Cyber

Crime
A Threat to 21st
Century

Cyber Crime
The rapid growth of information technology

and the increased usage of internet in all

walks of life have led to the growth of new
forms of transnational crime especially the
internet related crimes.
Recent terror attacks and other security
concerns pertaining to domestic law and
order situation have prompted the Central
and State Governments to focus on the
modernization and up gradation of the
countrys security infrastructure
particularly in the cyber sector.

What is Cyber
Crime
Cyber crime is an unlawful act wherein the computer is
either a
tool or a target or both.
The computer as a target: Using a computer to attack
other computers. Eg. Hacking, Virus attacks etc.
The computer as a weapon: Using computer to
commit real world crimes. Eg. Cyber terrorism, credit
card frauds etc.

History of Cyber Crime

The first ever recorded cyber crime
took place in 1820 .
In 1820, Marie Joseph Jacquard,
a textile manufacturer in France
faced the first cyber crime!

Types of cyber crime

Hacking: Secretly gaining the access to a

computer system in order to get information

or cause damage.
Denial of service attacks: Flooding a
computer resource with more requests than it
can handle. This causes the resource to crash,
thereby, denying access of service to authorized
users.

 E-mail bombing: It is characterised by abusers

repeatedly sending an identical email

message to a particular address.

Sending malicious codes through e-mail: E-

mails are used to send viruses, Trojans etc

through emails as an attachment or by
sending a link of website, which on visiting,
downloads malicious codes.

India ranks 11th in the countries having the

Cyber Law
In
India
formation Technology Act, 2

Cyber Law of India

Cyber Law is seen as an essential component of criminal
justice
system all over the world. The same applies to cyber law of
India as well. In the Indian context, Information Technology
Act, 2000 (IT Act,2000) is the cyber law of India.
India has done a good job by enacting a cyber law. It is the 12th
country of the world having a cyber law. It covers areas like egovernance, e-commerce, cyber contraventions and cyber
offences
However, some critics and cyber law experts have questioned
the
strength of IT Act, 2000.

Information Technology
Act,2000
Some experts opined that the IT Act,2000 is not effective
and
lacks a number of necessary provisions. For instance, we
need
provisions and specified procedures to deal with issues like
Denial of Services, Distributed Denial of Services, trojans,
viruses, buffer overflows etc. These issues cannot be left
on luck.
Even issues like cyber war against India or cyber terrorism
against India have not been incorporated into the IT
Act,2000
Yet.

These type of headlines are common in

newspapers.

Don't be a victim
Safety measures to be taken to prevent
cyber crime:
Use strong passwords
Activate your firewall
Use anti virus software
Protect your e-identity
Secure your wireless network
Secure your mobile devices
Install the latest operating system updates
Be careful while you download something

Say no to cyber crime

Conclusion:
Computer- related crimes have become a
realty now and these must be dealt with
strictly at the earliest and necessary
effective
laws must be enacted with all necessary
provisions. Any delay can be dangerous.