Cybercrime in the field of information technologies
Different types of cyber crimes Computer Viruses are used by Hackers to infect the user’s computer and damage data saved on the computer by use of “payload” in viruses which carries damaging code. Person would be liable under I. T Act only when the consent of the owner is not taken before inserting virus in his system. The contradiction here is that though certain viruses causes temporary interruption by showing messages on the screen of the user but still it’s not punishable under Information Technology Act 2000 as it doesn’t cause tangible damage. But, it must be made punishable as it would fall under the ambit of ‘unauthorised access’ though doesn’t cause any damage. This ambiguity needs reconsideration. Phishing It is an act in which the hackers, by using e-mail messages which completely resembles the original ones ask for the verification of certain personal information, like account numbers or passwords etc. Here the customer might get deceived by the originality of that message, which may lead to huge financial losses if the information is used for fraudulent acts like withdrawing money from customers account without him having knowledge of it. Spoofing This is carried on by use of deceiving Websites or e-mails. These sources mimic the original websites so well by use of logos, names, graphics and even the code of real bank’s site. Phone Phishing It is done by use of in-voice messages by the hackers where the customers are asked to reveal their account identification, and passwords to file a complaint for any problems regarding their accounts with banks etc.
Internet Pharming Hacker here aims at redirecting the website used by the customer to another bogus website by hijacking the victim’s DNS server and changing his I. P address to fake website by manipulating DNS server. This redirects user’s original website to a false misleading website to gain unauthorized information. Investment Newsletter We usually get newsletter providing us free information recommending that investment in which field would be profitable. These may sometimes be a fraud and may cause us huge loss if relied upon. False information can be spread by this method about any company and can cause huge inconvenience or loss through junk mails online. Credit Card Fraud Huge loss may cause to the victim due to this kind of fraud. This is done by publishing false digital signatures. Most of the people lose credit cards on the way of delivery to the recipient or its damaged or defective, misrepresented etc. Spam The most common type of cyber crime is spam. While email spam laws are fairly new, there have been laws on the books regarding "unsolicited electronic communications" for many years.
Fraud Credit fraud is another common form of cyber crime. Certain computer viruses can log keystrokes on your keyboard and send them to hackers, who can then take your Social Security number, credit card number and home address. This information will be used by the hacker for his own means. Cyber terrorism against the government organization. Cyber terrorism may be defined to be “ the premeditated use of disruptive activities, or the threat thereof, in cyber space, with the intention to further social, ideological, religious, political or similar objectives, or to intimidate any person in furtherance of such objectives” Terrorist organizations started to use new informational technologies and Internet more often with criminal intentions to get rich, to carry out some propaganda or secret information transfer. Criminal groups such as Hizbollah, HAMAS, the Abu Nidal organization and Bin Laden’s al Qa’ida use computer files, e-mail and encryption (cryptography and computer ? ? ? ) to support their illegal activity. Though terrorists have not used their cyber weapon yet on purpose, they use new informational technologies and computer progress achievements, and this already is a serious threat. Cyber terrorism, up-to-date informational technologies use in the Internet, is a weapon, which is implemented to damage state major infrastructures (such as energetic, transport, governmental). It can become a real threat for the world highly developed countries national safety in the nearest future.
Reasons for cyber crimes: Hart in his work “The Concept of Law” has said ‘human beings are vulnerable so rule of law is required to protect them’. Applying this to the cyberspace we may say that computers are vulnerable so rule of law is required to protect and safeguard them against cyber crime. The reasons for the vulnerability of computers may be said to be: 1. Capacity to store data in comparatively small space 2. Easy to access 3. Complex 4. Negligence 5. Loss of evidence
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Measures To Curb The Cyber Crime: Though by passage of time and improvement in technology to provide easier and user friendly methods to the consumer for make up their daily activities, it has lead to harsh world of security threats at the same time by agencies like hackers, crackers etc. various Information technology methods have been introduced to curb such destructive activities to achieve the main objects of the technology to provide some sense of security to the users. Few basic prominent measures used to curb cyber crimes are as follows: A) Encryption: This is considered as an important tool for protecting data in transit. Plain text (readable) can be converted to cipher text (coded language) by this method and the recipient of the data can decrypt it by converting it into plain text again by using private key. This way except for the recipient whose possessor of private key to decrypt the data, no one can gain access to the sensitive information. B) Synchronized Passwords: These passwords are schemes, used to change the password at user’s and host token. The password on synchronized card changes every 30 -60 seconds which only makes it valid for one time log-on session. Other useful methods introduced are signature, voice, fingerprint identification or retinal and biometric recognition etc. to impute passwords and pass phrases C) Firewalls: It creates wall between the system and possible intruders to protect the classified documents from being leaked or accessed. It would only let the data to flow in the computer which is recognized and verified by one’s system. It only permits access to the system to ones already registered with the computer. D) Digital Signature: These are created by using means of cryptography by applying algorithms. This has its prominent use in the business of banking where customer’s signature is identified by using this method before banks enter into huge transactions.
Preventive Measures Prevention is always better than cure. So it is always better to take precautions while operating the net. Sailesh Kumar Zarkar, technical advisor and network security consultant to the Mumbai Police Cyber crime Cell, advocates the 5 P mantra for online security: Precaution, Prevention, Protection, Preservation and Perseverance. "Take security seriously, " he says. "If you protect your customer's data, your employee's privacy and your own company, then you are doing your job in the grander scheme of things to regulate and enforce rules on the Net through our community. " A netizen should keep in mind the following things 1. To prevent cyber stalking, avoid disclosing any information pertaining to oneself. 2. Always avoid sending photographs online particularly to strangers and chat friends as there have been incidents of misuse of the photographs. 3. Always use latest and up date anti virus software to guard against virus attacks. 4. Always keep back up volumes so that one may not suffer data loss in case of virus contamination 5. Never send your credit card number to any site that is not secured, to guard against frauds. 6. Always keep a watch on the sites that your children are accessing to prevent any kind of harassment or depravation in children. 7. It is better to use a security programme that gives control over the cookies and send information back to the site as leaving the cookies unguarded might prove fatal. 8. The web site owners should watch traffic and check any irregularity on the site. Putting host-based intrusion detection devices on servers may do this. 9. Use of firewalls may be beneficial. 10. Web servers running public sites must be physically separate and protected from internal corporate network.
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