Cyber Law of India : Introduction

In Simple way we can say that cyber crime is unlawful acts wherein the computer is either a tool or a target or
both

Cyber crimes can involve criminal activities that are traditional in nature, such as theft, fraud,
forgery, defamation and mischief, all of which are subject to the Indian Penal Code. The abuse
of computers has also given birth to a gamut of new age crimes that are addressed by the
Information Technology Act, 2000.
We can categorize Cyber crimes in two ways
The Computer as a Target :-using a computer to attack other computers.
e.g. Hacking, Virus/Worm attacks, DOS attack etc.
The computer as a weapon :-using a computer to commit real world crimes.
e.g. Cyber Terrorism, IPR violations, Credit card frauds, EFT frauds, Pornography etc.
Cyber Crime regulated by Cyber Laws or Internet Laws.
Technical Aspects
Technological advancements have created new possibilities for criminal activity, in particular the criminal
misuse of information technologies such as
a. Unauthorized access & Hacking:Access means gaining entry into, instructing or communicating with the logical, arithmetical, or memory
function resources of a computer, computer system or computer network.
Unauthorized access would therefore mean any kind of access without the permission of either the rightful
owner or the person in charge of a computer, computer system or computer network.
Every act committed towards breaking into a computer and/or network is hacking. Hackers write or use readymade computer programs to attack the target computer. They possess the desire to destruct and they get the
kick out of such destruction. Some hackers hack for personal monetary gains, such as to stealing the credit
card information, transferring money from various bank accounts to their own account followed by withdrawal
of money.
By hacking web server taking control on another persons website called as web hijacking
b. Trojan Attack:The program that act like something useful but do the things that are quiet damping. The programs of this kind
are called as Trojans.
The name Trojan Horse is popular.
Trojans come in two parts, a Client part and a Server part. When the victim (unknowingly) runs the server on
its machine, the attacker will then use the Client to connect to the Server and start using the trojan.
TCP/IP protocol is the usual protocol type used for communications, but some functions of the trojans use the
UDP protocol as well.
c. Virus and Worm attack:-

A program that has capability to infect other programs and make copies of itself and spread into other
programs is called virus.
Programs that multiply like viruses but spread from computer to computer are called as worms.
d. E-mail & IRC related crimes:1. Email spoofing
Email spoofing refers to email that appears to have been originated from one source when it was actually sent
from another source. Please Read
2. Email Spamming
Email "spamming" refers to sending email to thousands and thousands of users - similar to a chain letter.
3 Sending malicious codes through email
E-mails are used to send viruses, Trojans etc through emails as an attachment or by sending a link of website
which on visiting downloads malicious code.
4. Email bombing
E-mail "bombing" is characterized by abusers repeatedly sending an identical email message to a particular
address.
5. Sending threatening emails
6. Defamatory emails
7. Email frauds
8. IRC related
Three main ways to attack IRC are: "verbal8218;?#8220; attacks, clone attacks, and flood attacks.
e. Denial of Service attacks:Flooding a computer resource with more requests than it can handle. This causes the resource to crash thereby
denying access of service to authorized users.
Examples include
attempts to "flood" a network, thereby preventing legitimate network traffic
attempts to disrupt connections between two machines, thereby preventing access to a service
attempts to prevent a particular individual from accessing a service
attempts to disrupt service to a specific system or person.

India: An Overview Of Cyber Laws vs. Cyber Crimes:

In Indian Perspective
Last Updated: 12 August 2013
Article by Rohit K. Gupta
Singh & Associates

Due to immense increase in the use of Internet and dependency of individuals in every field, a number
of new crimes related to Computer and other gadgets based on internet have evolved in the
society. Such crimes where use of computers coupled with the use of Internet is involved are broadly
termed as Cyber Crimes.

Governing Laws
There was no statute in India for governing Cyber Laws involving privacy issues, jurisdiction issues,
intellectual property rights issues and a number of other legal questions. With the tendency of
misusing of technology, there arisen a need of strict statutory laws to regulate the criminal activities in
the cyber world and to protect the true sense of technology"INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACT,
2000" [ITA- 2000] was enacted by Parliament of India to protect the field of e-commerce, egovernance, e-banking as well as penalties and punishments in the field of cyber crimes. The above
Act was further amended in the form of IT Amendment Act, 2008 [ITAA-2008].
The ITA-2000 defines 'Computer' means any electronic magnetic, optical or other high-speed data
processing device or system which performs logical, arithmetic, and memory functions by
manipulations of electronic, magnetic or optical impulses, and includes all input, output, processing,
storage, computer software, or communication facilities which are connected or related to the
computer in a computer system or computer network. The word 'computer' and 'computer system'
have been so widely defined and interpreted to mean any electronic device with data processing
capability, performing computer functions like logical, arithmetic and memory functions with input,
storage and output capabilities and therefore any high-end programmable gadgets like even a
washing machine or switches and routers used in a network can all be brought under the definition.

Scope and applicability

The scope and applicability of ITA-2000 was increased by its amendment in 2008. The word
'communication devices' inserted having an inclusive definition, taking into its coverage cell phones,
personal digital assistance or such other devices used to transmit any text, video etc like what was
later being marketed as iPad or other similar devices on Wi-fi and cellular models. Though ITA- 2000
defined 'digital signature', however said definition was incapable to cater needs of hour and therefore
the term 'Electronic signature' was introduced and defined in the ITAA -2008 as a legally valid mode of
executing signatures. This includes digital signatures as one of the modes of signatures and is far
broader in ambit covering biometrics and other new forms of creating electronic signatures not
confining the recognition to digital signature process alone.
The new amendment has replaced Section 43 with Section 66. The Word "hacking" used in Section
66 of earlier Act has been removed and named as "data theft" in this section and has further been
widened in the form of Sections 66A to 66F. The section covers the offences such as the sending of
offensive messages through communication service, misleading the recipient of the origin of such
messages, dishonestly receiving stolen computers or other communication device, stealing electronic
signature or identity such as using another persons' password or electronic signature, cheating by
personation through computer resource or a communication device, publicly publishing the
information about any person's location without prior permission or consent, cyber terrorism, the acts
of access to a commuter resource without authorization, such acts which can lead to any injury to any
person or result in damage or destruction of any property, while trying to contaminate the computer
through any virus like Trojan etc. The offences covered under section 66 are cognizable and nonbailable. Whereas, the consequence of Section 43 of earlier Act were Civil in nature having its remedy
in the form of damages and compensation only, but under Section 66 of the Amendment Act, if such
act is done with criminal intention that is mens rea, then it will attract criminal liability having remedy in
imprisonment or fine or both.

Adjudication

Adjudication powers and procedures have been dealt in Sections 46 and thereafter. As per the Act,
the Central Government may appoint any officer not below the rank of a director to the Government of
India or a state Government as the adjudicator. The I.T. Secretary in any state is normally the
nominated Adjudicator for all civil offences arising out of data thefts and resultant losses in the
particular state. Very few applications were received during first 10 years of existence of the ITA, that
too in the major metros only. However, the trend of receiving complaint under ITA is rapidly growing.
The first adjudication obtained under this provision was in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in a case involving
ICICI Bank in which the bank was told to compensate the applicant with the amount wrongfully
debited in Internet Banking, along with cost and damages. There is an appellate procedure under this
process and the composition of Cyber Appellate Tribunal at the national level, has also been
described in the Act. Every adjudicating officer has the powers of a civil court and the Cyber Appellate
Tribunal has the powers vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure.

The major Acts , which got amended after enactment of ITA

The Indian Penal Code, 1860
The Indian Penal Code was amended by inserting the word 'electronic' thereby treating the electronic
records and documents on a par with physical records and documents. The Sections dealing with
false entry in a record or false document etc (e.g. 192, 204, 463, 464, 464, 468 to 470, 471, 474, 476
etc) have since been amended as 'electronic record and electronic document' thereby bringing within
the ambit of IPC. Now, electronic record and electronic documents has been treated just like physical
records and documents during commission of acts of forgery or falsification of physical records in a
crime. After the above amendment, the investigating agencies file the cases/ charge-sheet quoting the
relevant sections from IPC under section 463,464, 468 and 469 read with the ITA/ITAA under Sections
43 and 66 in like offences to ensure the evidence and/or punishment can be covered and proved
under either of these or under both legislation.

The Indian Evidence Act 1872

Prior to enactment of ITA, all evidences in a court were in the physical form only. After existence of
ITA, the electronic records and documents were recognized. The definition part of Indian Evidence Act
was amended as "all documents including electronic records" were substituted. Other words e.g.
'digital signature', 'electronic form', 'secure electronic record' 'information' as used in the ITA, were
also inserted to make them part of the evidentiary importance under the Act. The important
amendment was seen by recognition of admissibility of electronic records as evidence as enshrined in
Section 65B of the Act.

The Bankers' Books Evidence (BBE) Act 1891:

Before passing of ITA, a bank was supposed to produce the original ledger or other physical register
or document during evidence before a Court. After enactment of ITA, the definitions part of the BBE
Act stood amended as: "'bankers ' books' include ledgers, day-books, cashbooks, account-books and
all other books used in the ordinary business of a bank whether kept in the written form or as printouts
of data stored in a floppy, disc, tape or any other form of electro-magnetic data storage device". When
the books consist of printouts of data stored in a floppy, disc, tape etc, a printout of such entry
...certified in accordance with the provisions ....to the effect that it is a printout of such entry or a copy
of such printout by the principal accountant or branch manager; and (b) a certificate by a person incharge of computer system containing a brief description of the computer system and the particulars
of the safeguards adopted by the system to ensure that data is entered or any other operation
performed only by authorized persons; the safeguards adopted to prevent and detect unauthorized
change of data ...to retrieve data that is lost due to systemic failure or ....
The above amendment in the provisions in Bankers Books Evidence Act recognized the printout from
a computer system and other electronic document as a valid document during course of evidence,
provided, such print-out or electronic document is accompanied by a certificate in terms as mentioned
above.

Issues not covered under ITA

ITA and ITAA is though landmark first step and became mile-stone in the technological growth of the
nation; however the existing law is not sufficed. Many issues in Cyber crime and many crimes are still
left uncovered.
Territorial Jurisdiction is a major issue which is not satisfactorily addressed in the ITA or ITAA.
Jurisdiction has been mentioned in Sections 46, 48, 57 and 61 in the context of adjudication process
and the appellate procedure connected with and again in Section 80 and as part of the police officers'
powers to enter, search a public place for a cyber crime etc. Since cyber crimes are basically
computer based crimes and therefore if the mail of someone is hacked in one place by accused sitting
far in another state, determination of concerned P.S., who will take cognizance is difficult. It is seen
that the investigators generally try to avoid accepting such complaints on the grounds of jurisdiction.
Since the cyber crime is geography-agnostic, borderless, territory-free and generally spread over
territories of several jurisdiction; it is needed to proper training is to be given to all concerned players
in the field.
Preservation of evidence is also big issue. It is obvious that while filing cases under IT Act, very often,
chances to destroy the necessary easily as evidences may lie in some system like the intermediaries'
computers or sometimes in the opponent's computer system too.
However, most of the cyber crimes in the nation are still brought under the relevant sections of IPC
read with the comparative sections of ITA or the ITAA which gives a comfort factor to the investigating
agencies that even if the ITA part of the case is lost, the accused cannot escape from the IPC part.

Conclusion
Society as on today is happening more and more dependent upon technology and crime based on
electronic offences are bound to increase. Endeavor of law making machinery of the nation should be
in accordance with mile compared to the fraudsters, to keep the crimes lowest. Hence, it should be
the persistent efforts of rulers and law makers to ensure that governing laws of technology contains
every aspect and issues of cyber crime and further grow in continuous and healthy manner to keep
constant vigil and check over the related crimes.

Q.1. What is Cybercrime ?

When Internet was developed, the founding fathers of Internet hardly had any inclination that Internet could also
be misused for criminal activities. Today, there are many disturbing things happening in cyberspace. Cybercrime
refers to all the activities done with criminal intent in cyberspace. These could be either the criminal activities in
the conventional sense or could be activities, newly evolved with the growth of the new medium. Because of the
anonymous nature of the Internet, it is possible to engage into a variety of criminal activities with impunity and
people with intelligence, have been grossly misusing this aspect of the Internet to perpetuate criminal activities in
cyberspace. The field of Cybercrime is just emerging and new forms of criminal activities in cyberspace are
coming to the forefront with the passing of each new day.
Q.2. Do we have any one exhaustive definition of Cybercrime ?
There can be no one exhaustive definition about Cybercrime. However, any activities which basically offend
human sensibilities, can also be included in its ambit. Child Pornography on the Internet constitutes one serious
Cybercrime. Similarly, online pedophiles, using internet to induce minor children into sex, are as much
Cybercriminals as any others.
Q.3. What are the various categories of Cybercrimes ?
Cybercrimes can be basically divided into 3 major categories being Cybercrimes against persons, property and
Government.

Q.4. Tell us more information about Cybercrimes against persons ?

Cybercrimes committed against persons include various crimes like transmission of child-pornography,
harassment of any one with the use of a computer such as e-mail, and cyber-stalking.
The trafficking, distribution, posting, and dissemination of obscene material including pornography, indecent
exposure, and child pornography, constitutes one of the most important Cybercrimes known today. The potential
harm of such a crime to humanity can hardly be overstated. This is one Cybercrime which threatens to
undermine the growth of the younger generation as also leave irreparable scars and injury on the younger
generation, if not controlled.
Q.5. Is Cyber harassment also a Cybercrime ?
Cyber harassment is a distinct Cybercrime. Various kinds of harassment can and does occur in cyberspace, or
through the use of cyberspace. Harassment can be sexual, racial, religious, or other. Persons perpetuating such
harassment are also guilty of cybercrimes. Cyber harassment as a crime also brings us to another related area of
violation of privacy of netizens. Violation of privacy of online citizens is a Cybercrime of a grave nature. No one
likes any other person invading the precious and extremely touchy area of his or her own privacy which the
medium of Internet grants to the netizen.
Q.6. What are Cybercrimes against property ?
The second category of Cybercrimes is that of Cybercrimes against all forms of property. These crimes include
unauthorized computer trespassing through cyberspace, computer vandalism, transmission of harmful programs,
and unauthorized possession of computerized information.
Q.7. Is hacking a Cybercrime ?
Hacking and cracking are amongst the gravest Cybercrimes known till date. It is a dreadful feeling to know that a
stranger has broken into your computer systems without your knowledge and consent and has tampered with
precious confidential data and information. Coupled with this , the actuality is that no computer system in the
world is hacking proof. It is unanimously agreed that any and every system in the world can be hacked. The
recent denial of service attacks seen over the popular commercial sites like E-bay, Yahoo, Amazon and others
are a new category of Cybercrimes which are slowly emerging as being extremely dangerous. Using one's own
programming abilities as also various programmes with malicious intent to gain unauthorized access to a
computer or network are very serious crimes. Similarly, the creation and dissemination of harmful computer
programs or virii which do irreparable damage to computer systems is another kind of Cybercrime. Software
piracy is also another distinct kind of Cybercrime which is perpetuated by many people online who distribute
illegal and unauthorised pirated copies of software.
Q.8. What is Cybercrime against Government ?
The third category of Cybercrimes relate to Cybercrimes against Government. Cyber Terrorism is one distinct
kind of crime in this category. The growth of Internet has shown that the medium of Cyberspace is being used by
individuals and groups to threaten the international governments as also to terrorise the citizens of a country. This
crime manifests itself into terrorism when an individual &"cracks&" into a government or military maintained
website.
Q.9. Is there any comprehensive law on Cybercrime today ?
Since Cybercrime is a newly specialised field, growing in Cyberlaws, a lot of development has to take place in
terms of putting into place the relevant legal mechanism for controlling and preventing Cybercrime. As of now,
there is absolutely no comprehensive law on Cybercrime any where in the world. This is reason that the
investigating agencies like FBI are finding the Cyberspace to be an extremely difficult terrain. These various
Cybercrimes fall into that grey area of Internet law which is neither fully nor partially covered by the existing laws
and that too in some countries.
Q.10. Is there any recent case which demonstrates the importance of having Cyberlaw on Cybercrime
within the national jurisdictions of countries ?
The most recent case of the virus "I love you" demonstrates the need for having cyberlaws concerning
Cybercrimes in different national jurisdictions. At the time of the web publication of this feature, Reuters has
reported that "The Philippines has yet to arrest the suspected creator of the 'Love Bug' computer virus because it

lacks laws that deal with computer crime, a senior police officer said". The fact of the matter is that there are no
laws relating to Cybercrime in the Philippines. The National Bureau of Investigation is finding it difficult to legally
arrest the suspect behind the 'Love Bug' computer virus. As such, the need for countries to legislate Cyberlaws
relating to Cybercrime arises on an urgent priority basis.
Q.11. What is the approach adopted by US Courts regarding Cybercrimes ?
The courts in United States of America have already begun taking cognizance of various kinds of fraud and
Cybercrimes being perpetuated in Cyberspace. For the victims of various Cybercrimes, there is no one healing
remedy. They can either file for civil damages or wait for the culprits to be nabbed and then to be tried under
provisions, existing or envisaged which are not comprehensive at all. 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 channelised into developing effective legal and regulatory mechanisms to control and
prevent Cybercrimes.
Q.12. Why do we need to fight Cybercrime ?
We all must remember that Cyberspace is a common heritage of ours which we have inherited in our life times
from the benefits of ever growing technologies. This Cyberspace is the lifeline of the entire universe and given its
irreversible position today, it is the duty of every netizen to contribute toward making the said cyberspace free of
any trouble or cybercrime. To rephrase the famous words of Rabindra Nath Tagore in today's context, "Where the
Cyberspace is without fear or crime and the head is held high, where knowledge is free, where tireless striving
stretches its arms towards perfection, .. into that cyber heaven of freedom, O my father, let our humanity
awake."

In the era of cyber world as the usage of computers became more popular, there was expansion
in the growth of technology as well, and the term Cyberbecame more familiar to the people.
The evolution of Information Technology (IT) gave birth to the cyber space wherein internet
provides equal opportunities to all the people to access any information, data storage, analyse
etc. with the use of high technology. Due to increase in the number of netizens, misuse of
technology in the cyberspace was clutching up which gave birth to cyber crimes at the domestic
and international level as well.

Though the word Crime carries its general meaning as a legal wrong that can be followed by
criminal proceedings which may result into punishment whereas Cyber Crime may be
unlawful acts wherein the computer is either a tool or target or both.

The world 1st computer specific law was enacted in the year 1970 by the German State of Hesse
in the form of Data Protection Act, 1970 with the advancement of cyber technology. With the
emergence of technology the misuse of technology has also expanded to its optimum level and
then there arises a need of strict statutory laws to regulate the criminal activities in the cyber
world and to protect technological advancement system. It is under these circumstances Indian
parliament passed its INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACT, 2000 on 17th oct to have its
exhaustive law to deal with the technology in the field of e-commerce, e-governance, e-banking
as well as penalties and punishments in the field of cyber crimes.

Cyber Crimes Actually Means: It could be hackers vandalizing your site,

viewing confidential information, stealing trade secrets or intellectual property
with the use of internet. It can also include denial of services and viruses
attacks preventing regular traffic from reaching your site. Cyber crimes are not
limited to outsiders except in case of viruses and with respect to security related
cyber crimes that usually done by the employees of particular company who can
easily access the password and data storage of the company for their benefits.
Cyber crimes also includes criminal activities done with the use of computers
which further perpetuates crimes i.e. financial crimes, sale of illegal articles,
pornography, online gambling, intellectual property crime, e-mail, spoofing,
forgery, cyber defamation, cyber stalking, unauthorized access to Computer
system, theft of information contained in the electronic form, e-mail bombing,
physically damaging the computer system etc.

Classifications Of Cyber Crimes: Cyber Crimes which are growing day by

day, it is very difficult to find out what is actually a cyber crime and what is the
conventional crime so to come out of this confusion, cyber crimes can be
classified under different categories which are as follows:

1. Cyber Crimes against Persons:

There are certain offences which affects the personality of individuals can be defined as:

Harassment via E-Mails: It is very common type of harassment through

sending letters, attachments of files & folders i.e. via e-mails. At present
harassment is common as usage of social sites i.e. Facebook, Twitter etc.
increasing day by day.

Cyber-Stalking: It means expressed or implied a physical threat that creates

fear through the use to computer technology such as internet, e-mail, phones,
text messages, webcam, websites or videos.

Dissemination of Obscene Material: It includes Indecent exposure/

Pornography (basically child pornography), hosting of web site containing these
prohibited materials. These obscene matters may cause harm to the mind of the
adolescent and tend to deprave or corrupt their mind.

Defamation: It is an act of imputing any person with intent to lower down the
dignity of the person by hacking his mail account and sending some mails with
using vulgar language to unknown persons mail account.

Hacking: It means unauthorized control/access over computer system and

act of hacking completely destroys the whole data as well as computer
programmes. Hackers usually hacks telecommunication and mobile network.

Cracking: It is amongst the gravest cyber crimes known till date. It is a

dreadful feeling to know that a stranger has broken into your computer systems

without your knowledge and consent and has tampered with precious
confidential data and information.

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.

SMS Spoofing: Spoofing is a blocking through spam which means the

unwanted uninvited messages. Here a offender steals identity of another in the
form of mobile phone number and sending SMS via internet and receiver gets
the SMS from the mobile phone number of the victim. It is very serious cyber
crime against any individual.

Carding: It means false ATM cards i.e. Debit and Credit cards used by
criminals for their monetary benefits through withdrawing money from the
victims bank account mala-fidely. There is always unauthorized use of ATM
cards in this type of cyber crimes.

Cheating & Fraud: It means the person who is doing the act of cyber crime
i.e. stealing password and data storage has done it with having guilty mind
which leads to fraud and cheating.

Child Pornography: It involves the use of computer networks to create,

distribute, or access materials that sexually exploit underage children.

Assault by Threat: refers to threatening a person with fear for their lives or
lives of their families through the use of a computer network i.e. E-mail, videos
or phones.

2. Crimes Against Persons Property:

As there is rapid growth in the international trade where businesses and consumers are
increasingly using computers to create, transmit and to store information in the electronic form
instead of traditional paper documents. There are certain offences which affects persons
property which are as follows:

Intellectual Property Crimes: 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, infringement of copyright, trademark, patents, designs and
service mark violation, theft of computer source code, etc.

Cyber Squatting: It means where two persons claim for the same Domain
Name either by claiming that they had registered the name first on by right of
using it before the other or using something similar to that previously. For
example two similar names i.e. www.yahoo.com and www.yaahoo.com.

Cyber Vandalism: Vandalism means deliberately destroying or damaging

property of another. Thus cyber vandalism means destroying or damaging the

data when a network service is stopped or disrupted. It 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.

Hacking Computer System: Hacktivism attacks those included Famous

Twitter, blogging platform by unauthorized access/control over the computer.
Due to the hacking activity there will be loss of data as well as computer. Also
research especially indicates that those attacks were not mainly intended for
financial gain too and to diminish the reputation of particular person or company.

Transmitting Virus: 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. Worm attacks plays major role in affecting the
computerize system of the individuals.

Cyber Trespass: It means to access someones computer without the right

authorization of the owner and does not disturb, alter, misuse, or damage data
or system by using wireless internet connection.

Internet Time Thefts: Basically, Internet time theft comes under hacking. It
is the use by an unauthorised person, of the Internet hours paid for by another
person. The person who gets access to someone elses ISP user ID and
password, either by hacking or by gaining access to it by illegal means, uses it to
access the Internet without the other persons knowledge. You can identify time
theft if your Internet time has to be recharged often, despite infrequent usage.

3. Cybercrimes Against Government:

There are certain offences done by group of persons intending to threaten the international
governments by using internet facilities. It includes:

Cyber Terrorism: Cyber terrorism is a major burning issue in the domestic

as well as global concern. 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. Cyber terrorism activities
endanger the sovereignty and integrity of the nation.

Cyber Warfare: It refers to politically motivated hacking to conduct sabotage

and espionage. It is a form of information warfare sometimes seen as analogous
to conventional warfare although this analogy is controversial for both its
accuracy and its political motivation.

Distribution of pirated software: It means distributing pirated software

from one computer to another intending to destroy the data and official records
of the government.

Possession of Unauthorized Information: It is very easy to access any

information by the terrorists with the aid of internet and to possess that
information for political, religious, social, ideological objectives.

4. Cybercrimes Against Society at large:

An unlawful act done with the intention of causing harm to the cyberspace will affect large
number of persons. These offences includes:

Child Pornography: It involves the use of computer networks to create,

distribute, or access materials that sexually exploit underage children. It also
includes activities concerning indecent exposure and obscenity.

Cyber Trafficking: It may be trafficking in drugs, human beings, arms

weapons etc. which affects large number of persons. Trafficking in the
cyberspace is also a gravest crime.

Online Gambling: Online fraud and cheating is one of the most lucrative
businesses that are growing today in the cyber space. There are many cases
that have come to light are those pertaining to credit card crimes, contractual
crimes, offering jobs, etc.

Financial Crimes: This type of offence is common as there is rapid growth in

the users of networking sites and phone networking where culprit will try to
attack by sending bogus mails or messages through internet. Ex: Using credit
cards by obtaining password illegally.

Forgery: It means to deceive large number of persons by sending

threatening mails as online business transactions are becoming the habitual
need of todays life style.

Affects To Whom: Cyber Crimes always affects the companies of any size because almost
all the companies gain an online presence and take advantage of the rapid gains in the
technology but greater attention to be given to its security risks. In the modern cyber world cyber
crimes is the major issue which is affecting individual as well as society at large too.
Need of Cyber Law: information technology has spread throughout the world. The computer
is used in each and every sector wherein cyberspace provides equal opportunities to all for
economic growth and human development. As the user of cyberspace grows increasingly diverse
and the range of online interaction expands, there is expansion in the cyber crimes i.e. breach of
online contracts, perpetration of online torts and crimes etc. Due to these consequences there
was need to adopt a strict law by the cyber space authority to regulate criminal activities relating
to cyber and to provide better administration of justice to the victim of cyber crime. In the modern
cyber technology world it is very much necessary to regulate cyber crimes and most importantly
cyber law should be made stricter in the case of cyber terrorism and hackers.
Penalty For Damage To Computer System: According to the Section: 43 of
Information Technology Act, 2000 whoever does any act of destroys, deletes, alters and disrupts

or causes disruption of any computer with the intention of damaging of the whole data of the
computer system without the permission of the owner of the computer, shall be liable to pay fine
upto 1crore to the person so affected by way of remedy. According to the Section:43A which is
inserted by Information Technology(Amendment) Act, 2008 where a body corporate is
maintaining and protecting the data of the persons as provided by the central government, if
there is any negligent act or failure in protecting the data/ information then a body corporate shall
be liable to pay compensation to person so affected. And Section 66 deals with hacking with
computer system and provides for imprisonment up to 3 years or fine, which may extend up to 2
years or both.

Case Study-Attacks on Cyberspace:

Worm Attack: The Robert Tappan Morris well Known as First Hacker, Son of
former National Security Agency Scientist Robert Morris, was the first person to
be prosecuted under the Computer and Fraud Act, 1986. He has created worm
while at Cornell as student claiming that he intended to use the worm to check
how large the internet was that time. The worm was uncontrollable due to which
around 6000 computer machines were destroyed and many computers were
shut down until they had completely malfunctioned. He was ultimately
sentenced to three years probation, 400 hours of community service and
assessed a fine of $10500. So there must be strict laws to punish the criminals
who are involved in cyber crime activities.

Hacker Attack: Fred Cohen, a Ph.D.

student at the University of Southern California wrote a short program in the
year 1983, as an experiment, that could infect computers, make copies of
itself, and spread from one machine to another. It was beginning & it was hidden
inside a larger, legitimate program, which was loaded into a computer on a
floppy disk and many computers were sold which can be accommodate at
present too. Other computer scientists had warned that computer viruses were
possible, but Cohens was the first to be documented. A professor of his
suggested the name virus. Cohen now runs a computer security firm.

Internet Hacker: Wang Qun, who was known by the nickname of playgirl,
was arrested by chinese police in the Hubei province first ever arrest of an
internet hacker in China. He was a 19 year old computing student, arrested in
connection with the alleged posting of pornographic material on the homepages
of several government-run web sites. Wang had openly boasted in internet chat
rooms that he had also hacked over 30 other web sites too.

Preventive Measures For Cyber Crimes:

Prevention is always better than cure. A netizen should take certain precautions while operating
the internet and should follow certain preventive measures for cyber crimes which can be defined
as:

Identification of exposures through education will assist responsible

companies and firms to meet these challenges.

One should avoid disclosing any personal information to strangers via e-mail
or while chatting.

One must avoid sending any photograph to strangers by online as misusing of

photograph incidents increasing day by day.

An update Anti-virus software to guard against virus attacks should be used

by all the netizens and should also keep back up volumes so that one may not
suffer data loss in case of virus contamination.

A person should never send his credit card number to any site that is not
secured, to guard against frauds.

It is always the parents who have to keep a watch on the sites that your
children are accessing, to prevent any kind of harassment or depravation in
children.

Web site owners should watch traffic and check any irregularity on the site. It
is the responsibility of the web site owners to adopt some policy for preventing
cyber crimes as number of internet users are growing day by day.

Web servers running public sites must be physically separately protected from
internal corporate network.

It is better to use a security programmes by the body corporate to control

information on sites.

Strict statutory laws need to be passed by the Legislatures keeping in mind

the interest of netizens.

IT department should pass certain guidelines and notifications for the

protection of computer system and should also bring out with some more strict
laws to breakdown the criminal activities relating to cyberspace.

As Cyber Crime is the major threat to all the countries worldwide, certain
steps should be taken at the international level for preventing the cybercrime.

A complete justice must be provided to the victims of cyber crimes by way of

compensatory remedy and offenders to be punished with highest type of
punishment so that it will anticipate the criminals of cyber crime.

Conclusion:
Since users of computer system and internet are increasing worldwide, where it is easy to access
any information easily within a few seconds by using internet which is the medium for huge
information and a large base of communications around the world. Certain precautionary
measures should be taken by netizens while using the internet which will assist in challenging
this major threat Cyber Crime.

Cyber Crimes in India an Introduction

Sponsored links

Introduction to Cyber Crimes in India

Crime, in whatever forms it is, directly or indirectly, always affects the society. In todays world,
there is immense increase in the use of Internet in every field of the society and due to this
increase in usage of Internet, a number of new crimes have evolved. Such crimes where use of
computers coupled with the use of Internet is involved are broadly termed as Cyber Crimes.
But under Indian law Cybercrime as such has not been defined under any legislation. One
legislation that deals with the offences related to such crimes in India is Information
Technology Act, 2000, which was also further amended in the form of IT Amendment Act,
2008. But these two important legislations also do not include any definition for
cybercrime. If looked into practicality, it is not at all easy to define this term. In order to
define such an offense, when the nature of such offense is seen, it is a combination of crime and
computer. So, it can be said that, when in commission of any offense computer is used, that can
be termed as cyber crime. Now, the question arises as to what the term cyber law will be
compromised of. By looking at the working definition of cybercrime, one can reach a conclusion
that cyber law is a term which is related to all the legal issues involving computer and
Internet. It is even more difficult to come up with a definition for the term cyber law as it is an
intersection of various fields. It involves privacy issues, jurisdiction issues, intellectual property
rights issues and a number of other legal questions. In India, what can basically be termed as
cyber law are theIT act 2000 and its amended version in the form of the IT (Amendment)
act, 2008.
The Information Technology Act, 2000 basically deals with the legal recognition of electronic
documents and that of digital signatures. This Act incorporates a separate Chapter XI entitled
Offences to deal with various cyber crimes and contraventions. This act also deals with Justice
dispensation systems for various cyber crimes. The act was widely criticised on various fronts and

due this criticism detailed amendments were brought in the form of IT Amendment Act, 2008.
Major of such amendments were the focus on data privacy and information security. Even though
legal recognition of digital signatures was already included under the original Act of 2000, but
the Amendment Act, 2008 made the digital signature technology-neutral. Along with, the
defining of reasonable security practices to be followed by the Corporate, the role of
intermediaries was also redefined. Very importantly, the term cyber cafe was defined under this
Act. Offences like child pornography and cyber terrorism were also included is the forms of cyber
crimes. Cyber terrorism has been made a heinous cyber crime under this Act and has been
defined in the widest possible terms and made punishable with imprisonment which may extend
to imprisonment for life and fine.
An important change that has been brought forth by the Amendment Act is that the new
amendment has replaced Section 43 with Section 66. Under Section 66 the Word hacking has
been removed, but that does not mean that hacking as an offence has been removed; instead
hacking still remains an offence by the name of data theft in this section. This section has
further been widened in the form of Sections 66A to 66F. 66A deals with the sending of offensive
messages through communication service, and causing annoyance to any electronic
communication, and also includes the offence of misleading the recipient of the origin of such
messages. Such offences can be punished with imprisonment for 3 years or fine. 66B deals with
dishonestly receiving stolen computers or other communication device and such a crime can be
punished with three years of imprisonment or fine of Rs.1 Lakh or both. 66C deals with stealing
electronic signature or identity such as using another persons password or electronic signature,
such an offence can be punished with three years of imprisonment or fine of Rs. 1 lakh or both.
Similar is the punishment under section 66D for cheating by personation through computer
resource or a communication device. 66E covers the offences relating to privacy violation such as
publicly publishing the information about any persons location without prior permission or
consent. 66F is great importance as it deals with cyber terrorism. This Section covers a wide
range of offences which can be termed as terrorism; Such as, any act denying access to any
authorised person to access the computer in order to hamper the unity, integrity, security or
sovereignty of the nation. Further, this section also includes the acts of access to a commuter
resource without authorisation. It also covers such acts which can lead to any injury to any
person or result in damage or destruction of any property, while trying to contaminate the
computer through any virus like Trojan etc. All the offences that are covered under this Section
can be punished with life imprisonment. Very importantly, the offences which are covered under
section 66 are cognizable and non-bailable. The major transformation from section 43 of the
original act to Section 66 of the Amendment Act is that, that all the offences that were covered
under Section 43 gave rise to civil liability which had its remedy in either compensation or
damages. But under Section 66 of the Amendment Act if such act is done with criminal intention
that is mens rea, then it will attract criminal liability having remedy in imprisonment or fine or

both. Moreover, under Sections 71, 72, 73 of the Information Technology Act 2000 some acts or
omissions have been made criminally liable with strict liability e.g. Penalty for breach of
confidentiality and privacy, penalty for misrepresentation etc. Section 67 of the original Act dealt
with publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form but the scope of this section
was widened by the amendment which included child pornography under section 67-B and also
the act of retention of records by the intermediaries. And such offences under section 67-A will be
punished with conviction of a term up to 3 years and fine of Rs.5 lakh and in case it is the second
conviction then conviction will be for five years and fine of Rs.10 Lack or both. But for offence
under section 67-B the provision is for stricter conviction which is for 5 years and fine of Rs. 10
Lakh or both in case of first conviction, and the same will be increased to 7 years and fine of Rs.
10 lakh in case of second conviction.
To conclude it can be said that, it has been provided in the preamble of the Information
Technology Act 2000 that this act was passed in order to give legal recognition for transactions
done through electronic means, and to improve further, this act has also made amendments to
the Indian Penal Code 1860, Indian Evidence Act 1872, The Bankers Books of Evidence Act 1891,
and the Reserve Bank of India Act 1934 in order to further the same objective. This act has
defined various offences and also has laid down certain penalties as well. This act in a way has
characterised the cyber crimes, which were earlier unknown to general public in India. This Act
has made Cyber offences to be investigated only by a Police Officer not below the rank of the
Inspector((now), Deputy Superintendent of Police((earlier). Even though this piece of legislation
has proved to be a big leap in the field of cyber crimes, there still is a need for further changes
which can improve its efficacy such as there is lack of effective mechanism for the appropriate
retention of electronic evidence. So, an effective methodology in that regard can be chalked out.

Cyber crime against women in

India
by Debarati Halder*
Introduction
Cyber crime is a global phenomenon. With the advent of technology, cyber crime and
victimization of women are on the high and it poses as a major threat to the security
of a person as a whole. Even though India is one of the very few countries to enact IT
Act 2000 to combat cyber crimes, issues regarding women still remain untouched in
this Act. The said Act has termed certain offences as hacking, publishing of obscene
materials in the net, tampering the data as punishable offences. But the grave threat
to the security of women in general is not covered fully by this Act.

Cyberbullying can affect everyone, including children. SafetyWeb provides support for
parents to improve internet safety for kids.
Types
of
cyber
crime
that
are
committed
against
women:
Amongst the various cyber crimes committed against individuals and society at large
the crimes which can be mentioned as specially targeting women are as follows:
1.Harassment via e-mails.
2.Cyber-stalking.
3.Cyber pornography.
4.Defamation.
5.Morphing.
6.Email spoofing.

Brief discussions of these offences are as follows:

I. Harassment through e-mails is not a new concept. It is very similar to harassing through
letters. Harassment includes blackmailing, threatening, bullying, and even cheating via email. Eharassments are similar to the letter harassment but creates problem quite often when posted
from fake ids.
II. Cyber stalking is one of the most talked about net crimes in the modern world. 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. Cyber Stalking usually occurs with women, who are
stalked by men, or children who are stalked by adult predators or paedophiles. Typically, the
cyber stalker's victim is new on the web, and inexperienced with the rules of netiquette &
Internet safety. Their main targets are the mostly females, children, emotionally weak or
unstable, etc. It is believed that Over 75% of the victims are female. The motives behind cyber
stalking have been divided in to four reasons, namely, for sexual harassment, for obsession for
love, for revenge and hate and for ego and power trips. Cyber stalkers target and harass their
victims via websites, chat rooms, discussion forums, open publishing websites (e.g. blogs and
Indy media) and email. The availability of free email and website space, as well as the anonymity
provided by these chat rooms and forums, has contributed to the increase of cyber stalking as a
form
of
harassment.
There are a couple of reported cases, which speak of the position of the cyber stalking in India.
The recent being the case of Manish Kathuria who was recently arrested by the New Delhi Police.
He was stalking an Indian lady, Ms Ritu Kohli by illegally chatting on the Web site MIRC using her
name. He used obscene and obnoxious language, and distributed her residence telephone
number, inviting people to chat with her on the phone. As a result of which, Ritu kept getting
obscene calls from everywhere, and people promptly talked dirty with her. In a state of shock,

she called the Delhi police and reported the matter. For once, the police department did not waste
time swinging into action, traced the culprit and slammed a case under Section 509 of the Indian
Penal Code for outraging the modesty of Ritu Kohli (Indianchild, 2005). In an other case, an
engineering and management graduate, facing prosecution in a dowry harassment case, was
arrested by Delhi police for sending obscene e-mails in his wifes name to several persons. In
June 2000, a man was arrested by the Delhi police for assuming the identify of his ex-employers
wife in a chat channel an encouraging others to telephone net. The victim who was getting
obscene telephone calls at night from stranger made a complaint to the police. The accused was
then located on line in the chat room under the identity of the, victim and later traced through
the telephone number used by him to access the internet (Mishra, 2001).
III. Cyber pornography is the other threat to the female netizens. This would include
pornographic websites; pornographic magazines produced using computers (to publish and print
the material) and the Internet (to download and transmit pornographic pictures, photos, writings
etc).
Internet has provided a medium for the facilitation of crimes like pornography. Cyber porn as it is
popularly called is widespread. Almost 50% of the web sites exhibit pornographic material on the
Internet today. Pornographic materials can be reproduced more quickly and cheaply on
new media like hard disks, floppy discs and CD-Roms. The new technology is not merely an
extension of the existing forms like text, photographs and images. Apart from still pictures and
images, full motion video clips and complete movies are also available. Another great
disadvantage with a media like this is its easy availability and accessibility to children who can
now log on to pornographic web-sites from their own houses in relative anonymity and the social
and legal deterrents associated with physically purchasing an adult magazine from the stand are
no longer present. Furthermore, there are more serious offences which have universal
disapproval like child pornography and far easier for offenders to hide and propagate through the
medium of the internet. Recent Indian incidents revolving around cyber pornography include the
Air Force Balbharati School case. A student of the Air Force Balbharati School, Delhi, was teased
by all his classmates for having a pockmarked face. Tired of the cruel jokes, he decided to get
back at his tormentors. He scanned photographs of his classmates and teachers, morphed them
with nude photographs and put them up on a website that he uploaded on to a free web hosting
service. It was only after the father of one of the class girls featured on the website objected and
lodged a complaint with the police that any action was taken.
In another incident, in Mumbai a Swiss couple would gather slum children and then would force
them to appear for obscene photographs. They would then upload these photographs to websites
specially designed for paedophiles. The Mumbai police arrested the couple for pornography.
IV. Cyber defamation: Cyber tort including libel and defamation is another common crime
against women in the net. This occurs when defamation takes place with the help of computers
and / or the Internet. E.g. someone publishes defamatory matter about someone on a website or
sends e-mails containing defamatory information to all of that person's friends
V. Morphing: Morphing is editing the original picture by unauthorised user or fake identity. It was
identified that females pictures are downloaded by fake users and again re-posted/uploaded on
different websites by creating fake profiles after editing it. This amounts to violation of I.T. Act,
2000 and attracts sec. 43 & 66 of the said Act. The violator can also be booked under IPC also.
The Times of India reported that in October, a Delhi-based beautician told the police that her

photograph was flashed on a porno portal along with her mobile number.
VI. Email 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. A review in the
CyberlawTimes.com shows that India has crossed the danger mark in cyber crime targeting
women and children. Statistics show, and law enforcers confirm, that the maximum number of
cyber crimes related to obscenity occurred in Mumbai last year. There were at least 40 cases in
2006 (of which only ten were registered), a steep rise from only five cases in 2005.Delhi was
close behind, with 30 obscenity-related cases (nine registered), but topped in cases of hacking.
Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune reported only a handful of obscene crimes but saw a
greater incidence of hacking.
The more common method used by men is to email vulgar photographs of themselves to women,
praising their beauty, and asking them for a date or inquiring how much they charge for
services. Besides sending explicit messages via e-mail, SMS and chat, many also morph
photographs - placing the victims face on another, usually nude, body. In another instance, a
couple entered an internet chat room agreeing to strip for each other using a web camera. The
guy stripped, but the person at the other end was actually another man and his friends, who
obviously didnt. They recorded it and uploaded the clip on a porno website, said Duggal.These
things happen in every city but only one in every 500 cases is reported, added Duggal.
According to Borwankar, most cases go unreported because people are petrified of adverse
publicity. While Mumbai is battling obscenity, other cities are concerned about hacking. While
Delhi reported 67 cases last year, there were 30 in Bangalore.
Provisions of the IT Act 2000 relating to cyber crime and offences against women in
India and the loopholes of the said Act:
Unfortunately even though Chapter XI of the IT Act deals with the offences such as Tampering
with computer source documents (s.65), Hacking with computer system (s66), publishing of
information which is obscene in electronic form (s.67) Access to protected system(s70), Breach
of confidentiality and privacy(s. 72), Publication for fraudulent purpose(s.74) IT Act 2000 still
needs to be modified. It does not mention any crime specifically as against women and children.
The elementary problems, which are associated with Cyber-Crimes, are Jurisdiction, Loss of
evidence, Lack of cyber army and Cyber savy judges who are the need of the day. Judiciary plays
a vital role in shaping the enactment according to the order of the day. One such stage, which
needs appreciation, is the P.I.L., which the Kerela high Court has accepted through an email.
Today with the growing arms of cyberspace the growing arms of cyberspace
the territorial boundaries seems to vanish thus the concept of territorial jurisdiction as envisaged
under S.16 of C.P.C. and S.2.of the I.P.C. will have to give way to alternative method of dispute
resolution.
Again, under no section in IT ACT 2000, Obscenity personal viewing Is an offence, infact like
in IPC 292 again if it is proved that you have published or transmitted or caused to be published
in the electronic form only then under Section 67 it can be an offence. Last but not the least, the
IT Act 2000 does not mention the typical cyber crimes like cyber stalking, morphing and email
spoofing as offences.

Conclusion:
Indian women netizens are still not open to immediately report the cyber abuse or cyber crime.
The biggest problem of cyber crime lies in the modus operandi and the motive of the cyber
criminal. Cyber space is a transit space for many people, including offenders. While people do not
live in cyber space, they come and go like any other place. This nature provides the offenders the
chance to escape after the commission of cyber crime. Many websites and blogs provide security
tips for the safety of women and children in the net. But still then cyber crime against women are
on rise.
In reality it is seen many chat friends enjoy teasing their women friends by words such as sexy,
attractive which are the virtual beginning of cyber obscenity. They slowly take their female
friends into confidence and start discussing about their own problems like a true friend. Hence in
many occasions they are successful in turning the net friendship into a strong bond and gradually
proceed to send obscene or derogatory remarks. If the recipient shies away, the sender of such
messages would become more encouraged to continue. The problem would be solved only when
the victimised woman then and there report back or even warn the abuser about taking strong
actions.

* Debarati Halder is an advocate. She is presently working as a legal researcher from

India in the international project titled Cyber Bullying: A Project to address the policy
vacuum and develop international guidelines for schools funded by the SSHRC Canada.
Debarati halder can be contacted at debaratihalder@gmail.com and her personal
website is http://www.debaratihalder.co.nr

Cyber Crime Cases Registered in India : 2010-11

Some Indian Case Studies:

1 Cyber Crimes
There is a big rise in the Cyber Crimes (as per Information
Technology Act, 2000) in India. There were 4192 cyber crimes in
2013 which were 2761 in 2012. If one considers such crimes as per
Indian Penal Code also, the number of crimes were 5500. Police has
arrested 3301criminals in this regard.
Under Information Technology Act, 2000, there were 681 and 635
crimes in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh respectively. In these
two states there is 50 per cent rise in cyber crimes. As per National
Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB), in 2013 there was 122 per cent
increase in cyber crimes in India. Such crimes in other states
were : Karnatak (513), Kerala (349), Madhya Pradesh (282) and
Rajasthan (239).
In the state of Gujarat, such crimes were 68 in 2012 and 61 in
2013.
(Gujarat Samachar, Ahmedabad).
3 July, 2014

2 NET NEUTRALITY
Last week, a legislation has been introduced in Senate and House of Representatives of US to ban deals
where web content companies could pay internet service providers to deliver their traffic to users faster and
more reliably. In US, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is collecting public comments on new Net
Neutrality rules.
The rules propose to prohibit internet providers from blocking or slowing down access to web sites. It is
required that internet is a platform for free expression where the services can reach consumers based on

merit rather than based on a financial relationship with a broad band provider. For real internet freedom, this
is a basic requirement.
(Times of India, Ahmedabad)
19 June, 2014
3 Internet cannot override privacy
In a recent judgement, Court of Justice of European Union has opined that a person has right to instruct the
internet search engines like google to keep certain personal information of individuals as secret. The Hon.
Court opined that to view all the details available on internet, may be dangerous may a times, therfore, a
person has the right to instruct the search engines to keep certain personal information as secret, and not
accessible. This ruling provides a level of protection against invasion of privacy.
4 Unsafe Wi-Fi Zones
Usually the internet is assessed through computer or laptop. However, the use of internet through smart
phones is increasing. Also, there are many open/free Wi-Fi zones in malls, offices, hotels and other places.
This may be accessed by hackers and terrorists. By and large, such Wi-Fi zones are unsafe and it requires
proper security. This is because, many a times it may be difficult to trace the users since it is openly used by
anyone.
5 BitCoin
Bitcoin was first coined by Santoshi Nakamoto, a Chinese, in 2009. In 2012, its value was $1000. A Bitcoin is
mined on a privately owned, specialized computing equipment and passed around by a global network of
computers. The transactions are traceable, but the parties are not. In November, 2013, peoples Bank of
China objected the use of Bitcoin and told that it is not a recognized currency. Therefore, its value dropped tp
$345.
Asia's first Bitcoin ATM was installed in Singapore in February, 2014. However, the reguators and lawmakers
have raised a concern that this is not a recognized currency, and be used for fraudulent purposes.
6 Open Source Licensing
Open source licensing is resorted to by many sites. However this has certain legal issues. Basically there can
be an issue of copyright. Other relevant issues are questions of enforceability on account of clash of local
legislation and international agreement. The rights of a programmer warranties and software patent also
needs to detailed study.
7 Cyber Jurisdiction
Internet creates virtual world. There are no demarcated boundaries between the people who utilize the web.
The utility extends to information, e-banking, e-commerce, communication etc. the technology is open to
hacking, pornography, gambling, identity-theft etc.
This requires understanding of jurisdiction. Various principles have been evolved to decide the jurisdiction. To
mention (1) minimum contest test (2) personal jurisdiction (3) long arm statutes. With reference to Indian
situation section 75 of Information Technology Act, 2000 contents the provisions regarding jurisdiction.
Section 13(3), (4) and (5) also deal with cause of action which is of significance in internet transactions.
Jurisdiction can also be decided on the basis of choice of law, location of server, defendants domicile, and
place of performance of contract, plaintiffs domicile and purposeful availment.
8 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 computerised vouchers to show sales records and save tax.
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 Australias 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 the time and the fact that they never profited from their actions, the court warranted 18month suspended sentences for two of the students and an additional fine of US$5,000 for one of them.
Moreover, one student and a third participant were given 200 hours of community service.
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 Peoples Court of China rejected this interpretation. Increasingly, copyright owners and right
organizations are challenging file-sharing Web sites on copyright infringement claims.
3. The Beijing No 1 Peoples Court ruled in April 2004 that the Web site chinamp3.com violated the IP rights
of Hong Kong-based entertainment companies Go East Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment (Hong
Kong), and ordered the site to pay US$19,000 in damages. The suit concerned the unauthorized distribution
of MP3 music files. The defendant argued that he had merely provided links for download and not a direct
download service, and therefore should not be held responsible for the IP rights violations. According to
observers, the courts ruling may prove to be a significant development in the nascent field of Chinese
copyright enforcement in the digital age.
9 PARLIAMENT ATTACK CASE
Bureau of Police Research and Development at Hyderabad had handled some of the top cyber cases,
including analysing 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 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 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 craftly made along with
residential address of Jammu and Kashmir. But careful detection proved that it was all forged and made on
the laptop.
10 State of Tamil Nadu Vs Suhas Katti
The Case of Suhas Katti is notable for the fact that the conviction was achieved successfully within a
relatively quick time of 7 months from the filing of the FIR. Considering that similar cases have been pending
in other states for a much longer time, the efficient handling of the case which happened to be the first case
of the Chennai Cyber Crime Cell going to trial deserves a special mention.
The case related to posting of obscene, defamatory and annoying message about a divorcee woman in the
yahoo message group. E-Mails were also forwarded to the victim for information by the accused through a
false e-mail account opened by him in the name of the victim. The posting of the message resulted in
annoying phone calls to the lady in the belief that she was soliciting.
Based on a complaint made by the victim in February 2004, the Police traced the accused to Mumbai and
arrested him within the next few days. The accused was a known family friend of the victim and was
reportedly interested in marrying her. She however married another person. This marriage later ended in
divorce and the accused started contacting her once again. On her reluctance to marry him, the accused
took up the harassment through the Internet.
On 24-3-2004 Charge Sheet was filed u/s 67 of IT Act 2000, 469 and 509 IPC before The Honble Addl. CMM
Egmore by citing 18 witnesses and 34 documents and material objects. The same was taken on file in
C.C.NO.4680/2004. On the prosecution side 12 witnesses were examined and entire documents were
marked as Exhibits.
The Defence argued that the offending mails would have been given either by ex-husband of the complainant
or the complainant her self to implicate the accused as accused alleged to have turned down the request of
the complainant to marry her.
Further the Defence counsel argued that some of the documentary evidence was not sustainable under
Section 65 B of the Indian Evidence Act. However, the court relied upon the expert witnesses and other
evidence produced before it, including the witnesses of the Cyber Cafe owners and came to the conclusion
that the crime was conclusively proved. Ld. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Egmore, delivered the
judgement on 5-11-04 as follows:
" The accused is found guilty of offences under section 469, 509 IPC and 67 of IT Act 2000 and the accused
is convicted and is sentenced for the offence to undergo RI for 2 years under 469 IPC and to pay fine of
Rs.500/-and for the offence u/s 509 IPC sentenced to undergo 1 year Simple imprisonment and to pay fine
of Rs.500/- and for the offence u/s 67 of IT Act 2000 to undergo RI for 2 years and to pay fine of Rs.4000/All sentences to run concurrently."
The accused paid fine amount and he was lodged at Central Prison, Chennai. This is considered as the first
case convicted under section 67 of Information Technology Act 2000 in India.
11 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.
12 Pune Citibank 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 can not 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 can not copy down numbers and
therefore they could not have noted these down. They must have remembered these numbers, gone out
immediately to a cyber caf 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 thats 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 can not 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.

Cyber crime cell to assist Goa police soon

Murari Shetye, TNN | Nov 17, 2013, 05.32AM IST
inShare2
PANAJI: The home department has in principle granted approval for setting up a cyber
crime cell in the state and recruitment of technical person for the same. Last three years
saw 80 cases of cyber crime being reported across the state under the Information
Technology Act, 2000.
Speaking to STOI, additional secretary home department, Sanjiv Gadkar said that the
state government's decision has been forwarded to the director general of police.
The proposal for a cyber crime cell was moved by crime branch as with the advent of easy
access to computers, mobiles and other electronic devices, the number of cyber crimes
cases have increased in the state.
The year 2011 witnessed a total number of 18 cyber crime cases being recorded, while 38
cases were recorded in the subsequent year. In this current year, 30 cases have been
registered at various police stations across Goa till date.
The cases registered by the police so far range from online cheating and financial scams
to pornography filming. Interestingly, two police personnel were suspended for allegedly
filming their colleagues involved in oral sex and then circulating the clip.
The cyber crime cell will function from the Goa reserve police at Altinho, under a
separate superintendent of police with one police inspector and other personnel. Main

activities of the cyber cell would be to assist the investigation agencies in collecting
digital evidence, call data analysis, storage of media analysis and handing various
websites and internet-related crime.
Scope of investigation of cyber crime cell is financial crime involving cheating, credit
card frauds, money laundering; cyber photography involving production and
distribution of pornographic material; sale of illegal articles such as narcotics, weapons,
wild life; intellectual property crime such as theft of compute source code, software
piracy, copy right infringement, trade mark violation, deployment of virus, cyber attack,
cyber terrorism etc.

Now, cyber crime cell to be exclusive police station

Murari Shetye, TNN | Apr 29, 2014, 01.46AM IST
inShare1
PANAJI: With the increased number of cyber crime cases reported in the state, the
government has cleared the proposal to declare the cyber crime cell (CCC) as a police
station exclusively for investigating cyber crime cases.
Of the over 98 cyber crime cases registered across the state, most are related to fake
profile or hurting comments posted on social networking sites.
Additional secretary home department Sanjiv Gadkar told TOI that the notification to
declare the CCC as a police station will be issued soon as they are yet to identify a place
for the station. The cell is currently in Altinho Panaji. "CCC will register FIRs and
investigate all cases related to cyber crime," he said, adding that any cyber crime across
the state police stations would be transferred to the CCC for investigation.
In 2011, a total number of 18 cyber crime cases were recorded, while 38 cases were
recorded in the subsequent year. In 2013, over 30 cases were registered at various police
stations and around 12 cases in 2014 till date.
In December 2013, the state government had granted permission to set up a cyber crime
cell in the state and recruitment of technical persons for the same. The CCC is headed by
superintendent of police Karthik Kashyap. The state government has sanctioned 18 staff
and three technical persons for the CCC.
Till date, the CCC was just a unit, assisting police stations in solving cases registered
under the Information Technology Act, 2000. Kashyap told TOI that most cyber crime
cases are related to fake online profiles, hurting comments, threatening via emails and
fraud cases.
Due to lack of technical experts at police stations, chargesheets have been filed in only a
few cases. Kashyap said that service providers delay sharing the IP addresses of accused
when any case is referred them for details.

The CCC will investigate financial crime involving cheating, credit card frauds, money
laundering, cyber photography involving production and distribution of pornographic
material; sale of illegal articles such as narcotics, weapons, wildlife; intellectual property
crime such as theft of computer source code, software piracy, copyright infringement,
trademark violation, deployment of virus, cyber attack, cyber terrorism, etc.

Goa DGP assures fair probe in anti-Modi Facebook

post case
PTI May 26, 2014, 03.32PM IST

Tags:

T Mohan|
Narendra Modi|
Goa Director General of Police|
Facebook|
Devu Chodankar

(Goa Director General of)

PANAJI: Goa Director General of Police T Mohan today assured a fair trial in the case filed against a
33-year-old engineer, who allegedly posted comments on Facebookagainst Prime Ministerdesignate Narendra Modi.
Mohan told a delegation of activists here that complete fairness would be observed while probing the
case againstDevu Chodankar, who made some anti-Modi remarks on the social networking site on
March 23 when the Lok Sabha was on. However, the comments were deleted later. Goa based
businessman Atul Pai Kane had lodged a complaint recently with the cyber crime cell against
Chodankar.
The cell had moved the court here seeking custodial interrogation of accused Lavu Chodankar
claiming that his FB post was a larger gameplan to "promote communal and social disharmony" in the
state. Subsequently, his anticipatory bail was rejected by a local court.
Dr Samir Kelekar, an activist who headed the delegation told PTI that "the DGP was very sympathetic
towards our views. He has assured fair trial." Kelekar, also a cyber crime expert said that the DGP

was informed about the 'unfair probe' conducted by cyber crime cell of Goa police. The activist said
that Chodankar's father had submitted in writing before the police that he would require 15 days to
appear as he was out of station on official trip.
"Police issued two summons immediately even after they were informed that Chodankar is out of
station and would make himself available before the investigating officer," Kelekar said.
On Saturday, political parties and social activists protested police action against Chodankar outside
the Goa Police Headquarters following which Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had said that the
government was not involved in the matter in any manner and the investigating officer is empowered
to take the case forward as per law.
Chodankar's lawyer Jatin Naik had also said that his client has already moved Bombay High Court
bench in Goa for anticipatory bail and the case would be heard on Tuesday.

Govt won't interfere in anti-Modi FB comments

case'
PTI Panaji, May 24, 2014
First Published: 17:49 IST(24/5/2014) | Last Updated: 13:37 IST(25/5/2014)
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101
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Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar has ruled out any political interference in the police
investigation against local resident Lavu Chodankar, who had allegedly posted comments
against Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi on Facebook in March when the Lok Sabha poll
campaign was on.
"Government is not involved in this matter in any manner and the investigating officer is
empowered to take the case forward as per law," Parrikar said in a statement issued here on
Saturday.
"As per the SC directives, it is compulsory to register all complaints. A prominent citizen has filed
a complaint and judiciary has denied granting anticipatory bail, which proves that there is
substance in the complaint."

Goa businessman Atul Pai Kane, who heads the BJP-led Goa government's committee on
investment and industrial policy, had lodged a complaint against Chodankar.
Meanwhile, political parties and social activists on Saturday protested the police action against
Chodankar, who is currently out of town.
The protestors led by cybercrime expert Samir Kelekar and representatives of Congress and
Aam Admi Party (AAP) staged their agitation outside the police headquarters here after they
were stopped at the gate and were refused permission to meet director general of police T
Mohan.
"Police have claimed they want to access his laptop from which the message was posted on
Facebook. The message was posted on March 23 and summons were issued on May 12.
According to them, there was delay on the part of Facebook to respond to their query. This is
absolutely wrong," Kelekar told reporters.
"Two months after the post, what you will get on the laptop is the record that FB was accessed,
that's all."
Congress Goa chief John Fernandes, Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, independent
MLA Vijay Sardesai and AAP co-ordinator Walmiki Naik were part of the protests.
Kelekar alleged that police had filed the FIR to "harass" Chodankar while Sardesai said, "Modi
needs to be magnanimous and not indulge in such petty things."
The cyber crime cell of Goa Police had moved the court here seeking custodial interrogation of
Chodankar, claiming that his FB post was part of a larger plan to "promote communal and social
disharmony" in the state.
The district and sessions court on Friday had rejected Chodankar's anticipatory bail plea.
Chodankar's lawyer Jatin Naik said his client had already moved the Bombay high court bench in
Goa for anticipatory bail and the case would be heard on Tuesday.
Police have filed an FIR under Section 153(A) and 295(A) of the IPC, as also under Section 125
of the Representation of People Act as well as Section 66-A of the Information Technology Act.

CASE STUDIES
Case of Phishing
One financial Institute registered a crime stating that some persons (perpetrators) have perpetrated certain
acts through misleading emails ostensibly emanating from ICICI Banks email ID. Such acts have been perpetrated
with
an
intent
to
defraud
the
Customers.
The Investigation was carried out with help of those emails received by the customers of that financial Institute
and arrested the accused , the place of offence at Vijaywada was searched for the evidence . There one Lap Top and
Mobile
Phone
was
seized
which
was
used
for
the
commission
of
the
crime
The arrested accused had used open source code email application software for sending spam emails. He has
down
loaded
the
same
software
from
net
and
then
used
it
as
it
is.
He used only VSNL emails to spam the email to customers of financial Institute because VSNL email service
provider
do
not
have
spam
box
to
block
the
unsolicited
emails.
After spamming emails to financial Institute customers he got the response from around 120 customers of

which 80 are genuine and others are not correct because it do not have debit card details as required for e-banking.
The financial Institute customers those who have received his email felt that the email was originated from the
financial Institute bank. When they filled the confidential information and submitted that time said information was
directed to accused. This was possible because the dynamic link was given in the first page (Home page) of the fake
web site. The dynamic link means when people click on the link provided in spamming email that time only the link will
be activated. The dynamic link was coded by handling the Internet Explorer onclick() event and the information of the
form will be submitted to the web server (Where the fake web site is hosted). Then server will send he data to
configured email address and in this case email configured was to the accused email . So on submission of the
confidential information the information was directed to email ID accused email .The all the information after fishing
(user name, password, Transaction password, Debit card Number and PIN, mothers maiden name) which he had
received through Wi-Fi internet connectivity of Reliance.com which was available on his Acer Lap Top.
This crime has been registered u/s U/Sec. 66 of IT Act, sec 419, 420, 465, 468, 471 of I.P.C r/w Sections 51,
63 and 65 of Copyright Act, 1957 which attract the punishment of 3 years imprisonment and fine up to 2 lacs rupees
which accused never thought of .

Ex-Employee Sends Obscene/Threatening Email To Superior Colleague

The lady complainant received number of obscene/ threatening email during the period November 2005 to January
2006. A crime was registered under section 67 of Information Technology Act 2000 read with section 507 of I.P.C.
During investigation the email sender was traced & accused lady arrested. On interrogation of the accused it is
revealed that she is an ex-employee of the complainants organisation and was working under the complainant for a
year. The accused posing as a male sent all these emails to take revenge for the alleged ill-treatment meted out to her.
This is an example of a disgruntled employee indulging in such type of Cyber Crime that is punishable with up to 5
years of imprisonment & fine of Rs. 1 lac.

Hacker hacks into a financial website

Mumbai poilce have arrested a hacker by name Kalpesh (name change) for hacking into a financial website.
Although the hacker couldnt break into the main server of the financial institution, which was well secured by the
financial institution. The accused person could make some addition to the home page of the financial website and has
added a string of text to the news module of the home page of the website. Police were able to crack the case by
following the trace left by the hacker on the web server of the financial institution. The financial institution has
maintained a separate server for financial online transactions, for which utmost security has been taken by the
fianancial institution. The website was hosted on a different server which comparatively had lesser security.
The hacker Kalpesh (name changed) is a 10th Pass youngster of 23 years old. He has done computer courses like
CCNA, MCSE etc. But he is a computer addict. He sits before the computer for almost 16 to 20 times each day. He has
mostly used the readymade hacking tools, to hack into any website. He goes to a particular website on the web, which
facilitates him to see the entire directory structure of that website. Then using various techniques, such as obtaining a
password file, he gets into the administrators shoes and hacks the website.
A case has been registered against the hacker under section 67 of Information Technology Act 2000 and under
various sections of Indian Penal Code.

Exposed Racker Of E- Ticketing (Cinema) Fraud

Cyber Crime Investigation Cell, C.B.,C.I.D., Mumbai had detected a racket wherein
educated cyber criminals have adopted the innovative way of E-Cheating by using the
details of stolen Credit Cards.
One complaint had received from Head of IT department of Fame Adlabs regarding
booking of e-tickets.The case was registered to the Oshiwara police station u/s 420 IPC vide
C.R. No. 466 /2007 Under the directions of Shri. Rakesh Maria, Jt Comm Of Police (Crime)
and Shri. Sanjay Mohite, Deputy Comm Of police( Prev) enquiries were conducted. the
culprits were arrested on 18/10/2007.
During the Investigation it is revealed that they have made the fraud through internet.
The criminals had used the facilities like mobile phones, Internet utilities and booked tickets
through internet and sold them personally to the theatre viewers in the premises of theatre.

Further investigation is being carried out by cyber crime investigation cell as it is suspected
that there is big racket involved in this E-Ticketing (Cinema) fraud.
Accused Arrested From Kolkata Within 24 Hours In NSE & BSE Bomb Threat Case
On 15th Oct 2007, the Asst. Vice President of National Stock Exchange was received a threatening email, saying that , LALA-THIS TO INFORM U THAT WITHIN 48 HRS. NATIONAL STOCK EXCANGE WILL BE
BLAST.
THIS
INFORMATION
ALSO
FOR
BSE
.
ABDUL,ISI, AGENT
Officials of National Stock Exchange was registered a case at B.K.C. police station u/s 566(2) IPC wide
C.R.No.155/07 on 15/10/2007 . Under the directions of Shri. Rakesh Maria, Jt Comm Of Police (Crime)
and Shri. Sanjay Mohite,Deputy Comm Of police (Prev),enquiries were conducted by Cyber Crime
Investigation Cell Crime Branch Mumbai and nabbed the accused on 16/10/2007 .

Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar has ruled out any political interference in the police
investigation against local resident Lavu Chodankar, who had allegedly posted comments
against Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi on Facebook in March when the Lok Sabha poll
campaign was on.
"Government is not involved in this matter in any manner and the investigating officer is
empowered to take the case forward as per law," Parrikar said in a statement issued here on
Saturday.
"As per the SC directives, it is compulsory to register all complaints. A prominent citizen has filed
a complaint and judiciary has denied granting anticipatory bail, which proves that there is
substance in the complaint."
Goa businessman Atul Pai Kane, who heads the BJP-led Goa government's committee on
investment and industrial policy, had lodged a complaint against Chodankar.
Meanwhile, political parties and social activists on Saturday protested the police action against
Chodankar, who is currently out of town.
The protestors led by cybercrime expert Samir Kelekar and representatives of Congress and
Aam Admi Party (AAP) staged their agitation outside the police headquarters here after they
were stopped at the gate and were refused permission to meet director general of police T
Mohan.
"Police have claimed they want to access his laptop from which the message was posted on
Facebook. The message was posted on March 23 and summons were issued on May 12.
According to them, there was delay on the part of Facebook to respond to their query. This is
absolutely wrong," Kelekar told reporters.
"Two months after the post, what you will get on the laptop is the record that FB was accessed,
that's all."
Congress Goa chief John Fernandes, Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, independent
MLA Vijay Sardesai and AAP co-ordinator Walmiki Naik were part of the protests.
Kelekar alleged that police had filed the FIR to "harass" Chodankar while Sardesai said, "Modi
needs to be magnanimous and not indulge in such petty things."

The cyber crime cell of Goa Police had moved the court here seeking custodial interrogation of
Chodankar, claiming that his FB post was part of a larger plan to "promote communal and social
disharmony" in the state.
The district and sessions court on Friday had rejected Chodankar's anticipatory bail plea.
Chodankar's lawyer Jatin Naik said his client had already moved the Bombay high court bench in
Goa for anticipatory bail and the case would be heard on Tuesday.
Police have filed an FIR under Section 153(A) and 295(A) of the IPC, as also under Section 125
of the Representation of People Act as well as Section 66-A of the Information Technology Act.