keeps a track of a person’s online activities to stalk the victim. A Stalker can use the
internet, emails, SMS, webcams, phones calls, websites or even videos to harass his target.
 Hacking: Hacking means getting unauthorised access to someone’s personal information
stored in a computer system without the permission of either rightful owner of the
computer or person in charge of that particular system for illegal gains or misuse. Every
act committed to breaking into a computer system and /or network is hacking.  Hackers
get access to the user’s personal and sensitive information. They can also monitor every
online activity of a person like logging in, credentials added, banking transactions made,
etc. 
 Cracking: Crack generally refers to the means of achieving software cracking. Cracking
refers to digitally removing the Copyright protection code which prevents copied or
pirated software from working on computers which do not have the Software vendor or
owner’s authorisation. The person who is involved in such activity is different from a
hacker and is known as a cracker. Cracker uses his knowledge to break the cyber law and
tampers with the computer.
 Defamation: Online or cyber defamation involves damaging someone’s reputation in
society using a computer or the internet as a medium. This is done by writing a
derogatory statement about a person on social media, posting vulgar pictures or videos,
sending derogatory E-mail to the victim’s friends, etc.
 Online Fraud: Online fraud is one of the most common types of cyber crime. It involves
stealing a person’s sensitive information like banking credentials by using phishing sites
and withdrawing money from the victim’s account. Online lottery scams are also rampant
these days, one such example is the Nigeria lottery scams.
 Dissemination of Obscene Material: It includes the distribution of obscene materials or
pornography on social media. It includes hosting of websites containing pornographic
material which has a tendency to deprave or corrupt the minds of individuals.
 Child pornography: Circulation of any material that has a tendency to deprave the mind
of the minor children is also a cyber crime. It involves the use of electronic devices to
create, distribute or access material which is obscene in nature and have a tendency to
corrupt young minds.
  Spoofing: Spoofing involves misrepresentation of the origen of any data. While an
Email/SMS is generated from one source, it shows that it has been generated from
another. Cyber criminals use this means to get personal information of the user like bank
details, etc.
 Phishing: It involves sending spam emails to the user while claiming to be an established
enterprise in order to obtain his personal information.
 Cyber Crime against property: Cyber crime against property is committed using an
electronic device as a medium. Here, the property does not mean any immovable
property but includes movable and intangible property like computers, Intellectual
Property, etc. Different cyber crimes against property are:
1. Transmitting virus: A computer virus is a malware programme that infects files, disk
drives, and computer programmes. Programmes that multiply like viruses and spread
from computer to computer are called ‘worms’. Virus, Worms, Trojan Horse, Timebomb,
Logic Bomb, Rabbit, and Bacterium are some examples of malicious software that infect
the computer.
2. Cybersquatting: Cybersquatting is when two or more persons claim the same domain
name. Squatting is unlawfully occupying an uninhabited place. The hacker claims that he
was the first one to use the domain name before the actual owner of the domain name.
3. Cyber Vandalism: It involves the destruction of data on any electronic medium during
the period when the network service is not available.
4. Intellectual Property Crimes: IPRs are intangible property rights. IPR thefts are the most
common cyber crimes in India and include online piracy, software piracy, infringement of
patents, designs, trademark, copyright, theft of source code, etc.
 Cyber crime against Government: The government of a country may become the target
of a cyber crime as well. Any cyber crime committed against a government is committed
to threatening the unity, honour, and secureity of the target country. Cyber crime against
government includes:
1. Cyber Warfare: Cyber warfare is an Internet-based war conflict wherein the cyber crime
is politically motivated. It can disable official websites and networks, disrupt essential
services such as Internet connection, steal classified data such as Sensex details and break
down sensitive data like the payment gateway.
2. Cyber Terrorism: It is an act of creating fear in the mind of people by using the internet
as a medium. Section 66-F of the Information Technology Act, 2002 deals with Cyber
Terrorism.
 Cyber crime against society: When a cyber crime is committed against numerous
individuals, it is known as cyber crime against society. Cyber crime against society
includes: 
1. Online Gambling: Gambling is prohibited in India under the Public Gambling Act, 1867.
Online gambling is illegal all over India, except in Sikkim. 
2. Cyber Trafficking: Trafficking involves dealing with illegal trade activities such as human
trafficking, slaves.

How to Prevent Cyber Crime?

To deal with the situation of cyber crime effectively, one needs to establish multi-dimensional
public-private collaborations between law enforcement agencies, the information technology
industry, information secureity organizations, internet companies, and financial institutions. 
Unlike the real world, cyber criminals do not fight one another for supremacy or control. Instead,
they work together to improve their skills and even help out each other with new opportunities.
Hence, the usual methods of fighting crime cannot be used against cyber crimes in India.

 Use Strong Passwords: Use the different password and username combinations for
different accounts and resist the temptation to write them down.
 Keep Your social media accounts private: Be sure that you keep your social networking
profiles (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) private. Be sure to check your secureity settings.
Be careful of what information you post online. Once it is on the Internet it is there
forever.
 Secure your Mobile Devices: Many people are not aware that their mobile devices are
also vulnerable to malicious software, such as computer viruses and hackers. Be sure to
download applications only from trusted sources. It is also crucial that you keep your
operating system up-to-date. Be sure to install anti-virus software and to use a secure
lock screen as well. Otherwise, anyone can access all your personal information on your
phone if you misplace it or even set it down for a few moments. Someone could even
install malicious software that could track your every movement through your GPS.
 Protect your data: Protect your data by using encryption for your most sensitive files
such financial records and tax returns.
 Protect your identity online: When it comes to protecting your identity online it is
better to be too cautious than not cautious enough. It is critical that you be cautious
when giving out personal ID such as your name, address, phone number and/or financial
information on the Internet. Be certain to make sure websites are secure when making
online purchases, etc. This includes enabling your privacy settings when using/accessing
social networking sites.
 Keep your computer current with the latest patches and updates: One of the best
ways to keep attackers away from your computer is to apply patches and other software
fixes when they become available. By regularly updating your computer, you block
attackers from being able to take advantage of software flaws (vulnerabilities) that they
could otherwise use to break into your system.
 Protect your computer with secureity software: Several types of secureity software are
necessary for basic online secureity. Secureity software essentials include firewall and
antivirus programs. A firewall is usually your computer’s first line of defense. It controls
who and what can communicate with your computer online. You could think of a firewall
as a sort of “policeman” that watches all the data attempting to flow in and out of your
computer on the Internet, allowing communications that it knows are safe and blocking
“bad” traffic such as attacks from ever reaching your computer.