‘Cyber Safe Women’

• Maharashtra Government has launched a ‘Cyber Safe Women’ initiative to educate women about how the web is used by anti-social elements and child predators to commit various types of crimes.  

About the initiative:

• The Cyber Safe Women initiative aims to create awareness on the cyberspace in light of the increasing number of cases where women and children are targeted.
• This initiative was launched in 34 districts and 90 places across the state, all at once.
• It will help in educating women about how the web is used by anti-social elements and child predators to commit various types of crimes.

Cybercrimes in India:

Cybercrime is defined as a crime in which a computer is the object of the crime (hacking, phishing, spamming) or is used as a tool to commit an offence (child pornography, hate crimes).  Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of activities, but these can generally be broken into two categories:

• Crimes that target computer networks or devices. These types of crimes include viruses and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
• Crimes that use computer networks to advance other criminal activities. These types of crimes include Posting of obscene photographs, Child pornography, Online theft of personal data, Sending fake e-mail messages to get personal information, Misusing personal information, Inciting religious feeling of hatred, Online theft and Fake financial transaction etc.
• As per a recent ASSOCHAM-NEC joint study, India has witnessed a 457% rise in cybercrime incidents under the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 from the year 2011 to 2016.
• India is ranked third after the United States and China in terms of cybercrime incidents.
• According to the annual report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in 2016, with 762 cases, Bengaluru had the second-highest number of cybercrime cases among the metros, behind Mumbai with 980 cases.
• Other metro cities were far behind, with Hyderabad recording 291 cases, Kolkata 168, Delhi 90 and Chennai 36.

Favourite techniques of Cybercriminals to steal computer:

• Phishing: Phishing is a fake email masquerading as legitimate. Hackers create phishing emails through which they intend to steal your confidential information like passwords and bank account details. This kind of email appears to have come from a well-known person or organisation like your bank or company that you work for. These emails generally try to create urgency or panic to trick users into giving out their personal details.
• Malware: It is malicious software that is written with the intent of compromising a system and stealing the data available on the system. It can steal or delete sensitive data, modify the system’s core functionalities, and secretly track the victim’s activities.
• Cyberextortion:This cybercrime involves an attack or threat of an attack coupled with a demand for money to stop the attack. 
• Cryptojacking:It is the illegal use of another person’s computer to mine cryptocurrency. 
• Ransomware: It is a form of malware that locks a user out of files or devices and then demands online payment anonymously to restore access. Threats to mobile devices and crypto-jacking were also increasing.

Legal frameworks to deal with cybercrimes:

Following are the protection provided under the Indian legal framework against cybercrimes in India:

• Indian Penal Code, 1860:Indian Penal code (IPC) is India’s universal criminal law. Thus, it covers almost all the crime.
• IPC, 1860 was amended to include the word "electronic" and expanding its scope by treating electronic records and documents on a par with physical records and documents.
• Sections such as 192, 204, 463, 464, 464, 468 to 470, 471, 474, 476 which deal with the false document or false entry were also amended to include ‘electronic record and electronic document’.
• Information Technology Act 2000: The IT Act deals with cybercrime and electronic commerce in India. It provides legal recognition to e-commerce and e-governance and facilitates its development as an alternative to paper-based traditional methods.
• Though the Act does not expressly define cyber-crime but includes both cyber-crimes and cyber contraventions.
• The important provision related to cyber-crime and their punishments are as given below: