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A Project Report on:

“CYBERCRIME: A HIDDEN THREAT”
(Cyber Law)

MATS LAW SCHOOL

Submitted to- Submitted by-

Mr. Avadhut Joshi (Asst. Prof) Divyansh Sharma
MATS Law School B.B.A L.L.B
MATS University SEMESTER IX
MU13BBALLB09
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I feel highly elated to work on this dynamic and highly important topic that is
“CYBERCRIME: A HIDDEN THREAT” This topic instantly drew my attention and attracted
me to research on it.
I am fortunate to be provided with an opportunity to write my paper under the kind
supervision of Mr. Avadhut Joshi (Asst. Prof., MATS Law School) and I am thankful to her
for providing me with the appropriate guidance while writing the paper.
This paper would not have been possible without her valuable inputs, honest remarks and
earnest effort to guide me throughout the drafting of the paper. I would like to extend my sincere
thank to her for giving me her valuable time to view my research from her busy schedule.
I am highly indebted to the library staff to help me find the relevant books and journals,
and other officials and office staffs, who have also extended their help whenever needed.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my friends and for their review and honest
remarks.
So, I hope I have tried my level best to bring in new ideas and thoughts regarding the
basics of this topic. Not to forget my deep sense of regard and gratitude to my faculty adviser,
Mr. Avadhut Joshi who played the role of a protagonist. Last but not the least; I thank all the
members of the MATS Law School and all others who have helped me in making this project a
success.
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INTRODUCTION

We are living in a technology driven world and this technology has become an
integral part of our day to day life. But as we all know everything can have both
positive as well as negative consequences. So does this cyber world has a negative
impact and is becoming a serious threat from past few years. Today, most people rely
on the internet and other technologies and as a result, they are potentially opening
themselves up to attacks from criminals anywhere in the world. Cybercrimes are those
unlawful acts where the computer is used as a tool or a target or both. Cybercrime
mainly consists of unauthorized access to computer systems data alteration, data
destruction, theft of intellectual properly. Cybercrime in the context of national security
may involve hack activism, traditional espionage, or information warfare and related
activities.

Computer crime refers to any crime that involves a computer and a network. The
computer may have been used in the commission of a crime, or it may be the target. Net
crime refers to criminal exploitation of the Internet. Cybercrimes are defined as:
"Offences that are committed against individuals or groups of individuals with a
criminal motive to intentionally harm the reputation of the victim or cause physical or
mental harm to the victim directly or indirectly, using modern telecommunication
networks such as Internet (Chat rooms, emails, notice boards and groups) and mobile
phones (SMS/MMS)". Such crimes may threaten a nation’s security and financial
health.
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CHAPTER-1
CYBER CRIME

“Cyber-crime” means any criminal or other offence that is facilitated by or

involves the use of electronic communications or information systems, including any
device or the Internet or any one or more of them. Cybercrime is a term for any illegal
activity that uses a computer as its primary means of commission. In other words it can
be defined as crimes committed on the internet using the computer as either a tool or a
targeted victim. The expanded definition of cybercrime includes any illegal activity that
uses a computer for the storage of evidence. It is very difficult to classify cybercrimes
in general into distinct groups as many crimes evolve on a daily basis. However, all
cybercrimes involve both the computer and the person behind it as victims; it just
depends on which of the two is the main target.

Hence, the computer will be looked at as either a target or tool for simplicity’s
sake. For example, hacking involves attacking the computer’s information and other
resources. It is important to take note that overlapping occurs in many cases and it is
impossible to have a perfect classification system.

IT Act of India 2000

In May 2000, both the houses of the Indian Parliament passed the Information
Technology Bill. The Bill received the assent of the President in August 2000 and
came to be known as the Information Technology Act, 2000. Cyber laws are contained
in the IT Act, 2000.

This Act aims to provide the legal infrastructure for e-commerce in India. And
the cyber laws have a major impact for e-businesses and the new economy in India. So,
it is important to understand what are the various perspectives of the IT Act, 2000 and
what it offers.

The Information Technology Act, 2000 also aims to provide for the legal framework
so that legal sanctity is accorded to all electronic records and other activities carried out
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by electronic means. The Act states that unless otherwise agreed, an acceptance of
contract may
be expressed by electronic means of communication and the same shall have legal
validity and enforceability.

Highlights of the Information Technology Act 2000

 Electronic Contracts will be legally valid.

 LEGAL recognition of Digital signatures.
 Digital signature to be affected by use of asymmetric crypto system and hash
function.
 Security procedure for Electronic records and Digital signature.
 Appointment of Certifying Authorities (CAs) and Controller of Certifying
Authorities including recognition of foreign Certifying Authorities.
 Controller to Act as repository of all Digital Certificates.
 Certifying Authorities to get license to issue Digital Certificates.
 Various types of computer crimes defined and stringent penalties provided under
the Act.
 Appointment of Adjudicating Officer for holding inquiries under the Act.
 Establishment of Cyber Appellate Tribunal under the Act.
 Appeal from order of Adjudicating Officer to Cyber Appellate Tribunal and not
to any Civil Court.
 Appeal from order of Cyber Appellate Tribunal to High Court.
 Act to apply for offences or Contraventions committed outside India.
 Network Service providers not to be liable in certain cases.
 Power of Police Officers and other Officers to enter into any public place and
search and arrest without warrant.
 Constitution of Cyber Regulations Advisory Committee who will advise the
Central Government and Controller.
 Amendments in Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act, Banker's Books
Evidence Act and Reserve Bank of India Act
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The Grey Areas of the IT Act, 20006

1. The IT Act, 2000 is likely to cause a conflict of jurisdiction.

2. Electronic commerce is based on the system of domain names. The IT Act, 2000
does not even touch the issues relating to domain names. Even domain names
have not been defined and the rights and liabilities of domain name owners do
not find any mention in the law.
3. The IT Act, 2000 does not deal with any issues concerning the protection of
Intellectual Property Rights I the context of the online environment. Contentious
yet very important issues concerning online copyrights, trademarks and patents
have been left untouched by the law, thereby leaving many loopholes.
4. As the cyber law is growing, so are the new forms and manifestations of
cybercrimes. The offences defined in the IT Act, 2000 are by no means
exhaustive. However, the drafting of the relevant provisions of the IT Act, 2000
makes it appear as if the offences detailed therein are the only cyber offences
possible and existing. The IT Act, 2000 does not cove various kinds of
cybercrimes and Internet related crimes. These Include:-

 Theft of Internet hours

 Cyber theft
 Cyber stalking
 Cyber harassment
 Cyber defamation
 Cyber fraud
 Misuse of credit card numbers
 Chat room abuse

5. The IT Act, 2000 has not tackled several vital issues pertaining to e- commerce
sphere like privacy and content regulation to name a few. Privacy issues have
not been touched at all.
6. Another grey area of the IT Act is that the same does not touch upon any anti-
trust
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7. The most serious concern about the Indian Cyber law relates to its
implementation. The IT Act, 2000 does not lay down parameters for its
implementation. Also, when internet penetration in India is extremely low and
government and police officials, in general are not very computer savvy, the
new Indian cyber law raises more questions than it answers. It seems that the
Parliament would be required to amend the IT Act, 2000 to remove the grey
areas mentioned above.
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CHAPTER-2
Cyber Crimes Against Person

Cyber-crimes committed against persons include various crimes like

transmission of child-pornography, cyber porn, harassment of a person using a
computer such as through e-mail, fake escrow scams. The trafficking, distribution,
posting, and dissemination of obscene material including pornography and indecent
exposure, constitutes one of the most important Cybercrimes known today. The
potential harm of such a crime to humanity can hardly be explained. Cyber-harassment
is a distinct Cybercrime. Various kinds of harassment can and do occur in cyberspace,
or through the use of cyberspace. Different types of harassment can be sexual, racial,
religious, or other. Persons perpetuating such harassment are also guilty of cybercrimes.
Cyber harassment as a crime also brings us to another related area of violation of
privacy of citizens. Violation of privacy of online citizens is a Cybercrime of a grave
nature. No one likes any other person invading the invaluable and extremely touchy
area of his or her own privacy which the medium of internet grants to the citizen.

There are certain common cyber threats which are discussed below:

Cyber-crimes against individual

 Harassment: This is most common type of harassment through sending letters,

attachments of files & folders i.e. via e-mails. At present harassment is common
as usage of social sites i.e. Facebook, Twitter, and Orkut etc. increasing day by
day. Such social media are a weapon against innocent individuals as personal
information and photographs are easily available on such sites.
 Cyber-Stalking: It is expressed or implied a physical threat that creates fear
through the use to computer technology such as internet, e-mail, phones, text
messages, webcam, websites or videos. Cyber stalking is the use of the Internet,
email or other electronic communications to stalk which generally refers to a
pattern of threatening or malicious behaviors. Cyber stalking may be considered
the most dangerous as it is posing credible threat of harm.
 Defamation: Any statement, whether written or oral, that injures a third party's
reputation. It involves any person with intent to lower down the dignity of the
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person by hacking his mail account and sending some mails with using vulgar
language to unknown persons mail account.
 Hacking: It means gaining unauthorized control or access over computer system
and act of hacking completely destroys the whole data as well as computer
programs. Hackers usually hacks telecommunication and mobile network.
 Cracking: It is act of breaking into your computer systems without your
knowledge and consent and this also included tampering with precious
confidential data and information.
 E-Mail Spoofing: A spoofed e-mail may be said to be one, which misrepresents
its origin. It shows it’s origin to be different from which actually it originates.
 SMS Spoofing: Spoofing is a blocking through spam which means the unwanted
uninvited messages. In case of SMS Spoofing an offender steals identity of
another person in the form of mobile phone number and sends SMS via internet
and receiver gets the SMS from the mobile phone number of the victim. It is
very serious cybercrime against any individual.

 Cheating & Fraud: It means the person who is doing the act of cybercrime i.e.
stealing password and data storage has done it with having guilty mind which
leads to fraud and cheating.
 Child Pornography: In this cybercrime defaulters create, distribute, or access
materials that sexually exploit underage children. Among the largest businesses
on Internet. Pornography may not be illegal in many countries, but child
pornography is. Provisions Applicable: - Sections 67, 67A and 67B of the IT
Act.
 Assault by Threat: It refers to threatening a person with fear for their lives or
lives of their families through the use of a computer network i.e. E-mail, videos
or phones.
 Carding: It means false ATM cards i.e. Debit and Credit cards used by
criminals for their monetary benefits through withdrawing money from the
victim’s bank account.
There is always unauthorized use of ATM cards in this type of cybercrimes.
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CHAPTER-3
Cyber-crimes against property

The second category of Cyber-crimes is that of Cybercrimes against all forms of

property. These crimes include computer vandalism (destruction of others' property)
and transmission of harmful viruses or programs. These crimes include computer
vandalism by transmission of harmful programs to other computer through internet. The
other example is cybercriminal can take the contents of individual bank account. One
widespread method of getting people's bank account details is the money transfer email
scam. People receive emails requesting help with transferring funds from another
country. Hacking into company websites is property trespass, and stealing information
is property theft. Internet time theft also one of the cybercrime against property. It is
done by an authorized person in the usage of the internet hours which is actually paid
by another person. A Mumbai-based upstart engineering company lost a say and much
money in the business when the rival company, an industry major, stole the technical
database from their computers with the help of corporate cyber spy software.

There are certain offences which affects person’s property which is as follows:

 Intellectual Property Crimes: Intellectual property consists of a bunch of

rights. Any unlawful act by which the owner is deprived of his rights to his
property completely or partially is a crime. The most common type of IPR
violation may be said to be software piracy, infringement of copyright,
trademark, patents, designs and service mark violation, theft of computer source
code, etc.
 Cyber Squatting: It involves two persons claiming for the same Domain Name
either by claiming that they had registered the name first on by right of using it
before the
other or using something similar to that previously. For example two similar
names i.e. www.yahoo.com and www.yahhoo.com.
 Cyber Vandalism: Vandalism means deliberately damaging property of
another. Thus cyber vandalism means destroying or damaging the data or
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information stored in a computer when a network service is stopped or disrupted.

It may include within its purview any kind of physical harm done to the
computer of any person. These acts may take the form of the theft of a computer,
some part of a computer or a peripheral or a device attached to the computer.
 Hacking Computer System: Hackers attacks those included Famous Twitter,
blogging platform by unauthorized access/control over the computer. Due to the
hacking activity there will be loss of data as well as computer system. Also
research especially indicates that those attacks were not mainly intended for
financial gain too and to diminish the reputation of particular person or
company. As in April, 2013 MMM India attacked by hacker.
 Transmitting Virus: Viruses are programs written by programmers that attach
themselves to a computer or a file and then circulate themselves to other files
and to other computers on a network. They mainly affect the data on a computer,
either by altering or deleting it. Worm attacks plays major role in affecting the
computer system of the individuals.
 Cyber Trespass: It means to getting access to someone’s computer or network
without the right authorization of the owner and disturb, alter, misuse, or damage
data or system by using wireless internet connection.
 Internet Time Thefts: Basically, Internet time theft comes under hacking. It is
the use by an unauthorized person, of the Internet hours paid for by another
person. The person who gets access to someone else’s ISP user ID and
password, either by hacking or by gaining access to it by illegal means, uses it to
access the Internet without the other person’s knowledge. You can identify time
theft if your Internet time has to be recharged often, despite infrequent usage.
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CHAPTER-4
Cybercrimes against government

The third category is cybercrimes against governments constitute another level of

crime. Cyber terrorism is the most serious type of crime in this category. Hacking into a
Government website, particularly the military sites, is one manifestation of cyber
terrorism. The example of cybercrime against government is web jacking. By web
jacking, hackers gain access and control over the website of another, even they change
the content of website for fulfilling political objective or for money.

 Electronic Vandalism and Extortion

As never before, western industrialized societies are interdependent on complex

data processing and telecommunications systems. Any injury to or interference with,
one of these systems lead to harmful consequences. Whether prompted by curiosity
or vindictiveness electronic intruders because disoblige at best, and has the potential
to cause massive damage. While this potential has not yet recognized a number of
individuals and groups of protesters hacked the official websites of various
government and commercial organizations. Defense planners around the world
significantly invest in information warfare-- means for interrupting the information
technology infrastructure defense systems. An attempt was made to interrupt the
computer systems of the Sri Lankan government and the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization at the time 1999 bombing of Belgrade. Recently, one extortionist in
Eastern Europe acquired the credit card details of customers in a North American
based online music retailer, and published some of the web when the retailer refused
to accept his demands.

 Cyber Warfare and Terrorism

Government officials and specialists refuge Information Technology have recognized a

significant increase in Internet problems and server scans since early 2001, but there is
growing fear among central officials that such intrusions are part of an effort by
thoughtful cyber terrorists, foreign intelligence services, or other groups to map
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potential security holes in critical systems. A cyber terrorist is someone who intimidates
or coerces a government or organization to continue their political or social objectives
through the introduction of a computer -based attack against computers, the network
and the information stored in them. Cyber terrorism in general, can be defined as an act
of terrorism that has occurred through the use of cyberspace or computer resources. For
example, simple bad information on the internet, there will be bomb attacks during the
holidays can be considered cyber terrorism. In addition there are also hacking activities
for individuals, families, organized by groups within networks, tending to cause fear
among people, demonstrate power, collecting appropriate information to ruin lives,
robberies, extortion, blackmail etc. cyber is a type of cyber terrorism on a web page,
email server, or computer system is subjected to the repeated denial of service attacks
or other evil hackers, who demand money in exchange for the promise to stop attacks.
Cyber terrorism is one distinct kind of crime in this category. The growth of
internet has shown that the medium of Cyberspace is being used by individuals and
groups to threaten the international governments as also to threaten the citizens of a
country. This crime manifests itself into terrorism when an individual "cracks" into a
government or military maintained website. The Parliament attack in Delhi and the
recent Mumbai attack fall under this category. India had enacted its first Cyber Law
through IT Act 2000. It has been amended and now in 2008 the revised version is under
implementation.
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CHAPTER-5
Cybercrimes against Society at large

An unlawful act done with the intention of causing harm to the cyberspace will
affect large number of persons. These offences include: Child Pornography: In this act
there is use of computer networks to create, distribute, or access materials that sexually
exploit underage children. It also includes activities concerning indecent exposure and
obscenity.
 Cyber Trafficking: It involves trafficking in drugs, human beings, arms
weapons etc. which affects large number of persons. Trafficking in the
cybercrime is also a gravest crime. Online Gambling: Online fraud and cheating
is one of the most lucrative businesses that are growing today in the cyber space.
In India a lot of betting and gambling is done on the name of cricket through
computer and internet. There are many cases that have come to light are those
pertaining to credit card crimes, contractual crimes, offering jobs, etc.
 Financial Crimes: This type of offence is common as there is huge growth in
the users of networking sites and phone networking where culprit will try to
attack by sending bogus mails or messages through internet. Ex: Using credit
cards by obtaining password illegally. Forgery: It means to deceive large number
of persons by sending threatening mails as online business transactions are
becoming the habitual need of today’s life style.

There is as such no defense from cybercrime which can secure someone completely
against it but by taking certain precautions one can avoid being a victim of these
cybercrimes to a great extent. Like any other criminal activity, those who are most
vulnerable are tending to be the targeted first.

Ideally, in case of a specific threat one need to work with an IT security expert to
assess specific needs and vulnerabilities, but there are certainly some universal steps
which can be taken to reduce your likelihood of attack.
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CHAPTER-6
Conclusion
It has been deduced from this study that reliance on terrestrial laws is still an untested
approach despite progress being made in many countries, they still rely on standard
terrestrial laws to prosecute cybercrimes and these laws are archaic statutes that have
been in existence before the coming of the cyberspace. Also weak penalties limit
deterrence: countries with updated criminal statutes still have weak penalties on the
criminal statutes; this cannot deter criminals from committing crimes that have large-
scale economic and social effect on the society. Also a global patchwork of laws creates
little certainty; little consensus exist among countries regarding which crimes need to
be legislated against. Self-protection remains the first line of defence and a model
approach is needed by most countries; especially those in the developing world looking
for a model to follow. They recognize the importance of outlawing malicious computer-
related acts in a timely manner or in order to promote a secure environment for e-
commerce.

Cyber-crime with its complexities has proven difficult to combat due to its
nature. Extending the rule of law into the cyberspace is a critical step towards creating a
trustworthy environment for people and businesses. Since the provision of such laws to
effectively deter cyber-crime is still a work in progress, it becomes necessary for
individuals and corporate bodies to fashion out ways of providing security for their
systems and data. To provide this self-protection, organizations should focus on
implementing cyber-security plans addressing people, process and technology issues,
more resources should be put in to educate employees of organizations on security
practices, “develop thorough plans for handling sensitive data, records and transactions
and incorporate robust security technology- -such as firewalls, anti-virus software,
intrusion detection tools and authentication services--.”

There should be a symbiotic relationship between the firms, government and

civil society to strengthen legal frameworks for cyber-security. An act has to be crime
in each jurisdiction before it can be prosecuted across a border. Nation must define
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cyber-crimes in similar manner, to enable them pass legislation that would fight cyber-
crimes locally and internationally. With the information highway having entered our
very homes, we are all at increasing risk of being affected by Cybercrime. Everything
about our lives is in some manner affected by computers. Under the circumstances, it’s
high time we sat up and took notice of the events shaping our destinies on the
information highway. Cybercrime is everyone’s problem. And it’s time we did
something to protect ourselves. Information is the best form of protection. Your safety
is in your hand. One should be very careful while accessing the important and
confidential data. Besides it, strict law is required to handle the issue of cybercrime. It
is crime against individual, society and sometimes very serious issue in nation security.
Cyber Army, There is also an imperative need to build a high technology crime &
investigation infrastructure, with highly technical staff at the other end. Judiciary plays
a vital role in shaping the enactment according to the order of the day Cyber savvy
judges are the need of the day.