Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews

Vol 2 (1), December 2014, pg 94-101

CYBER CRIMES: A THREAT TO HUMANITY

Dr. Shrish Kumar Tiwari
Assistant Professor, Allahabad Degree College,
A Constituent College of University of Allahabad, Allahabad.
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Good and bad has co-existence since the beginning of the world. Where first one comprises all things which are
essential for wellbeing of all whereas other ones connotes negativity. Unfortunately technology cannot be
mention as an exception of this rule. The internet and its technologies has opened up many opportunities for all
countries to develop their economies. On one hand our scientist, technocrats are using this advanced stream of
science for betterment of all and to make India self-dependent and secure from attack of our enemies while on
the other hand a very well structured groups (Independent or Nation sponsored) are also using these technologies
as a tool to make INDIA weak and helpless. Cyber criminals perform various acts like cyber stalking, on-line
harassment, on-line defamation, hacking, and so forth collectively we call it cybercrime. When these activities are
managed by organized group systematically and deliberately we term it as CYBER TERRORISM.
Cyber terrorism is a well-planned and organized use of technologies by cyber experts resides inside and outside
the country for anti-national activities. Although our government is well capable to fight against such challenges
it requires support, awareness and alertness from people.
This paper highlights some of the basics of cyber terrorism. This paper further discusses about the threats of
cyber terrorism and the present status of various cybercrimes in India. This paper aims at creating awareness on
cybercrime and suggests check on cybercrime.
Key Words: Cyber Terrorism, Hacking, Information Technology
INTRODUCTION
In present era of fierce competition every country is struggling to secure its future. Technology is a mighty tool
which helps in cost efficiency and excellence, which are require to be enriched and profitable, with its web based
approach. Almost whole world is adopting this new form of information science for the development of their people
and launching various programme based on information and communication technology, termed, e-governance and
this programme are witnessing that these projects are improving the efficiency of government by maintaining
transparency, accessibility and quick responsiveness. Although it is the brighter or positive sides of Information and
Communication Technology .There are some bad elements in the society who doesn‟t, want peace, harmony and
constructive environment in country. Therefore they are using all possible tools, methods, for their malafied
intentions and technology is no exception to it.
Various terrorist groups are adopting ICT as a tool to disrupt law and order of a country. Cyber terrorism is an
organized criminal activity committed by one person or group of persons to disturb a genuine transaction.
This can include use of information technology to organize and execute attacks against networks, computer systems
and telecommunications infrastructures, or for exchanging information or making threats electronically. Examples
are hacking computer systems, introducing viruses to vulnerable networks, web site defacing, Denial-of-service
attacks, or terrorist threats made via electronic communication.
OBJECTIVES:
The paper contains following objectives:
1. To understand and analyze the status and types of cybercrime in India;
2. To find out the major reasons behind the increasing rate of cybercrime in India;
3. To provide suggestions to check the cybercrimes in India.
METHODOLOGY:
The paper is descriptive in nature. With the help of secondary data which are available as free source. Paper efforts
to describe the form and status of cybercrime and analyses the complexity of cybercrime in modern age.
Forms of Cyber terrorism- Ghosts has so many faces

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We can divide these activities as follows-

1. Crime against a Person;
2. Crime against a Nation.
Any criminal activity (committed through computer or network system or over computer or network system) in
which Technology is used can be understood as cyber terrorism.
1. Offense against individual
“Man is born free but that was his last moment to enjoy that one”.
Every person reside in a society is bound to certain laws, conventions, rules which protect any individual to disturb
law and order of the society. At the same time these laws provide certain rights to that individual to protect him.
Constitution of India provides Right to privacy to any individual. Right to privacy is a part of the right to life and
personal liberty enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. With the advent of information technology
the traditional concept of right to privacy has taken new dimensions, which require a different legal viewpoint. With
the passage of time cybercrimes has become much complicated and challenging.
Present status of computer-generated crime in India:
The Nation Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs has released Cyber Crime Statistics for the
2013 year, which again shows rapid increase in cybercrime by 50% on year to year basis from 2012 to 2013. The
statistics mainly show cases Registered under Cyber Crimes by Motives and Suspects (States & UTs): The
maximum offenders came from the 18-30 age group. Among states, the highest incidents of cybercrime took place
in Maharashtra (907) followed by Uttar Pradesh (682) and Andhra Pradesh (651).
The maximum cybercrime arrests of four hundred twenty six (426) under the IT Act took place in Maharashtra and
Andhra Pradesh was a distant second with 296 arrests, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 283 arrests.
In percentage terms, the state that saw the most dramatic increase in cases registered under the IT Act was
Uttarakhand at 475% (from 4 cases to 23); Assam a close second with 450% (from 28 cases to 154). Interestingly,
the picture postcard union territory, Andaman and Nicobar islands, registered an eye-popping increase of 800% (two
cases in 2012 to 18 in 2013) in the same category.
The Delhi city has registered 131 cases of cybercrime cases which is an increase of 72.4 percent as compared to last
year 2012. Whereas Lakshadweep, Dadar and Nagar Haveli reported no cybercrime cases for the year 2013. Also
Cyber Crime activities seem to rare in the northeastern states. In 2013, only one case each was registered in
Nagaland and Mizoram.
The following data are well enough to describe cybercrime status in India:
TABLE-1.1
Incidence Of Cases Registered Under Cyber Crimes in States/UTs During 2012 & 2013 and Percentage
Variation

Sl.No. State/UT IT ACT IPC Section

% %
2012 2013 2012 2013
Variation Variation
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

STATES:

1 ANDHRA PRADESH 429 635 48.0 25 16 -36.0

2 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 12 10 -16.7 0 0 @

3 ASSAM 28 154 450.0 0 0 @

4 BIHAR 23 23 0.0 7 116 1557.1

5 CHHATTISGARH 49 91 85.7 10 10 0.0

6 GOA 30 57 90.0 2 1 -50.0

7 GUJARAT 68 61 -10.3 10 16 60.0

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8 HARYANA 66 112 69.7 116 211 81.9

9 HIMACHAL PRADESH 20 24 20.0 0 4 @

10 JAMMU & KASHMIR 35 46 31.4 0 0 @

11 JHARKHAND 10 13 30.0 25 13 -48.0

12 KARNATAKA 412 513 24.5 25 20 -20.0

13 KERALA 269 349 29.7 43 34 -20.9

14 MADHYA PRADESH 142 282 98.6 55 60 9.1

15 MAHARASHTRA 471 681 44.6 90 226 151.1

16 MANIPUR 0 1 @ 0 0 @

17 MEGHALAYA 6 17 183.3 0 0 @

18 MIZORAM 0 0 @ 0 0 @

19 NAGALAND 0 0 @ 0 0 @

20 ODISHA 14 65 364.3 13 39 200.0

21 PUNJAB 72 146 102.8 6 10 66.7

22 RAJASTHAN 147 239 62.6 7 58 728.6

23 SIKKIM 0 0 @ 0 0 @

24 TAMIL NADU 39 54 38.5 2 36 1700.0

25 TRIPURA 14 14 0.0 0 0 @

26 UTTAR PRADESH 205 372 81.5 44 310 604.5

27 UTTARAKHAND 4 23 475.0 0 4 @

28 WEST BENGAL 196 210 7.1 113 132 16.8

TOTAL (STATES) 2761 4192 51.8 593 1316 121.9

UNION TERRITORIES :

29 A & N ISLANDS 2 18 800.0 0 0 @

30 CHANDIGARH 33 9 -72.7 0 2 @

31 D & N HAVELI 0 0 @ 0 0 @

32 DAMAN & DIU 0 1 @ 0 0 @

33 DELHI 76 131 72.4 8 19 137.5

34 LAKSHADWEEP 0 0 @ 0 0 @

35 PUDUCHERRY 4 5 25.0 0 0 @

TOTAL (UTS) 115 164 42.6 8 21 162.5

TOTAL (ALL INDIA) 2876 4356 51.5 601 1337 122.5

Note: @ indicates infinite percentage variation because of division by zeros

TABLE-1.1 (Concluded)
SL.No State/UT IT ACT IPC Section

%
2012 2013 % Variation 2012 2013
Variation

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

36 AGRA 22 30 36.4 4 3 -25.0
37 AHMEDABAD 25 24 -4.0 0 0 @
38 ALLAHABAD 4 17 325.0 6 26 333.3
39 AMRITSAR 15 13 -13.3 0 0 @
40 ASANSOL 16 25 56.3 0 52 @
41 AURANGABAD 31 47 51.6 0 0 @
42 BENGALURU 342 399 16.7 7 18 157.1

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 Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews
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43 BHOPAL 1 19 1800.0 0 1 @
44 CHANDIGARH CITY 33 9 -72.7 0 2 @
45 CHENNAI 15 5 -66.7 0 8 @
46 COIMBATORE 3 3 0.0 1 3 200.0
47 DELHI (CITY) 73 131 79.5 7 19 171.4
48 DHANBAD 0 2 @ 0 0 @
49 DURG- BHILAINAGAR 6 10 66.7 0 0 @
50 FARIDABAD 15 12 -20.0 0 0 @
51 GHAZIABAD 9 17 88.9 0 0 @
52 GWALIOR 7 6 -14.3 1 0 -100.0
53 HYDERABAD 42 159 278.6 0 1 @
54 INDORE 5 28 460.0 8 0 -100.0
55 JABALPUR 5 1 -80.0 3 1 -66.7
56 JAIPUR 69 110 59.4 5 21 320.0
57 JAMSHEDPUR 0 4 @ 0 4 @
58 JODHPUR 25 78 212.0 0 0 @
59 KANNUR 7 8 14.3 2 0 -100.0
60 KANPUR 6 4 -33.3 1 4 300.0
61 KOCHI 45 26 -42.2 20 11 -45.0
62 KOLKATA 68 84 23.5 0 12 @
63 KOLLAM 20 10 -50.0 0 9 @
64 KOTA 1 5 400.0 0 0 @
65 KOZHIKODE 8 13 62.5 1 1 0.0
66 LUCKNOW 23 37 60.9 3 72 2300.0
67 LUDHIANA 7 32 357.1 1 0 -100.0
68 MADURAI 14 10 -28.6 0 3 @
69 MALAPPURAM 5 6 20.0 0 0 @
70 MEERUT 6 19 216.7 0 2 @
71 MUMBAI 33 40 21.2 72 92 27.8
72 NAGPUR 24 23 -4.2 0 0 @
73 NASIK 11 18 63.6 2 2 0.0
74 PATNA 21 10 -52.4 7 10 42.9
75 PUNE 76 97 27.6 32 3 -90.6
76 RAIPUR 16 58 262.5 0 0 @
77 RAJKOT 3 1 -66.7 0 1 @
78 RANCHI 0 3 @ 0 8 @
79 SRINAGAR 24 20 -16.7 0 0 @
80 SURAT 8 3 -62.5 0 1 @
81 THIRISSUR 10 28 180.0 0 0 @
82 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM 15 25 66.7 1 1 0.0
83 TIRUCHIRAPPALLI 6 3 -50.0 0 0 @
84 VADODARA 14 13 -7.1 0 0 @
85 VARANASI 0 4 @ 0 3 @
86 VASAI VIRAR CITY 2 10 400.0 1 0 -100.0
87 VIJAYAWADA 7 16 128.6 0 0 @
88 VISHAKHAPATNAM 153 173 13.1 1 2 100.0
Total (Cities) 1396 1948 39.5 186 396 112.9

Note : @ denotes infinite percentage variation because of division by zeros.

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TABLE – 2.1
Incidence Of Cases Registered And Number Of Persons Arrested Under Cyber Crimes
(IT Act + IPC Sections) During 2013All-India)
Crime Head Cases Persons
Sl.
Registered Arrested
No
(1) (2) (3) (4)

A. Offences under IT Act

1 Tampering computer source documents

137 59

2 Hacking with Computer Systems

i) Loss/damage to computer resource/utility

1966 818

ii) Hacking
550 193

3 Obscene publication/transmission in electronic form

1203 737

4 Failure

i) Of compliance/orders of certifying Authority

13 3

ii) To assist in decrypting the information intercepted by Govt. Agency

6 7

5 Un-authorised access/attempt to access of protected Computer system

27 17

6 Obtaining License or Digital Signature Certificate by misrepresentation/suppression of fact

12 14

7 Publishing false digital Signature Certificate

4 8

8 Fraud Digital Signature Certificate

71 51

9 Breach of confidentiality/privacy
93 30

10 Other
274 161

12 Total (A)
4356 2098

B. Offences under IPC

1 Offences by/Against Public Servant

1 2

2 False electronic evidence

6 7

3 Destruction of electronic evidence

6 4

4 Forgery
747 626

5 Criminal Breach of Trust/Fraud

518 471

6 Counterfeiting

i) Property/mark
10 34

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ii) Tampering
8 10

iii)Currency/Stamps
41 49

7 Total( B)
1337 1203
Grant Total (A+B) 5693 3301

Above data are for the year 2013 by which we can understand the seriousness of cybercrime. To meet this challenge
recourse of Information Technology Act, 2000 can be taken the various provisions of the Act suitably protect the
online privacy rights of the netizens. Certain acts have been categorized as offences and contraventions, which have
tendency to intrude with the privacy rights of the netizens. These rights are available against private individuals as
well as against cyber terrorists. Section 1 (2) read with Section 75 of the Act provides for an extra-territorial
application of the provisions of the Act. Thus, if a person (including a foreign national) contravenes the privacy of
an individual by means of computer, computer system or computer network located in India, he would be liable
under the provisions of the Act. This makes it clear that the long arm jurisdiction is equally available against a
cyber-terrorist, whose act has resulted in the damage of the property, whether tangible or intangible.
2. Information protection and records stealing-
The information technology can be misused to get government secrets and data of private individuals and the
Government and its agencies which are sensitive and important in nature. Government owned network usually
contains valuable information concerning defense, nuclear and other departments which the Government will not
wish to share otherwise. The same can be targeted by the terrorists to facilitate their activities, including destruction
of property. It must be noted that the definition of property is not restricted to moveable or immovable alone.
Thus, if any person without permission of the owner or any other person who is in charge of a computer, computer
system or computer network -
a. Accesses or secures access to such computer, computer system or computer network.
b. 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 stored in any removable storage medium;
c. Damages or causes to be damaged any computer, computer system or computer network, data, computer data
base or any other programme residing in such computer, computer system or computer network;
She/he shall be liable to pay damages by way of compensation not exceeding one crore rupees to the person so
affected. The expression "Computer Database" means a representation of information, knowledge, facts, concepts or
instructions in text, image, audio, video that are being prepared or have been prepared in a formalized manner or
have been produced by a computer, computer system or computer network and are intended for use in a computer,
computer system or computer network The expression "Damage" means to destroy, alter, delete, add, modify or re-
arrange any computer resource by any means. These provisions make it clear that secret information appropriation
and data theft by the cyber terrorists will be dealt with punitive sting and monetary impositions.
2. Crime against Nation
Any individual is a basic element of nation .Thus any crime against any individuals is serious concern for any
government as for maintaining law and order is concern but there are various other vurnibilities which can be named
by crime against Nation which are as follows:
A- Challenges before administration
E-governance is replacing traditional governance in almost each country .India is also adopting e-governance in
form of e-administration.
The aim of e-governance is to make the interaction of the citizens with the government offices ( G to P) easy to
share information with transparency and reliability . In a democracy, people govern themselves and they cannot
govern themselves properly unless they are aware of social, political, economic and other issues confronting them. It
is noticeable that the immediate goal of all cyber terrorist activities is to collapse a sound communication system,
which includes an e-governance base. Thus, by a combination of virus attacks and hacking techniques, the e-

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governance base of the government can be caused to be collapsed. This would be more deleterious and disastrous as
compared to other tangible damages, which were caused by the traditional terrorist activities. Similarly, the terrorists
to the common detriment of the nation at large can illegally obtain information legitimately protected from public
scrutiny by the government in the interest of security of the nation. Thus, a strong e-governance base with the latest
security methods and systems is the need of the hour.
B. Denial of services attack:
Availability of system when require is the core of any sound and robust network system. This has much importance
in case of network related to government‟s organizations‟ because it contains matter data related to interest of
Nation and any breach of any information‟s resides in these system might be harm full for whole country. So there
must be robust & secure information security measures in network availed by government for communication and
networking. In India, reason online security experts, the apathy towards strengthening online security stems from
the fact that the maximum attacks we have seen are defacing a site or largely sending denial of services.
C. Network Damage and Disruptions:
The main aim of cyber terrorist activities is to cause networks damage and their disruptions. This activity may divert
the attention of the security agencies for the time being thus giving the terrorists extra time and makes their task
comparatively easier. This process may involve a combination of computer tampering, virus attacks, hacking
.According to Indian Computer Emergency Response Team around 6000 Indian websites were defaced in 2009.
FINDINGS:
1. Lack of co-ordination among various concerning agencies.
2. Lack of proper and adequate training among police and administration department personals.
3. Lack of farsighted approach among policy formulators.
4. out dated and non-technical approach to deal with cybercrime.
5. Lack of special enforcement force.
6. Lack of e-court and cyber police stations at different parts of country.
7. Lack of awareness among people regarding cybercrime and cyber ethics.
8. Unprofessional and lethargic approach of concerning departments.
SUGGESTIONS:
Although it‟s very big challenge before government to fight with hidden war in form of cyber terrorism because
some time these activities may be organized and planned by enemy country/s rather than an individual or any small
group but by using following precautions we can minimize the possibilities to commit these crime-
 Necessary steps must be taken to enable concerning bodies.
 Computer security and awareness training
 Continuing awareness and education regarding terrorist trends and methodologies
 Future readiness to defend against attacks
 Establishment of special court, e-court, in which complain can register on-line and on the date of hearing video
conferencing should be used to avoid physical presence.
 Sensitive information should not be stored in the computer systems which are connected to the internet.
 Background of outsourcing agencies should be check prior to outsource any assignment, task to maintain
information security inform of authenticity, confidentiality and authenticity of data.
 Special training programme for judicial officers to deal with cases related to cybercrimes.
 Effective use of intelligence gathered from all sources
 Ministries and departments have been advised to update IT systems and carry out regular audits to ensure an
error-free system.
 There must be a specific police force to deal with cybercrimes in the country.
 Separate laws for each of the classification of cybercrime instead of amending the Information Technology Act.
 Creation of special enforcement agencies to deal exclusively with cyber laws.
 Government should impose a ban on websites that exclusively display pornography and hate speeches
 Continued enhancement of resources which are essential to make Network mush secure and robust
 Public/Private interaction to get mixes approach of advanced technology and expert implementation mechanism

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 Organizations possessing critical information must implement information security management practices based
on ISO 27001.
 Cyber ethics should be including as a subject in various curriculum at school and college level.
 Establishment of e-cops in those city which contains economic importance
 Promotion of Research and Development in the field of information security
 A techno-legal panel for provide training to various concerning departments.
 Last but not the least creation of awareness among each and every part of administration and society.
CONCLUSION:
Cyber terrorism is not a movement or just attack but a war. Well planned, well designed and organized war which is
more harmful than traditional attack. Hackers attack with bots, viruses and Trojans instead of planes or armored
vehicles and missiles and systematically create on-line “trapdoors” to invade servers and computers and steel
passwords of high importance .So there must be long-term strategy to fight with this new and advance form of
terrorism .Integrated approach is require for this in which cooperation of our Political bodies, Judiciaries,
Administration, and above of all common people is inevitable.
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