All about Cyber Crimes - IT Act and IPC
INVESTIGATION OF CYBER CRIME- Basics Introduction:-The advent of computers has made ...
INVESTIGATION OF CYBER CRIME- Basics
Introduction:-The advent of computers has made significant, positive contribution to improve quality of our life, and it has become an integral part of our society. Computer has become the very soul and essence of our communication links. At the same time, a very miniscule minority section is using computer for self-aggrandizement. Computer is being increasingly manipulated and exploited, used as a tool for immoral and unethical practices carried out by terrorists, criminals and pranksters. The epidemic of cyber-crime has become rampant in India. Not surprisingly as India is the third largest user of mobile phones with over 20 crores subscribers, while internet users too are a mammoth 4.4 crores. Thus elimination of cyber-crime is increasingly becoming the need of the hour.
What is cyber-crime?
In the question's literal sense, cyber was a word coined by William Gibson in his 1984 fictional novel 'Neuromancer'. Cyber is the prefix relating to the worldwide field of electronic communication. Crimes, involving stealing, fabricating, leaking or circulating forbidden digital information is collectively branched under the umbrella term cyber-crime. Cyber-crime is classified broadly into three basic categories – data related crimes, physical crimes and software crimes.
Data Related Crime:
Data related crimes involve fraudulent input of data in the hierarchy of levels – encoding, examining, checking, storing, converting and transporting data to be entered into the computer.
Software Crime:
Software crime is the use of viruses or other such damaging software such as Trozan Horse, Time Bombs and Logic Bombs. Trozan Horse is a spy program that will stalk spy and corrupt files in computer forcing them to send signatures on the progress of system processing to a designated path of device or telecom line. Logic Bombs are designed to carry out certain unwarranted commands on encountering pre-designated data or logic in a system.
Physical Crime:
It includes theft, breakage, etc. while internet crimes encompass those in which people are cheated by false, luring promises of jobs, winning lotteries, etc.
How to identify Cyber Crime?
In Cyber Crime, computer is an integral part of the criminal act. Computers are either victim of the crime or the tool used in the crime or the witness in a committed crime. Corrupting operating system, stealing data / information, disrupting functioning of computer are examples where computers are victims. Credit card frauds, transaction of illegal goods via internet, software piracy fall under the category or crimes where computer is the tool. While money laundering, drug trafficking, transaction of records, bullet board systems, etc., fall under the third and final slot of computers acting as witness to crime.
Act and Sections: All Cyber Crimes do not come under the Information Technology Act, 2000. To deal new type of cyber-crimes such as tampering of source code, hacking, and publication of obscene information in electronic form, the new act can be invoked.
| Section | Offence | Penalty |
| 65 | Tampering with computer source Documents | Imprisonment up to three years, or/and with fine up to ₹200,000 |
| 66 r/w 43 | Computer Related offences | Imprisonment up to three years, or/and with fine up to ₹500,000 |
| 66B | Receiving stolen computer or communication device | Imprisonment up to three years, or/and with fine up to ₹100,000 |
| 66C | Using password of another person-Identity Theft | Imprisonment up to three years, or/and with fine up to ₹100,000 |
| 66D | Cheating using computer resource | Imprisonment up to three years, or/and with fine up to ₹100,000 |
| 66E | Publishing private images of others | Imprisonment up to three years, or/and with fine up to ₹200,000 |
| 66F | Acts ofcyberterrorism | Imprisonment up to life. |
| 67 | Publishing information which is obscene in electronic form. | Imprisonment up to five years, or/and with fine up to ₹1,000,000 |
| 67A | Publishing images containing sexual acts | Imprisonment up to seven years, or/and with fine up to ₹1,000,000 |
| 67B | Publishing child porn or predating children online | Imprisonment up to five years, or/and with fine up to ₹1,000,000 on first conviction. Imprisonment up to seven years, or/and with fine up to ₹1,000,000on second conviction. |
| 67C | Failure to maintain records | Imprisonment up to three years, or/and with fine. |
| 68 | Failure/refusal to comply with orders | Imprisonment up to three years, or/and with fine up to ₹200,000 |
| 69 | Failure/refusal to decrypt data | Imprisonment up to seven years and possible fine. |
| 70 | Securing access or attempting to secure access to a protected system | Imprisonment up to ten years, or/and with fine. |
| 71 | Imprisonment up to three years, or/and with fine to ₹100,000 | |
| 72 | for breach of confidentiality and privacy | imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both. |
| 72A | For disclosure of information in breach of lawful contract. | Punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with a fine which may extend to five lakh rupees, or with both. |
For other type of crimes such as cheating, fraud, forgery, threat, misappropriation, defamation, etc committed by using computer IPC and other special laws to be invoked. For immediate reference certain penal sections are given below for certain offences frequently we witness.
| Cyber Crimes | Act & Section |
| Sending threatening messages by email | Sec 506 IPC
|
| Sending defamatory messages by email | Sec 500 IPC |
| Forgery of electronic records | Sec 465 IPC |
| Bogus websites, cyber frauds | Sec 420 IPC |
| Email spoofing | Sec 465 IPC |
| Online sale of Drugs | NDPS Act |
| Web-Jacking | Sec. 384 IPC |
| Online sale of Arms | Arms Act |
| Copyright Violation | Tags   |
