Tuesday 24 June 2014

A Comprehensive Study of Cyber Law and Cyber Crimes : By Navneet Vishwas & Team

Title : A Comprehensive Study of Cyber Law and Cyber Crimes
Journal Name : International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR)
ISSN : 2319-4413
Volume 3, No. 2, February 2014
By Navneet Vishwas

ABSTRACT:

Cyber law is a term used to describe the legal issues related to use of communications technology. It covers cyber crime including intellectual property, privacy, freedom of expression, and jurisdiction. In India, The IT Act, 2000 as amended by The IT (Amendment) Act, 2008 is known as the Cyber laws which try to stop crime related to internet as well as cyberspace. To understand cyber law we need to have more focus on the term crime which refers to all criminal activities done using the medium of computers, the Internet, cyber space and the worldwide web. Some cyber related crimes are hacking, Child Pornography, Cyber Stalking, Denial of Service, Malware, Phishing, Information Warfare, various online theft etc. These cyber crimes and cyber criminal are punished by Indian Law i.e. Information Technology Act 2000 and IT (Amendment) Act, 2008. The crime committed by cyber criminals for many reasons such as for monetary gain, some personal benefit, harassing to victim for any reasons, destroying specific systems, data and information theft, information warfare etc. These criminals generally use modern telecommunication technology such as Internet (Chat rooms, emails, notice boards and groups) and mobile phones (SMS/MMS), Phishing, Email spoofing etc. The enhancement of technology the data & information theft also become easy, generally data related crimes committed with USB Media, Bluetooth technology, wireless media as well as data storage devices such as DVD, Pen Drive, Flash Drive, Micro chip etc. Such crimes may threaten a nation’s security and financial health. Issues surrounding these types of crimes have become high-profile, particularly those surrounding cracking, copyright infringement, child pornography, and child grooming. There are also problems of privacy when confidential information is lost or intercepted, lawfully or otherwise. So, best way to protect you from cyber crime is to use common sense, gain IT knowledge, be prepared and take precautions.


Key words:

Cyber law and cybercrime, Different aspects of cybercrime, Cybercrime and its types, An Introduction of cyber crimes, How Can You Stay Safe from cyber criminals, Hacking and cracking.


I. INTRODUCTION

Cybercrime is a criminal activity committed with computers and/or over a network or the Internet. The person who is involved in cyber crime is known as cyber criminals. These criminals generally use modern telecommunication technology such as Internet (Chat rooms, emails, notice boards and groups) and mobile phones (SMS/MMS), Phishing, Email spoofing etc. The enhancement of technology the data & information theft also become easy, generally data related crimes committed with USB Media, Bluetooth technology, wireless media as well as data storage devices such as DVD, Pen Drive, Flash Drive, Micro chip etc.
So, in this topic “A Comprehensive Study of Cyber Law and Cyber Crimes” we focus on details on cyber crime, its types and various law under IT Act 2000 and IT (Amendment) Act, 2008. There are some useful points which make you safety from these frauds.


II. OBJECTIVE

The main objective to discuss on proposed topic i.e. “A Comprehensive Study of Cyber Law and Cyber Crimes” to spread the cyberspace knowledge to the human being and try to provide safety from cyberspace fraud as well as introduce some laws related to cyberspace crime.


III. CYBER LAW AND RELATED CRIME

Cyber law is a term used to describe the legal issues related to use of communications technology, particularly “cyberspace” which is known as Internet. It is different from other laws but it covers cyber crime including intellectual property, privacy, freedom of expression, and jurisdiction. Cyber law is an attempt to apply laws designed for the physical world, to human activity on the Internet. In India, The IT Act, 2000 as amended by The IT (Amendment) Act, 2008 is known as the Cyber law [1]. It has a separate chapter XI entitled “Offences” in which various cyber crimes have been declared as penal offences punishable with imprisonment and fine.To understand cyber law we have to need more focus of the crime which is refers to all criminal activities done using the medium of computers, the Internet, cyber space and the worldwide web.



IV. TYPES OF CYBER CRIME

Following are the some activities which come under cyber crime i.e.
1. Hacking
2. Child Pornography
3. Cyber Stalking
4. Denial of Service
5. Dissemination of Malicious Software (Malware)
6. Phishing
7. Information Warfare
8. Data Theft
9. Identity Theft
10. Email Spoofing
11. Network Related Wrongs [2]



Hacking:

Hacking in simple terms means an illegal intrusion into a computer system and/or network. There is an equivalent term to hacking which is known as cracking, but from Indian legal perspective there is no difference between the term hacking and cracking. Every act committed towards breaking into a computer and/or network is hacking. Hackers write or use ready-made computer programs to attack the target computer. Some hackers hack for personal monetary gains, such as for stealing credit card information or transferring money from various bank accounts to their own followed by withdrawal of money. They also indulge in extortion based on information received while hacking a particular network of computer system.
Law applicable under Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, Section 43(a) [3] read with section 66 is applicable and Section 379 & 406 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 also are applicable.



Child Pornography:

Child pornography is pornography that involves a child [4]. Pornography may use a variety of media including writings, magazines, photos, sculpture, drawing, cartoon, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video, and video games. Child pornography may be simulated child pornography or produced with the direct involvement of the child (also known as child abuse images Abuse of the child occurs during the sexual acts which are recorded in the production of child pornography [5].
Legal definitions of child pornography generally include sexual images involving prepubescents, pubescent or post-pubescent minors and computer-generated images that appear to involve them. Most possessors of child pornography who are arrested are found to possess images of prepubescent children; possessors of pornographic images of post-pubescent minors are less likely to be prosecuted, even though those images also fall within the statutes [6].



Cyber Stalking:

The term is used to refer to the use of the internet, e-mail, or other electronic communications devices to stalk another person. Stalking generally involves harassing or threatening behavior that an individual engages in repeatedly. It can be done using phone calls, leaving written messages or objects, or vandalizing a person’s property. Cyber stalking can be also defined as the repeated acts of harassment or threatening behavior
of the cyber criminal towards the victim by using internet services. A study says most stalkers are using following methods for cyber stalking:
a. Collect personal information about the victim. If the stalker is a stranger to victim, he collects the information from internet resources such as various profiles the victim may have filled in while opening a chat or e-mail account or while signing an account with some website.
b. The stalker may post information on any website related to sex-services or dating services, posing as if the victim is posting this information and invite the people to call the victim on her telephone to obtain sexual services.
c. Some stalkers subscribe the e-mail account of the victim to innumerable pornographic and sex sites, because of which the victim starts receiving indecent soliciting e-mails.
d. Some stalkers send repeated e-mails asking for various kinds of favors or threaten the victim [7].



Denial of Service:

This is a technology driven cyber intrusion, where by the influencer floods the bandwidth or blocks the user’s mails with spam mails depriving the user, access to the Internet and the services provided there from. A DoS Attack can be done using
a. Consumption of computational resources, such as bandwidth, disk space, or central processing unit (CPU) time.
b. Disruption of configuration information, such as routing information etc.
c. Disruption of physical network components.
Dissemination of Malicious Software (Malware):
Malware, short for malicious software, is software used to disrupt computer operation, gather sensitive information, or gain access to private computer systems. It can appear in the form of code, scripts, active content, and other software. In all countries it is a serious criminal offence to create and distribute malware, but it continues to be produced for various reasons, such as demonstrating a capability or making money.
Malware includes computer viruses, ransomware, worms, trojan horses, rootkits, keyloggers, dialers, spyware, adware, malicious BHOs, rogue security software and other malicious programs which is very dangerous for Information technology [8].



Phishing:

It is the act of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
Phishing is typically carried out by email spoofing or instant messaging and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to deceive users [9] and exploits the poor usability of current web security technologies.
Information Warfare:
It is a kind of warfare where information and attacks on information and its system are used as a tool of warfare. Information warfare may include giving the enemy propaganda to convince them to give up, and denying them information that might lead to their resistance.
It is the strategy for undermining an enemy’s data and information systems, while defending and leveraging one’s own information edge. This type of war has no front line; potential battlefields are anywhere networked systems can be accessed-oil and gas pipelines, electric power grids, telephone switching networks, etc [10].



Data Theft:

According to Wikipedia, Data Theft is a growing problem, primarily perpetrated by office workers with access to technology such as desktop computers and handheld devices, capable of storing digital information such as flash drives, iPods, digital cameras and even Mobile Phones. The damage Caused by data theft can be considerable with today’s ability to transmit very large files via e-mail, web pages, USB devices, DVD storage and other hand-held devices.
According to Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2000, crime of data theft under Section 43 (b) [11] is stated as - If any person without permission of the owner or any other person, who is in charge of a computer, computer system of computer network - downloads, copies or extracts any data, computer data base or information from such computer, computer system or computer network including information or data held or stored in any removable storage medium, then it is data theft.



Identity Theft:

Identity theft is a form of fraud or cheating of another person’s identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person’s identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person’s name. Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, crime of identity theft under Section 66-C [12], whoever, fraudulently or dishonestly make use of the electronic signature, password or any other unique identification feature of any other person known as identity theft.
Identity theft occurs when someone uses another's personally identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes.



Email Spoofing:

It is e-mail activity in which the sender addresses and other parts of the e-mail header are altered to appear as though the e-mail originated from a different source [13]. E-mail spoofing is sending an e-mail to another person in such a way that it appears that the e-mail was sent by someone else. A spoof email is one that appears to originate from one source but actually has been sent from another source. Spoofing is the act of electronically disguising one computer as another for gaining as the password system. It is becoming so common that you can no longer take for granted that the e-mail you are receiving is truly from the person identified as the sender. Email spoofing is a technique used by hackers to fraudulently send email messages in which the sender address and other parts of the email header are altered to appear as though the email originated from a source other than its actual source. Hackers use this method to disguise the actual email address from which phishing and spam messages are sent and often use email spoofing in conjunction with Web page spoofing to trick users into providing personal and confidential information.



Network Related Wrongs:

This type of cyber crime mainly harms network system. Due to this activity that causes the operation of a computer network to be temporarily disrupted. Interference implies something momentarily such as Denial of Service Attacks that causes delays in data transmission by using up all available bandwidth. Distributed denial of service, ping of death and smurf attacks also fall under this category. Data Security Network sabotage - causing permanent damage to a computer network such as deleting files or records from storage [14].



V. LAW AGAINST CYBER CRIME AND CYBER CRIMINAL

• Hacking - Law applicable under Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, Section 43(a)
• According to Information Technology Act, 2000, data theft criminal punished under Section 43 (b)
• Identity theft comes under Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, crime of identity theft under Section 66-C
• Email Spoofing tricks used by Hacker for hacking and it is a cyber crime under IT Act 2008, Section 43(a)
• Child pornography is a cyber crime which is prevented under Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (CPPA)
• Prior to February 2013, there were no laws that directly regulate cyber stalking in India.
• India's Information Technology Act of 2000 (IT Act) was a set of laws to regulate the cyberspace. However, it merely focused on financial crimes and neglected interpersonal criminal behaviours such as cyberstalking (Behera, 2010; Halder & Jaishankar, 2008; Nappinai, 2010).
• In 2013, Indian Parliament made amendments to the Indian Penal Code, introducing cyberstalking as a criminal offence.



VI. DIFFERENT METHODOLOGIES USED FOR SAFETY IN CYBERSPACE

• Keep your operating system updated/patched. Set it to "auto update".
• Use anti-virus and anti-spyware software and keep them updated.
• Do not visit un-trusted websites or follow links provided by unknown or un-trusted sources.
• Secure your transactions. Look for the "lock" icon on the browser's status bar and be sure "https" appears in the website's address bar before making an online purchase. The "s" stands for "secure" and indicates that the communication with the webpage is encrypted.
• Be cautious about all communications you receive including those purported to be from "trusted entities" and be careful when clicking links contained within those messages.
• Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails.
• Do not open any attachments contained in suspicious emails.
• Do not respond to an email requesting personal information or that ask you to "verify your information" or to "confirm your user-id and password."Beware of emails that threaten any dire consequences should you not "verify your information".
• Do not enter personal information in a pop-up screen. Providing such information may compromise your identity and increase the odds of identity theft.
• Have separate passwords for work related and non-work related accounts.
• Be educated with modern technology.



VII. CONCLUSION

At the end of “A Comprehensive Study of Cyber Law and Cyber Crimes” we want to suggest that this type of crime and criminals must be stopped. But this is not so easy; our judicial system must be providing more strong law to stop the crime related to cyberspace. So, we want to suggest that be educated with modern technology and follow above tips to fight with cyber crime.



VIII. REFERENCES


[1] IT Amendment Act 2008, Registered No –DL –(N)04/0007/2003-09 http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/downloads/itact2000/it_amendment_act2008.pdf
[2] IGNOU PGCCL (Post Graduate Certification in Cyber Law) Program, MIR-014 Block No.2, Unit No-5, Page No - 8 to12
[3] IT Amendment Act 2008, Registered No –DL –(N)04/0007/2003-09 http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/downloads/itact2000/it_amendment_act2008.pdf, Page No -06, Point No-22
[4] Finkelhor, David. "Current Information on the Scope and Nature of Child Sexual Abuse.". Future of Children. v4 n2 (Sum–Fall 1994): p31–53.Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography
[5] Hobbs, Christopher James; Helga G. I. Hanks, Jane M. Wynne (1999). Child Abuse and Neglect: A Clinician's Handbook. Elsevier Health Sciences. p. 328. ISBN 0-443-05896-2. Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography.
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography - [17]. Wells, M.; Finkelhor, D.; Wolak, J.; Mitchell, K. (2007). "Defining Child Pornography: Law Enforcement Dilemmas in Investigations of Internet Child Pornography Possession" (PDF). Police Practice and Research 8 (3):269–282. doi:10.1080/15614260701450765.Retrieved 2008-07-01.
[7] IGNOU PGCCL (Post Graduate Certification in Cyber Law) Program, MIR-014 Block No.2, Unit No-5, Page No – 9
[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware-[4]. Microsoft active malware threats". Malware Encyclopedia. Microsoft Malware Protection Cnter. Retrieved 2013-08-26 [9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing -[7]. Jøsang, Audun et al."Security Usability Principles for Vulnerability Analysis and Risk Assessment." (PDF). Proceedings of the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference 2007 (ACSAC'07). Retrieved 2007. [10] IGNOU PGCCL (Post Graduate Certification in Cyber Law) Program, MIR-014 Block No.2, Unit No-5, Page No – 11
[11] http://deity.gov.in/hindi/node/1210 : IT Act 2000, Registered No –DL –33004/2000, CHAPTER - IX PENALTIES AND ADJUD1CATION Page No - 15
[12] IT Amendment Act 2008, Registered No –DL –(N)04/0007/2003-09 http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/downloads/itact2000/it_amendment_act2008.pdf, Page No -10, Section- 66C
[13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoofing_attack
[14] IGNOU PGCCL (Post Graduate Certification in Cyber Law) Program, MIR-014 Block No.2, Unit No-5, Page No – 11&12.



No comments:

Post a Comment