4 Cyber Torts

CYBER TORTS AND
CYBER CRIMES
• Cyber torts are the latest and perhaps the most
complicated problem in the cyber world.
• Cyber torts can be said to be those torts where
either the computer is an object or subject of the
conduct constituting a tort.
• Any civil wrong that uses a computer either as
an instrument, target or a means, comes within
the ambit of cyber tort
• A generalized definition of cyber tort may be “unlawful acts
wherein the computer is either a tool or target or both.
• Computer may be used as a tool in financial crimes,
pornography, online gambling, intellectual property crimes,
forgery, cyber defamation, cyber stalking.
• The computer may however be a target for unlawful acts in the
following cases - unauthorized access to computer/computer
system/computer networks, theft of information contained in
electronic form, e-mail bombing, theft of computer system,
physically damaging the computer system, etc.
 Q. How did Internet come into existence?
Birth Of Internet Litigation
 The Internet, which began as the U.S. Defense Department’s
ARPANET (Advance research projects agency network), was
designed to link computer networks to various radio and satellite
networks.
 The first case to mention the Internet was United States v. Morris in
1991. The defendant, Robert Morris was a graduate student who had
released an Internet worm (Morris Worm) that paralyzed thousands of
university and military computers throughout the United States.
 In the same year, Robert Riggs was prosecuted for gaining
unauthorized access to a computer and misappropriating proprietary
information about the telephone company’s 911 system. He
subsequently published this confidential data in a hacker newsletter.
• It was not until 1994 that any plaintiff succeeded in an Internet
tort case.
• In a controversial decision in Rindos vs Hardwick, an
anthropologist was denied a tenured position at the University of
West Australia. A rival anthropologist, Hardwick, posted a
statement supporting the university’s decision and accusing
Rindos of sexual deviance and of research detrimental to the
aboriginal people of Australia.
• Although an Australian court decided this case and awarded
damages, the vast majority of subsequent cyber torts cases have
been litigated in America.
• During the past decade, American tort law is beginning to
evolve to address online injuries such as Internet defamation, e-
mail stalking, spamming, etc.
Distinction Between Conventional And Cyber
Tort
• There is apparently no distinction between cyber and

conventional tort. However on a deep introspection
we may say that there exists a fine line of
demarcation between the conventional and cyber tort,
which is appreciable.
• The demarcation lies in the involvement of the
medium in cases of cyber tort. The sine qua non for
cyber tort is that there should be an involvement, at
any stage, of the virtual cyber medium i,e. Cyber
Space.
Reasons For Occurrence Of Cyber Torts:
• HLA Hart in his work “The Concept of Law”
has said that‘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 individuals
against cyber torts.
Mode And Manner Of Committing Cyber
Torts:
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
2002 have nowhere used this term. The term “unauthorised
access” has a wider connotation than the term “hacking”.
2 Theft of information contained in electronic form-This includes

information stored in computer hard disks, removable storage
media, magnetic disks, flash memory devices etc. Theft may be
either by appropriating or rather misappropriating the data
physically or by tampering them through the virtual medium.
3 Email bombing- This kind of activity refers to sending large numbers of e-
mails to the victim, which may be an individual or a company or even mail
servers there by ultimately resulting into crashing.
4 Salami attacks- This kind of crime is normally prevalent in the financial

institutions for the purpose of committing financial crimes. An important
feature of this type of offence is that the deduction 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.
5 Denial of Service attack- The computer of the victim is flooded with more
requests than it can handle which cause it to crash.
6 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.
7 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.
8 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.
9 Web jacking-This term is derived from the term hijacking. 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 in the Case of
MIT (Ministry of Information Technology) its site was hacked by the
Pakistani hackers and some obscene matter was placed therein.
Who Are Generally 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-
1 Children and adolescents between the age group of 6–

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.
2 Organized hackers-These kinds of hackers are mostly
organised together to fulfil certain objectives. The reason may
be to fulfil their political ideals, fundamentalism, etc.
3 Professional hackers/crackers – Their work is motivated by

money. These kinds of hackers are mostly employed to hack
the site of the rivals and get credible, reliable and valuable
information.
A Broad Classification Of Cyber Tort.:
1 Harassment via e-mails- Harassment through e-mails is not a new concept.

It is very similar to harassing through letters.
2 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.
3 Dissemination of obscene material/ Indecent exposure/ Pornography
(basically child pornography) / Polluting through indecent exposure
4 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
5 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
6 E mail spoofing- A spoofed e-mail may be said to be one, which

misrepresents its origin. It shows it's origin to be different from which actually
it originates
7 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.
8 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.
9 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.
Distinction Between Cyber Crime And
Cyber Tort
• There is specific distinction between cyber crime and cyber torts
which has to be cleared when we are discussing cyber torts.
• The cyber crime includes hacking/cracking, Possession of

unauthorised information, cyber terrorism against government
organisations, distribution of pirated software , harassment
through emails , cyber stalking , dissemination of obscene
material on the internet , defamation, hacking/cracking, indecent
exposure , computer vandalism, transmitting virus , internet
intrusion, unauthorised control over computer systems,
pornography, exposing the youth to indecent material ,
Trafficking.
Cyber torts include cyber stalking , breach of
privacy, cyber obscenity and cyber defamation.
So there may be some elements which may be

common in both but there are several differences
between the two.
Statutory Provisions:
• The Indian parliament considered it necessary to give effect to
the resolution by which the General Assembly adopted Model
Law on Electronic Commerce adopted by the United Nations
Commission on Trade Law. As a consequence of which The
Information Technology Act 2000 was passed and enforced on
17 May 2000.
• The Preamble of this Act states its objective to legalise E-
commerce and further amend the Indian Penal Code 1860, The
Indian Evidence Act 1872, The Banker’s Book Evidence Act,
1891 and The Reserve Bank of India Act 1934. The basic
purpose to incorporate the changes in these Acts is to make them
compatible with the Act of 2000. So that they may regulate and
control the affairs of the cyber world in an effective manner.

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CYBER TORTS AND

• There is apparently no distinction between cyber and

2 Theft of information contained in electronic form-This includes

4 Salami attacks- This kind of crime is normally prevalent in the financial

1 Children and adolescents between the age group of 6–

3 Professional hackers/crackers – Their work is motivated by

1 Harassment via e-mails- Harassment through e-mails is not a new concept.

2 Cyber-stalking- The Oxford dictionary defines stalking as "pursuing

4 Defamation:- It is an act of imputing any person with intent to lower the

5 Unauthorized control/access over computer system:-This activity is

6 E mail spoofing- A spoofed e-mail may be said to be one, which

8 Intellectual Property crimes / Distribution of pirated software:- Intellectual

• The cyber crime includes hacking/cracking, Possession of

So there may be some elements which may be

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