Cyber Crime

Author: Siddharth shanker sharma

College name: University five year law college Rajasthan university

Introduction

The computer crimes, computer related crimes or crimes with the help of computer are known as cyber. In other words crimes happening on computer or internet (which is also known as cyber space) are termed as cyber crimes

Categories of cyber crime

Cyber space has three categories of crime:-

1. Target cyberspace- The crimes in which a computer is the target of the offence.

2. Tool Cyberspace- The crimes in which computer are used as a tool of offense.

3. Computer incidental- The crimes in which a computer plays a minor role in committing the offense

Origin of Cyber Crime

It is believed that the first recorded cyber crime took place after the year 1820. In year 1834 group of thieves hack the telegraph system and steal the information of financial market and effectively conducted one of the world’s first cyber attack. Later in 1878 two years after Graham bell invented telephones, the bell telephone company in New York kicked out group of boy for intentionally misdirecting and disconnecting the phone calls. In 1939 Alan turning and Gordon Welshman developed BOMBE which helped to decode the secret German military codes which were developed by German enigma machine.

With the technological advance, the number of cybercrime cases increased. There is no reliable and precise statics of the losses the victims gain as the facts that victims do not detect many of crime. Therefore, fight against computer crime began. Several individuals were engaged in fight against computer crimes from the early development. The founder and father of the knowledge of computer crimes are by many, observers considered to be Domm B Parker , USA. He was involved in the research of the computer crimes and securities from the early logistics. He had a position for serving at SRI International (Stanford Research International) as a senior security consultant and he also authored the first basic federal manual for law enforcement in the USA : ‘Computer crimes- Criminal Justice Resource Manual’ (1979). This manual became 50 on an encyclopedia also for law enforcement outside US

Frequently used Cyber Crimes:

• Unauthorized access to computer system or network

This activity is commonly referred to as hacking. The Indian law has however has given a different overtone to the term hacking, so we will not use the term “unauthorized access” interchangeable with the term “hacking”.

• Email bombing-

Email bombing means sending huge chunk of emails to the victims which lead to the victim’s email account (in case of individual) or mail server crashing.

• Data Diddling-

Data Diddling is attack on computer that involves the changing the raw data just before it is processes by the computer and the changing it back after processing is completed.During the computerization of the system for Electricity Board of India, by the private parties, victims of data diddling were found.

• Salami attacks

These attacks are used for commission of crimes. The key here is to make the alteration so insignificant that in single case it would go completely unnoticed.

• Denial of service attack

This involves flooding a computer resource with more requests that it can handle. This causes the resource to crash thereby denying authorized user the service offered by the attack is known as a Distributor denial of service attack wherein the perpetrators are many and are geographically widespread. It is very hard to avoid such attacks.

• Virus/Worm attack

Viruses are the form of program, virus attack happens when a virus attaches themselves to a computer either through a file or any network through which the computer is connected. They usually affect the data on a computer, ether by attaching or deleting it.

Worms, dissimilar to viruses do not require the host to connect themselves to. They merely make functional copies of themselves and do this repeatedly till they eat u the entire available space on a computer’s memory.

• Logic Bombs

These are event dependent programs. This means that creation of such program will only happen when there is something to be done on the particular event.

Example: even some virus’s maybe termed logic bombs because lie dormant all through the year and become active only on a particular date.

• Trojan Attacks

A trojan malware as this program apply called as an unauthorized program, which works from inside of the computer system and appears as an authorized program, thereby hidinwhat it is actually diong.

• Internet time theft

This can notes the usage by an unauthorized person of the internet hours paid for by another person.

• Theft of computer system

Theft of computer system is an offence which includes the theft of some part(s) of computer or peripheral attached to the computer.

• Physically damaging a computer system

This crime is committed by physically damaging a computer or its property

Important Laws that applies on Cyber Crime

IT Act 2000

Sr. No. SECTIONS OFFENCES

1 .Sec. 43 Damage to computer , computer system, etc.

2. Sec. 43A Body corporate failure to protect the data

3. Sec. 65 Tempering with computer source documents

4. Sec. 66 Hacking with computer system, data alteration etc.

5. Sec. 66A Sending offensive message through communication service etc.

6. Sec. 66B Retain any stolen computer resource or communication device etc.

7. Sec. 66C Fraudulent use of electronic signature

8. Sec. 66D Cheats by personality by using computer resources

9. Sec. 66E Publishing Obscene image

10. Sec. 66F Cyber terrorism

11. Sec. 67 Publish or transmits unwanted material

12. Sec. 67A Publishes or transmit sexually explicit material

13. Sec. 67B Abusing children online

14. Sec. 67C Presentation of information by intermediates

15. Sec. 70 Unauthorized access to protect system

16. Sec. 71 Misrepresentation to the controller or the certifying authority for obtaining license or electronic signature certificate

17. Sec. 72 Breach of confidentiality & privacy

18. Sec. 72A Disclosure of information in breach of contract

19. Sec. 73&74 Publishing false digital signature certificate

Indian Penal Code

Sr. No. SECTIONS OFFENCES

1. Sec. 383 IPC Web Jacking

2. Sec. 420 IPC Bogus websites, Cyber Frauds

3. Sec. 463 IPC E-Mail Spoofing

4. Sec. 499 IPC Sending defamatory messages

5. Sec. 503 IPC Sending threatening message or Emails