A Closer Study on Cyber Crime And Cyber Laws In India

AUTHOR: PRATIK KUMAR CHAUBEY, NORTH EASTERN HILL UNIVERSITY SHILLONG, MEGHALAYA.

In this era of globalization and technology, we all are connected through the internet and have become a global village. The Internet has become a daily part of our lives. We have given our details to this cyber world and anyone from anywhere can have access to it. And this internet is like a double edged sword for us. It’s beneficial as well as dangerous for us. With the huge dependency on this cyber world, here comes the great probability of getting cyber issues. Some people might use our details and can scam us or can get unauthorized access to our details. This is what we term as cyber crime. And now to deal with this cyber crime, we have some sort of set of rules and regulations which we call “Cyber Laws”. This field of law covers all the aspects of cyber crime including scamming, digital arrest, phishing etc. Actually, it covers all those aspects which can assure our “Online Privacy ”.

Technology, Internet, Cyber Crime, Cyber Law, Computer, Network, Online Privacy, Information Technology, Punishment, Law, Criminal.

Computer and Technology has made our lives easier than earlier it was. No matter how far someone is sitting, one can be in touch with them, this is what technology has done to human society. Today it’s everywhere either in schools, universities or in hospitals etc; this is because it can store our details for a very long term, which can be impossible for us. Today it has reached the villages of our country and people are accessible to it. But these all things together have introduced a new kind of crime which was unexpected and that’s “Cyber Crime”. It’s no longer new in India or any other country, but what is new to us is its growing field. It’s no longer limited to hacking or cracking only but it has gone up to extortion, money laundering, fraud, software pirating and corporate espionage.

According to some websites cyber crime can be defined as, “the use of a computer as an instrument to further illegal ends, such as committing fraud, trafficking in child pornography and intellectual property, stealing identities, or violating privacy. Cybercrime, especially through the Internet, has grown in importance as the computer has become central to commerce, entertainment, and government.”

Cyber Law as a whole governs the digital activities of individuals. Just because the internet has become an integral part of our lives it’s crucial to make cyber laws to protect an individual or an association from digital threats and ensure their digital safety. It becomes a key player in the lawful utilisation of the online resources.

This article talks about the cyber crimes that are committed by some unwanted sources of internet and cyber world and their harmful effects on the individuals and on the Indian society . Through this article I want to inform people of India about the cyber laws and their implications in day to day life. This article is totally based on the cyber crime and crime laws of India.

Cyber crime is something which has no fixed boundaries or territories. It has so many names such as digital crime, computer crime, information technology crime, etc. It can be defined as a criminal activity which includes a computer system or computer networks as their primary goal or target to commit this crime. This includes a very large number of malicious activities, these activities may be called financial fraud, identity theft, and distribution or installation of harmful software to say. But this is not very surprising, as this cyber crime is not very new to our country.

If someone is actively involved in the cyber world, s/he might become the victim of the cyber crime. But this is not always the truth, sometimes if someone is not a part of the cyber world or cyber space s/he might have the chances to be the victim of cyber crime. It’s not always a matter of the internet. For example if I am talking about software privacy, there is no connection of it to the online space but still it’s committing cyber crime.

This terminology of cyber crime is so vast to define and we can’t give a specific definition to this word. But one can understand it as per their understanding and in knowledge about this.

Like every other kind of crime it has its own history. According to some reports it has been reported that cyber crime is a rapidly growing web of criminal associations and activities and has been recorded as a huge business with a turnover of $1.5 trillion and it smoothly functions as a lawful activity. Cyber crime offers leadership to some highly knowledgeable technical people and more than that it’s the cyber crime which is the main culprit of online leaks to people's data and privacy.

The truth is, this cyber crime is not a new kind of threat. In reality it goes back not just to some decades but centuries.

According to Arctic Wolf, “Technically, the first cyber attack in the world happened in France well before the internet was even invented in 1834. Attackers stole financial market information by accessing the French telegraph system. Still, this crime didn’t really find its footing until the late 20th century.

In the Indian context, digitalization started in the late 1990s and early 2000s. During this time period the usage of internet and computer networks saw a rapid increase. This rise in the digital revolution was boosted by liberalized telecom policies of the then Indian government and the technological advancement and as a result of these all processes Indians integrated the technology into their daily life. Now the online banking, e-commerce companies, government digitalization, digital infrastructure etc. have raised an issue of cyber security.

Crimes against property :- This involves the violation of the intellect of an author or the intellectual property of an author such as cyber trespassing (access to computer networks without their knowledge), installation of viruses, etc.

Crimes against government :- This includes the spreading of pirated software, cyber terrorism (threats to national security by internet attacks), cyber warfare (hacking and spying of others computer networks or data as a political dispute) etc.

Crimes against persons :- This might have a huge area to cover such as hacking, spying, child pornography, defamation through hacking, and using technology to harass an individual, fraud, spamming, digital arresting etc.

India has the second largest internet population in the world and third country globally in terms of cyber crimes. Our country is emerging as a powerful economic system. There’s a large number of people who are first generation computer or internet users. Our records are being digitized to avoid the huge dependency on paper which is a good thing in order to preserve our environment. According to RBI, 80% bank transactions are being done through the internet via Google pay, Phone pay etc. Indians are now making an average transaction of ₹72 lakh crore per year.

Despite all these high tech achievements, some previous year surveys clearly tell us how cyber crime is rising in India. Accordingly in the year 2022, most cases of cyber crime had been reported. 2022 was really dangerous for all Indians in the context of cyber security. The total number of cases registered in India during 2022 was 33,778,000 which has increased from 25,384,000 in 2021. In 2023, our country registered 79 million cyber attacks which was 15% more than the previous year. This data is really scary and shocking for all of us.

In February 2021, it was recorded that in Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, services were affected for several hours due to cyber attack on their servers. The Indian Express newspaper said that in the following year 2022 AIIMS Delhi’s 4 servers were hacked by Chinese hackers in order to leak the medical data of our Indian hospitals and patients. It has also been said in a report that in the same year India got the second rank in data breaches all over the world with 450 million records being exposed through the internet.

Cyber crime has also affected the governmental institution. In the year 2021, multiple Indian government websites including the websites of Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Defence was affected by the cyber attacks. This all happened when there was an ongoing negotiation running between China and India. In April 2023, some major Indian international airports located at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Goa, and Kochi were on the radar of cyber attackers. This was a DDoS(Distributed Denial of Service) attack. This attack was done by Anonymous Sudan, a hacktivist group, which carried a heavy overload burden on their servers, which caused the denial of services for some time.

Some other cyber crime data includes the following :-

Between the year 2020 and 2023, the simplest way of cyber crime in India was financial fraud. Data tells us that during FY 2023 to 2024 these cases have risen from 75,800 to 2,92,000 respectively. The total money that people have lost during FY 2023 was ₹421.4 crore which rose in FY 2024 with a total amount of ₹2054.6.

Ransomware attacks have been experienced by 78% of India organizations in 2021 etc.

The hotspot cities in India are Mewat (Haryana), Jamtada ( Jharkhand) and Bengaluru ( Karnataka).

The rising cases are registered in the states of Haryana, Gujarat, Goa and Telangana.

There are so many reasons why with the ongoing time, the cases of cyber crime are also increasing rapidly. Some of the reasons are discussed here which are as follows :-

Weak Cybersecurity Infrastructure : There’s a lack of cooperation between the government agencies and private companies that has created a loophole indirectly that can be exploited by cyber criminals at any time. Moreover, in India this cyber security thing is an evolving concept and that’s why there’s a significant challenge in keeping up with the cyber criminals. There’s also a lack of investment in cybersecurity measures and that laws are also outdated.

Excessive use of Internet : After the pandemic covid – 19, our country has witnessed a large amount of increment in the internet users. The dependency on online sources has increased specially by working class people and students. Now because more people have access to it, cyber crime has also expanded itself in a different way. There’s a huge population of Indians who are unaware and have inadequate knowledge of the internet usage, and this makes individuals and associations vulnerable to more cyber attacks.

Lack of Cyber Awareness and Knowledge : This is the main factor why cyber crime is increasing day by day in India. Much of the Indian population do not have a proper

and authentic knowledge about the cyber threats or appropriate preventive measures. This is the very simple reason why Indians are an easy prey of cyber attackers.

Digitalization : This has resulted in the increase of online banking and digital transactions and also e-commerce companies. This has made us live luxurious, modern and comfortable lives. But at the same time it has also created a new way for cyber criminals to exploit vulnerabilities in online services.

Cyber crime can be avoided by being clever enough and smart enough. There’s very simple and easy ways to avoid them. Let’s just talk about them. Few of the ways are given below to avoid cyber crime.

One should never share their passcodes to anyone else. No online platform in the world asks for the password of their users.

Always create strong passwords by using upper and lower case, symbols and expressions.

E.g. Gp@725&GUIXUG. Never use a weak password which can be accessed or guessed by anyone.

• Never use a single password for all your social media accounts. Keep different passwords for various online platforms. Never keep your personal information as your password.

• Don’t reply to spam calls or spam messages. Never answer a call with suspicious remarks.

• Always keep updating your operating system and don’t sign in to any site unless and until being confident about it’s security.

• These are some of the ways an individual can use to avoid cyber attacks on their computer system and networks and can maintain their online privacy and security.

Cyber law is a terminology which is used to specify the laws which were made in order to control the crime committed through the online way or by using the internet as the main weapon. These laws define the legal or lawful issues that are connected to the communication or the computer systems. These cyber laws play a crucial role in ensuring our online safety. Thus covers all the online activities, social media usage, transactions that an individual performs through online devices or internet. Our each and every activity on the online platforms has a legal and lawful consequence.

Now let’s talk about the cyber laws in India and their approach to different cyber crimes.

The Information Technology Act, 2000 (also known as IT Act or ITA, 2000) is an act of the Indian Parliament which was notified on 17th October, 2000. Based on the United Nations Model 

Law on Electronic Commerce 1996(UNCITRAL Model) which was recommended by the General Assembly of the United Nations by a resolution on 30th January, 1996. This is the primary law to govern cyber crimes in our country.

The IT Act of 2000 has 94 sections and these sections are further divided into 13 chapters and 4 schedules. But later the third and fourth schedules were removed from the act.

This law is so elaborate and laymen can’t read it all. So following are some key points of this It Act of 2000 :-

Earlier, the government was not allowed to issue notices through online services but this law allows the government to issue notices through e- governance by using the internet. Digital signatures were taken as a legal medium within this IT Act of 2000 and now all the associations, government ministries and competitive exams are accepting the digital signatures. If any kind of harm has been done to the association, the act provides a remedy in the form of money to the association etc.

Section 65 – Tampering with computer source documents

If anyone knowingly or intentionally, destroys, conceals or changes any computer source code which has been used by a computer system. Then the same person shall be punished with three years of imprisonment or a fine which can be of 2 lakh or both.

Section 66 – Computer Related Offences

Anyone with the purpose or intention to cause any loss, damage or to destroy, delete or to change any information that is stored in a public or any individual computer and diminish its utility, values or affects it injuriously by any means, commits hacking. If anyone found to be involved in such crimes could be sentenced upto 3 years of imprisonment, or with a fine that may go upto 2 lakhs rupees, or both.

Section 66A – Punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc.

Any information or message sent through any communication medium that is offensive and has threatening character or that is not true and sent with an intention of danger, insult etc., or that has been sent to spread anger, hatred or to mislead about the origin of the message. If anyone found in these activities, shall be punishable and may get a three years of imprisonment and fine, both.

Section 66B – Punishment for dishonestly receiving stolen computer resources or communication devices.

Receiving or retaining any stolen computer, computer’s resources or any communication devices with an intention or knowingly or having the reason to believe the same. If any person found to do so, could be sentenced either description for a term that may extend upto 3 years of imprisonment or with a fine of rupees one lakh or both.

Section 66C – Punishment for identity theft.

If anyone is using someone other’s password, signature, photograph or any other personal and unique identification then the same person is committing a crime. The same person will be punishable under the Act with an imprisonment of a term or may be extended upto 3 years and a fine which can also be extended upto rupees one lakh.

Section 66D – Cheating by personation by the use of computer’s resources.

If anyone tries to cheat someone by personating through any electronic communication means or computer network shall be punishable and sentenced either with a description of a term which can be extended upto 3 years of imprisonment and a fine which can extend upto rupees one lakh.

Section 66E – Violation of Privacy

If somebody intentionally or knowingly takes pictures of someone’s private parts and/or publish them on online platform or transmit them without his /her consent that violates their privacy, shall be punishable under the Act and sentenced upto 3 years of imprisonment or with a fine not exceeding the limit of 2 lakh rupees or both.

Section 66F – Cyber Terrorism

If somebody intentionally threatened the integrity, sovereignty, unity or security or strike terror among the individuals or any group of individuals by –

denial of access to computer resources.

trying to get unauthorized access to someone other’s computer resources or to break into someone’s computer to get the access.

Introducing any computer’s contaminant, and through such conducts causes or is probable to cause any death or injury to any individual or damage or any destruction of properties or disrupt or it is known that by such conduct it is probable to cause damage or disruptions of supply or services that are essential to the life of people or unfavorably affect the critical information’s infrastructure specified under the section 70 of the IT Act.

With an intention or by knowingly tries to go through or tries to gain access to computer’s resources without the legal authorization or exceeding the authorized access, and by such conducts if someone obtains access to someone other’s data, information or computer’s database which is limited or restricted for some certain reason because of the security of the state or external relations, or any restricted database, data or any information with the reason to believe that those data or information or the computer’s database obtained may use to cause injury to the

interest of the independence and integrity of our country India. This action shall be punishable with punishment of a life time imprisonment .

Section 67 – Transmitting or publishing obscene materials in electronic form

If somebody transmit or publish obscene materials in electronic form that is vulgar and the same material may corrupt any individual after hearing, watching or reading the content of that material, shall be convicted and sentenced for either with a description for a term that may extend upto five years of imprisonment on first conviction and for second or consequent convictions this may extend upto ten years of imprisonment and a fine that goes upto rupees two lakhs.

Section 67A – Transmitting or publishing of materials that contains sexually explicit contents, act etc in electronic form.

If somebody transmits any material that may contain sexually explicit contents or act shall be punishable and on first conviction the same person sentenced either with a description for a term that may extend upto five years of imprisonment and with a fine that may goes upto rupees ten lakhs. And the same person for the second conviction may get an imprisonment for seven years and a fine upto rupees twenty lakhs.

Section 67B – Transmitting or publishing of materials that depicts children in sexually explicit acts etc in electronic form.

If somebody transmits or publishes any materials that depict children in sexually explicit act or conduct in any electronic form shall be sentenced on first conviction for either description for a term which may extend to 5 years of imprisonment with a fine that could extend to rupees 10 lakhs. And in the event of second conviction cybercriminals could be sentenced for either description for a term that could extend to 7 years along with a fine that could extend upto rupees 10 lakhs.

Section 67C- Retention and preservation of information by intermediaries. Intermediaries shall preserve as well as retain such information that might specify for such period and in such a format or way and manner that the Central Government may prescribe. Any intermediaries knowingly or intentionally Contravene the provision of the subsection may be punishable for the same crime. The punishment for such a crime will be an imprisonment for 3 years and also the same liable for some fine.

 ​Section 69- Power to issue directions for monitor, decryption or interception of any information through the computer's resources.

If the authorized officers of Central government or State government, as the case may be in this behalf, if fulfilled that it is required to do in the interest of the integrity or the sovereignty, the security defence of India, state’s security, friendly relations with the foreign states for preventing any incident to the commission of any cognizable offences that is related to above or investigation of any offences

that is subjected to the provision of sub-section (II). For reasons to be recorded writing, direct any agency of the appropriate government, by order, decrypt or monitor or cause to intercept any information that is created or received or transmitted or is stored in any computer’s resources.

The safeguard and the procedure that is subjected to such decryption, monitoring or interception carried out, shall be such as may be prescribed.

The intermediaries, or any individual who is in the charge of the computer’s resources shall call upon by any agencies referred to the sub-section (I), extends all services and technical assistances to:

• To provide a safe access to computer’s resources receiving, distributing, creating or to store such information or

• Decrypting, intercepting or monitoring the information , as the situation might be or

• Providing information that is stored in the computer.

• The intermediaries, the subscribers or any individual who fails to help the agency referred in the sub-section (III), shall be punishable and sentenced for a term that could extend to 7 years of imprisonment and also could be liable to fine.

• Apart from these all sections there are so many sections and this IT Act of 2000 revised many acts such as IPC(1860), IEA(1872), The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, and The Banker's Book Evidence Act, 1891.

  
  

The recent developments in the field of technology has made our lives easier but with this comfort, mankind is now seeing a new world – the world of cyber crime, which is a threat to the human population. We will have to be aware of these crimes. Although the Indian Government has enacted the Information Technology Act of 2000, the cases are still rising at an alarming rate because of lack of interest in the field of law by the population of India. If you’re falling prey to cyber crime, don’t be silent, raise your voice, file a complaint in your nearest police station, make your surroundings aware of the Acts and laws that can be useful for all of us in human society. The main intention of writing this article is to closely go through cyber crime, its kinds, why it is growing and what steps and laws we can use to be safe in this high-tech world.

1. Adil Hashmi, The Rise of Cybercrime in India: Reasons, Impacts, and Safety Measures, LinkedIn (Sept. 27, 2023), https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rise-cybercrime-india-reasons-impacts-safety-measures-adil-hashmi.

2. An Analysis on Cyber Crime in India, Legal Service India, https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-797-an-analysis-on-cyber-crime-in-india.html.

3. The Rise of Cybercrime in India (Adil Hashmi, 2023), YouTube (Sept. 27, 2023), https://youtu.be/pWpqj1GlDJI?si=j36YFc5kEzYXxrQg.

4. Cyber Security Division, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, https://www.meity.gov.in/cyber-security-division.

5. Information Technology Act, 2000, Wikipedia, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Technology_Act,_2000.

6. Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, (2013) 12 SCC 73 (India).

7. State of Tamil Nadu v. Suhas Katti, CC No. 4680 of 2004 (India).