International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR)
Volume 3, No. 2, February 2014
A Comprehensive Study of Cyber Law and Cyber Crimes
Manjeet Singh, Assistant Professor, IT Dept., JIMS, Kalkaji
Jacob Anwar Husain, System Administrator, IT Dept., JIMS, Kalkaji
Navneet Kumar Vishwas, System Administrator, IT Dept., JIMS, Kalkaji
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 nations 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.
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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.
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International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR)
Volume 3, No. 2, February 2014
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
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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 persons
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 users 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
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International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR)
Volume 3, No. 2, February 2014
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 enemys data and
information systems, while defending and leveraging
ones 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 todays 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
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stored in any removable storage medium, then it is data
theft.
Identity Theft:
Identity theft is a form of fraud or cheating of another
persons identity in which someone pretends to be
someone else by assuming that persons identity, typically
in order to access resources or obtain credit and other
benefits in that persons 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].
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International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR)
Volume 3, No. 2, February 2014
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."
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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/downl
oads/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/downl
oads/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 (SumFall 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
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International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR) ISSN: 2319-4413 24
Volume 3, No. 2, February 2014

[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware-[4]. [11] http://deity.gov.in/hindi/node/1210 : IT Act

Microsoft active malware threats". Malware 2000, Registered No DL 33004/2000,
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[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing -[7]. Jsang, [12] IT Amendment Act 2008, Registered No DL
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(PDF). Proceedings of the Annual Computer oads/itact2000/it_amendment_act2008.pdf, Page
Security Applications Conference 2007 No -10, Section- 66C
(ACSAC'07). Retrieved 2007. [13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoofing_attack
[10] IGNOU PGCCL (Post Graduate Certification in [14] IGNOU PGCCL (Post Graduate Certification in
Cyber Law) Program, MIR-014 Block No.2, Unit Cyber Law) Program, MIR-014 Block No.2, Unit
No-5, Page No 11 No-5, Page No 11&12.

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