Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences ( 2011) Vol 3, No 1, 240-259

Cybercrime in the Society: Problems and

Preventions

Kamini Dashora, PhD, Principal, P.P. Patel College of Social Sciences,

(Affiliated Sardar Patel University, Vidyanagar, Gujarat, India)

Abstract: The world of internet today has become a parallel form of life
and living. Public are now capable of doing things which were not
imaginable few years ago. The Internet is fast becoming a way of life for
millions of people and also a way of living because of growing
dependence and reliance of the mankind on these machines. Internet has
enabled the use of website communication, email and a lot of anytime
anywhere IT solutions for the betterment of human kind.
Cyberc rime is emerging as a serious threat. Worldwide
governments, police departments and intelligence units have started to
react. Initiatives to curb cross border cyber threats are taking shape.
Indian police have initiated special cyber cells across the country and
have started educating the personnel. This article is an attempt to
provide a glimpse on cybercrime in society. This article is based on
various reports from news media and news portal.

Keywords: Cybercrime, Hacking, Phishing, Cyber squatting

1. Introduction

Crime and criminality have been associated with man

since his fall. Crime remains elusive and ever strives to hide
itself in the face of development. Different nations have
adopted different strategies to contend with crime depending
on their nature and extent. One thing is certain, it is that a
nation with high incidence of crime cannot grow or develop.
That is so because crime is the direct opposite of
development. It leaves a negative social and economic
consequence. Cybercrime is defined as crimes committed on
the internet using the computer as either a tool or a targeted
victim. It is very difficult to classify crimes in general into
distinct groups as many crimes evolve on a daily basis. Even
in the real world, crimes like rape, murder or theft need not
necessarily be separate. 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.
The term ‘cyberc rime’ is a misnomer. This term has
nowhere been defined in any statute /Act passed or enacted
by the Indian Parliament. The concept of cyberc rime is not
radically different from the concept of conventional crime.
Both include conduct whether act or omission, which cause
breach of rules of law and counterbalanced by the sanction
of the state. Before evaluating the concept of cybercrime it is
obvious that the concept of conventional crime be discussed
and the points of similarity and deviance between both these
forms may be discussed.

2. Computer as a Tool
When the individual is the main target of Cybercrime,
the computer can be considered as the tool rather than the
target. These crimes generally involve less technical expertise
as the damage done manifests itself in the real world.
Human weaknesses are generally exploited. The damage
dealt is largely psychological and intangible, making legal
action against the variants more difficult. These are the
crimes which have existed for centuries in the offline. Scams,
theft, and the likes have existed even before the development
in high-tech equipment. The same criminal has simply been
given a tool which increases his potential pool of victims and
makes him all the harder to trace and apprehend.

3. Computer as a Target
These crimes are committed by a selected group of
criminals. Unlike crimes using he computer as a tool, these
crimes requires the technical knowledge of the perpetrators.
These crimes are relatively new, having been in existence for
only as long as computers have - which explains how
 Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions

unprepared society and the world in general is towards

combating these crimes. There are numerous crimes of this
nature committed daily on the internet. But it is worth
knowing that Africans and indeed Nigerians are yet to
develop their technical knowledge to accommodate and
perpetrate this kind of crime.

4. Conventional Crime

Crime is a social and economic phenomenon and is as

old as the human society. Crime is a legal concept and has
the sanction of the law. Crime or an offence is “a legal wrong
that can be followed by criminal proceedings which may
result into punishment.”The hallmark of criminality is that,
it is breach of the criminal law. Per Lord Atkin “the criminal
quality of an act cannot be discovered by reference to any
standard but one: is the act prohibited with penal
consequences”. A crime may be said to be any conduct
accompanied by act or omission prohibited by law and
consequential breach of which is visited by penal
consequences.

5. Cybercrime

Cyberc rime is the latest and perhaps the most

complicated problem in the cyber world. “Cyber crime may
be said to be those species, of which, genus is the
conventional crime, and where either the computer is an
object or subject of the conduct constituting crime” “Any
criminal activity that uses a computer either as an
instrumentality, target or a means for perpetuating further
crimes comes within the ambit of cybercrime”

A generalized definition of cybercrime may be

“unlawful acts wherein the computer is either a tool or target
or both” The computer may be used as a tool in the following
kinds of activity- financial crimes, sale of illegal articles,
pornography, online gambling, intellectual property crime, e-
mail spoofing, forgery, cyber defamation, cyber stalking. The
computer may however be target for unlawful acts in the
following cases- unauthorized access to computer/ computer
system/ computer networks, theft of information contained
in the electronic form, e-mail bombing, data didling, salami
attacks, logic bombs, Trojan attacks, internet time thefts,
web jacking, theft of computer system, physically damaging
the computer system.

6. Distinction Between Conventional and Cybercrime

There is apparently no distinction between cyber and
conventional crime. However on a deep introspection we may
say that there exists a fine line of demarcation between the
conventional and cyber crime, which is appreciable. The
demarcation lies in the involvement of the medium in cases
of cyber crime. The sine qua non for cyber crime is that there
should be an involvement, at any stage, of the virtual cyber
medium.

7. Reasons for Cybercrime

“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: The

computer has unique characteristic of storing data in a
very small space. This affords to remove or derive
information either through physical or virtual medium
makes it much easier.
2. Easy to access: The problem encountered in guarding a
computer system from unauthorised access is that there
is every possibility of breach not due to human error but
due to the complex technology. By secretly implanted
logic bomb, key loggers that can steal access codes,
 Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions

advanced voice recorders; retina imagers etc. that can fool

biometric systems and bypass firewalls can be utilized to
get past many a security system.
3. Complex: The computers work on operating systems and
these operating systems in turn are composed of millions
of codes. Human mind is fallible and it is not possible
that there might not be a lapse at any stage. The cyber
criminals take advantage of these lacunas and penetrate
into the computer system.
4. Negligence: Negligence is very closely connected with
human conduct. It is therefore very probable that while
protecting the computer system there might be any
negligence, which in turn provides a cyber criminal to
gain access and control over the computer system.
5. Loss of evidence: Loss of evidence is a very common &
obvious problem as all the data are routinely destroyed.
Further collection of data outside the territorial extent
also paralyses this system of crime investigation.

8. Cyber Criminals

The cyber criminals constitute of various groups/

category. This division may be justified on the basis of the
object that they have in their mind. The following are the
category of cyber criminals

1. Children and adolescents between the age group of 6 – 18

years
The simple reason for this type of delinquent behaviour
pattern in children is seen mostly due to the inquisitiveness
to know and explore the things. Other cognate reason may
be to prove themselves to be outstanding amongst other
children in their group. Further the reasons may be
psychological even. E.g. the Bal Bharati (Delhi) case was the
outcome of harassment of the delinquent by his friends.

2. Organised hackers
 These kinds of hackers are mostly organized together to fulfil
certain objective. The reason may be to fulfil their political
bias, fundamentalism, etc. The Pakistanis are said to be one
of the best quality hackers in the world. They mainly target
the Indian government sites with the purpose to fulfil their
political objectives. Further the NASA as well as the
Microsoft sites is always under attack by the hackers.

3. Professional hackers / crackers

Their work is motivated by the colour of money. These kinds
of hackers are mostly employed to hack the site of the rivals
and get credible, reliable and valuable information. Further
they are ven employed to crack the system of the employer
basically as a measure to make it safer by detecting the
loopholes.

4. Discontented employees
This group include those people who have been either
sacked by their employer or are dissatisfied with their
employer. To avenge they normally hack the system of their
employee.

9. Mode and Manner of Committing Cybercrime

Unauthorized access to computer systems or networks /

Hacking: This kind of offence is normally referred as hacking
in the generic sense. However the framers of the information
technology act 2000 have no where used this term so to
avoid any confusion we would not interchangeably use the
word hacking for ‘unauthorized access’ as the latter has wide
connotation.

Theft of information contained in electronic form: This

includes information stored in computer hard disks,
removable storage media etc. Theft may be either by
appropriating the data physically or by tampering them
through the virtual medium.
 Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions

Email bombing: This kind of activity refers to sending large

numbers of mail to the victim, which may be an individual or
a company or even mail servers there by ultimately resulting
into crashing.

Data diddling: This kind of an attack involves altering raw

data just before a computer processes it and then changing
it back after the processing is completed. The electricity
board faced similar problem of data diddling while the
department was being computerised.

Salami attacks: This kind of crime is normally prevalent in

the financial institutions or for the purpose of committing
financial crimes. An important feature of this type of offence
is that the alteration is so small that it would normally go
unnoticed. E.g. the Ziegler case wherein a logic bomb was
introduced in the bank’s system, which deducted 10 cents
from every account and deposited it in a particular account.

Denial of Service attack: The computer of the victim is flooded

with more requests than it can handle which cause it to
crash. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoss) attack is also a
type of denial of service attack, in which the offenders are
wide in number and widespread. E.g. Amazon, Yahoo.

Virus / worm attacks: Viruses are programs that attach

themselves to a computer or a file and then circulate
themselves to other files and to other computers on a
network. They usually affect the data on a computer, either
by altering or deleting it. Worms, unlike viruses do not need
the host to attach themselves to. They merely make
functional copies of themselves and do this repeatedly till
they eat up all the available space on a computer's memory.
E.g. love bug virus, which affected at least 5 % of the
computers of the globe. The losses were accounted to be $ 10
million. The world's most famous worm was the Internet
worm let loose on the Internet by Robert Morris sometime in
1988. Almost brought development of Internet to a complete
halt.

Logic bombs: These are event dependent programs. This

implies that these programs are created to do something only
when a certain event (known as a trigger event) occurs. E.g.
even some viruses may be termed logic bombs because they
lie dormant all through the year and become active only on a
particular date (like the Chernobyl virus).

Trojan attacks: This term has its origin in the word ‘Trojan
horse’. In software field this means an unauthorized
programme, which passively gains control over another’s
system by representing itself as an authorised programme.
The most common form of installing a Trojan is through e-
mail. E.g. a Trojan was installed in the computer of a lady
film director in the U.S. while chatting. The cyber criminal
through the web cam installed in the computer obtained her
nude photographs. He further harassed this lady.

Internet time thefts: Normally in these kinds of thefts the

Internet surfing hours of the victim are used up by another
person. This is done by gaining access to the login ID and
the password. E.g. Colonel Bajwa’s case- the Internet hours
were used up by any other person. This was perhaps one of
the first reported cases related to cyber crime in India.
However this case made the police infamous as to their lack
of understanding of the nature of cyber crime.

Web jacking: This term is derived from the term hi jacking. In

these kinds of offences the hacker gains access and control
over the web site of another. He may even mutilate or change
the information on the site. This may be done for fulfilling
political objectives or for money. E.g. recently the site of MIT
(Ministry of Information Technology) was hacked by the
Pakistani hackers and some obscene matter was placed
therein. Further the site of Bombay crime branch was also
web jacked. Another case of web jacking is that of the ‘gold
fish’ case. In this case the site was hacked and the
information pertaining to gold fish was changed. Further a
ransom of US $ 1 million was demanded as ransom. Thus
web jacking is a process whereby control over the site of
another is made backed by some consideration for it.
 Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions

10. Classification

The subject of cyber crime may be broadly classified under

the following three groups. They are-

1. Against Individuals
a. their person &
b. their property of an individual

2. Against Organization
a. Government
c. Firm, Company, Group of Individuals.

3. Against Society at large:

The following are the crimes, which can be committed

against the followings group

Against Individuals: –
i. Harassment via e-mails.
ii. Cyber-stalking.
iii. Dissemination of obscene material.
iv. Defamation.
v. Unauthorized control/access over computer system.
vi. Indecent exposure
vii. Email spoofing
viii. Cheating & Fraud

Against Individual Property: -

i. Computer vandalism.
ii. Transmitting virus.
iii. Netrespass
iv. Unauthorized control/access over computer system.
v. Intellectual Property crimes
vi. Internet time thefts

Against Organization: -
i. Unauthorized control/access over computer system
ii. Possession of unauthorized information.
iii. Cyber terrorism against the government organization.
iv. Distribution of pirated software etc.

Against Society at large: -

i. Pornography (basically child pornography).
ii. Polluting the youth through indecent exposure.
iii. Trafficking
iv. Financial crimes
v. Sale of illegal articles
vi. Online gambling
vii. Forgery

The above mentioned offences may discuss in brief as

follows:

1. Harassment via e-mails: Harassment through e-mails is

not a new concept. It is very similar to harassing through
letters. Recently I had received a mail from a lady wherein
she complained about the same. Her former boy friend was
sending her mails constantly sometimes emotionally
blackmailing her and also threatening her. This is a very
common type of harassment via e-mails.

2. Cyber-stalking: The Oxford dictionary defines stalking as

"pursuing stealthily". Cyber stalking involves following a
person's movements across the Internet by posting messages
(sometimes threatening) on the bulletin boards frequented by
the victim, entering the chat-rooms frequented by the victim,
constantly bombarding the victim with emails etc.

3. Dissemination of obscene material/ Indecent exposure/

Pornography (basically child pornography) / Polluting through
indecent exposure: Pornography on the net may take various
forms. It may include the hosting of web site containing
these prohibited materials. Use of computers for producing
these obscene materials. Downloading through the Internet,
obscene materials. These obscene matters may cause harm
to the mind of the adolescent and tend to deprave or corrupt
their mind. Two known cases of pornography are the Delhi
Bal Bharati case and the Bombay case wherein two Swiss
 Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions

couple used to force the slum children for obscene

photographs. The Mumbai police later arrested them.

4. Defamation: It is an act of imputing any person with

intent to lower the person in the estimation of the right-
thinking members of society generally or to cause him to be
shunned or avoided or to expose him to hatred, contempt or
ridicule. Cyber defamation is not different from conventional
defamation except the involvement of a virtual medium. E.g.
the mail account of Rohit was hacked and some mails were
sent from his account to some of his batch mates regarding
his affair with a girl with intent to defame him.

5. Unauthorized control/access over computer system: This

activity is commonly referred to as hacking. The Indian law
has however given a different connotation to the term
hacking, so we will not use the term "unauthorized access"
interchangeably with the term "hacking" to prevent
confusion as the term used in the Act of 2000 is much wider
than hacking.
6. 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. Recently spoofed
mails were sent on the name of Mr. Na.Vijayashankar
(naavi.org), which contained virus. Rajesh Manyar, a
graduate student at Purdue University in Indiana, was
arrested for threatening to detonate a nuclear device in the
college campus. The alleged e- mail was sent from the
account of another student to the vice president for student
services. However, the mail was traced to be sent from the
account of Rajesh Manyar.

7. Computer vandalism: Vandalism means deliberately

destroying or damaging property of another. Thus, computer
vandalism 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 attached to the computer or by
physically damaging a computer or its peripherals.

8. Intellectual Property crimes / Distribution of pirated

software: Intellectual property consists of a bundle of rights.
Any unlawful act by which the owner is deprived completely
or partially of his rights is an offence. The common form of
IPR violation may be said to be software piracy, copyright
infringement, trademark and service mark violation, theft of
computer source code, etc. The Hyderabad Court has in a
landmark judgement has convicted three people and
sentenced them to six months imprisonment and fine of
50,000 each for unauthorized copying and sell of pirated
software.

9. Cyber terrorism against the government organization: At

this juncture a necessity may be felt that what is the need to
distinguish between cyber terrorism and cyber crime. Both
are criminal acts. However there is a compelling need to
distinguish between both these crimes. A cyber crime is
generally a domestic issue, which may have international
consequences; however cyber terrorism is a global concern,
which has domestic as w e l l as international
consequences. The common form of these terrorist attacks
on the Internet is by distributed denial of service attacks,
hate websites and hate emails, attacks on s e n s i t i v e
computer networks, etc. Technology savvy terrorists are
using 512-bit encryption, which is next to impossible to
decrypt. The recent example may be cited of – Osama Bin
Laden, the LTTE, attack on America’s army deployment
system during Iraq war.

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” Another definition
may be attempted to cover within its ambit every act of cyber
terrorism.
A terrorist means a person who indulges in wanton
killing of persons or in violence or in disruption of services or
means of communications essential to the community or in
damaging property with the view to –

(1) Putting the public or any section of the public in fear; or

 Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions

(2) Affecting adversely the harmony between different

religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or
communities; or

(3) Coercing or overawing the government established by law;

or

(4) Endangering the sovereignty and integrity of the nation

And a cyber terrorist is the person who uses the computer

system as a means or ends to achieve the above objectives.
Every act done in pursuance thereof is an act of cyber
terrorism.

10. Trafficking: Trafficking may assume different forms. It

may be trafficking in drugs, human beings, arms weapons
etc. These forms of trafficking are going unchecked because
they are carried on under pseudonyms. A racket was busted
in Chennai where drugs were being sold under the
pseudonym of honey.

11. Fraud & Cheating: Online fraud and cheating is one of the
most lucrative businesses that are growing today in the
cyber space. It may assume different forms. Some of the
cases of online fraud and cheating that have come to light
are those pertaining to credit card crimes, contractual
crimes, offering jobs, etc.Recently the Court of Metropolitan
Magistrate Delhi found guilty a 24-year-old engineer working
in a call centre, of fraudulently gaining the details of
Campa's credit card and bought a television and a cordless
phone from Sony website. Metropolitan magistrate Gulshan
Kumar convicted Azim for cheating under IPC, but did not
send him to jail. Instead, Azim was asked to furnish a
personal bond of Rs 20,000, and was released on a year's
probation.
11. Statutory Provisions

The Indian parliament considered it necessary to give

effect to the resolution by which the General Assembly
adopted Model Law on Electronic Commerce adopted by the
United Nations Commission on Trade Law. As a consequence
of which the Information Technology Act 2000 was passed
and enforced on 17th May 2000.the preamble of this Act
states its objective to legalise e-commerce and further amend
the Indian Penal Code 1860, the Indian Evidence Act 1872,
the Banker’s Book Evidence Act1891 and the Reserve Bank
of India Act 1934. The basic purpose to incorporate the
changes in these Acts is to make them compatible with the
Act of 2000. So that they may regulate and control the
affairs of the cyber world in an effective manner.

The Information Technology Act deals with the various

cyber crimes in chapters IX & XI. The important sections are
Ss. 43,65,66,67. Section 43 in particular deals with the
unauthorised access, unauthorised downloading, virus
attacks or any contaminant, causes damage, disruption,
denial of access, interference with the service availed by a
person. This section provide for a fine up to Rs. 1 Crore by
way of remedy. Section 65 deals with ‘tampering with
computer source documents’ and provides for imprisonment
up to 3 years or fine, which may extend up to 2 years or
both. Section 66 deals with ‘hacking with computer system’
and provides for imprisonment up to 3 years or fine, which
may extend up to 2 years or both. Further section 67 deals
with publication of obscene material and provides for
imprisonment up to a term of 10 years and also with fine up
to Rs. 2 lakhs.

12. Analysis of the Statutory Provisions

The Information Technology Act 2000 was

undoubtedly a welcome step at a time when there was no
legislation on this specialised field. The Act has however
 Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions

during its application has proved to be inadequate to a

certain extent. The various loopholes in the Act are

1. The hurry in which the legislation was passed, without

sufficient public debate, did not really serve the desired
purpose. Experts are of the opinion that one of the reasons
for the inadequacy of the legislation has been the hurry in
which it was passed by the parliament and it is also a fact
that sufficient time was not given for public debate.
2. “Cyber laws, in their very preamble and aim, state that
they are targeted at aiding e-commerce, and are not meant to
regulate cybercrime”. Mr. Pavan Duggal holds the opinion
that the main intention of the legislators has been to provide
for a law to regulate the e-commerce and with that aim the
I.T.Act 2000 was passed, which also is one of the reasons for
its inadequacy to deal with cases of cyber crime.
3. Cyber torts The recent cases including Cyber stalking
cyber harassment, cyber nuisance, and cyber defamation
have shown that the I.T.Act 2000 has not dealt with those
offences. Further it is also contended that in future new
forms of cyber crime will emerge which even need to
be taken care of. Therefore India should sign the cyber
crime convention. However the I.T.Act 2000 read with the
Penal Code is capable of dealing with these felonies.
4. Ambiguity in the definitions The definition of hacking
provided in section 66 of the Act is very wide and capable of
misapplication. There is every possibility of this section being
misapplied and in fact the Delhi court has misapplied it. The
infamous go2nextjob has made it very clear that what may
be the fate of a person who is booked under section 66 or the
constant threat under which the netizens are till s. 66 exists
in its present form. Furthermore, section 67 is also vague to
certain extent. It is difficult to define the term lascivious
information or obscene pornographic information. Further
our inability to deal with the cases of cyber pornography has
been proved by the Bal Bharati case.

5. Lack of awareness: One important reason that the Act of

2000 is not achieving complete success is the lack of
awareness among the s about their rights. Further most of
the cases are going unreported. If the people are vigilant
about their rights the law definitely protects their right. E.g.
the Delhi high court in October 2002 prevented a person
from selling Microsoft pirated software over an auction site.
Achievement was also made in the case before the court of
metropolitan magistrate Delhi wherein a person was
convicted for online cheating by buying Sony products using
a stolen credit card.
6. Jurisdiction issues: Jurisdiction is also one of the
debatable issues in the cases of cyber crime due to the very
universal nature of cyber space. With the ever-growing arms
of cyber space the territorial concept seems to vanish. New
methods of dispute resolution should give way to the
conventional methods. The Act of 2000 is very silent on
these issues.
7. Extra territorial application: Though S.75 provides for
extra-territorial operations of this law, but they could be
meaningful only when backed with provisions recognizing
orders and warrants for Information issued by competent
authorities outside their jurisdiction and measure for
cooperation for exchange of material and evidence of
computer crimes between law enforcement agencies.
8. Cyber savvy bench: Cyber savvy judges are the need of the
day. Judiciary plays a vital role in shaping the enactment
according to the order of the day. One such stage, which
needs appreciation, is the P.I.L., which the Kerela
High Court has accepted through an email. The role of the
judges in today’s word may be gathered by the statement-
judges carve ‘law is’ to ‘law ought to be’. Mr
T.K.Vishwanathan, member secretary, Law Commission, has
highlighted the requirements for introducing e-courts in
India. In his article published in The Hindu he has stated “if
there is one area of Governance where IT can make a huge
difference to Indian public is in the Judicial System”.

9. Dynamic form of cybercrime: Speaking on the dynamic

nature of cyberc rime FBI Director Louis Freeh has said, "In
short, even though we have markedly improved our
capabilities to fight cyber intrusions the problem is growing
even faster and we are falling further behind.” The
(de)creativity of human mind cannot be checked by any law.
Thus, the only way out is the liberal construction while
applying the statutory provisions to cybercrime cases.
 Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions

10. Hesitation to report offences: As stated above one of the

fatal drawbacks of the Act has been the cases going
unreported. One obvious reason is the non-cooperative
police force. This was proved by the Delhi time theft case.
"The police are a powerful force today which can play an
instrumental role in preventing cybercrime. At the same
time, it can also end up wielding the rod and harassing
innocent s, preventing them from going about their normal
cyber business."This attitude of the administration is also
revelled by incident that took place at Merrut and Belgam.
(for the facts of these incidents refer to naavi.com). For
complete realisation of the provisions of this Act a
cooperative police force is require.

13. Prevention of Cyber Crime

Prevention is always better than cure. It is always
better to take certain precaution while operating the net.
A should make them his part of cyber life. Saileshkumar
Zarkar, technical advisor and network security consultant to
the Mumbai Police Cyber crime Cell, advocates the 5P
mantra for online security: Precaution, Prevention,
Protection, Preservation and Perseverance. A netizen should
keep in mind the following things
1. To prevent cyber stalking avoid disclosing any
information pertaining to one self. This is as good as
disclosing your identity to strangers in public place.
2. Always avoid sending any photograph online
particularly to strangers and chat friends as there
have been incidents of misuse of the photographs.
3. Always use latest and update antivirus 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. 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 protected from internal corporate
network. Adjudication of a Cyber Crime - On the
directions of the Bombay High Court the Central
Government has by a notification dated 25.03.03 has
decided that the Secretary to the Information
Technology Department in each state by designation
would be appointed as the AO for each state.

14. Main forms of cyber-dependent crime

The main forms of cyber-dependent crime are:

Malware is a general label for malicious software

that spreads between computers and interferes with
computer operations. Malware may be destructive, for
example, deleting files or causing system ‘crashes’, but
may also be used to steal personal data. There are a
number of forms of malware.
Viruses are one of the most well-known types of
malware. They can cause mild computer dysfunction, but
can also have more severe effects in terms of damaging or
deleting hardware, software or files. They are self-
replicating programs, which spread within and between
computers. They require a host (such as a file, disk or
spreadsheet) in a computer to act as a ‘carrier’, but they
cannot infect a computer without human action to run or
open the infected file.
Worms are also self-replicating programs, but they
can spread autonomously, within and between
computers, without requiring a host or any human action.
The impact of worms can therefore be more severe than
viruses, causing destruction across whole networks.
Worms can also be used to drop trojans onto the network
system.
 Trojans are a form of malware that appear to be
legitimate programs, but facilitate illegal access to a
computer. They can perform functions, such as stealing
data, without the user’s knowledge and may trick users
by undertaking a routine task while actually undertaking
hidden, unauthorized actions.
Spyware is software that invades users’ privacy by
gathering sensitive or personal information from infected
systems and monitoring the websites visited. This
information may then be transmitted to third parties.
Spyware can sometimes be hidden within adware (free
and sometimes unwanted software that requires you to
watch advertisements in order to use it). One example of
spyware is key-logging software (see Case-study 1), which
captures and forwards keystrokes made on a computer,
enabling collection of sensitive data such as passwords or
bank account details. Another kind of spyware captures
screenshots of the victim’s computer. Spyware is
considered to be one of the most dangerous forms of
malware as its objective is purely to invade privacy.
Hacking. Hacking is a form of trespass. It is the
unauthorized use of, or access into, computers or
network resources, which exploits identified security
vulnerabilities in networks. Hacking can be used to:
• gather personal data or information of use to
criminals;
• deface websites; or
• be employed as part of denial of service or DDoS
attacks.
Denial of service or distributed denial of service
attack. DoS and DDoS relate to the flooding of internet
servers with so many requests (for example, links that
have been clicked) that they are unable to respond
quickly enough. This can overload servers causing them
to freeze or crash.
Spam. Spam is unsolicited or ‘junk’ email,
typically sent in bulk to countless recipients around the
world and is often related to pharmaceutical products or
pornography. Spam email is also used to send phishing
emails or malware and can help to maximise potential
returns for criminals.)
Botnets. Botnets refer to clusters of computers
infected by malicious software. They are used to send out
spam, phishing emails or other malicious email traffic
automatically and repeatedly to specified targets. They
are often termed ‘zombies’ as the networks are controlled
centrally by a ‘botmaster’ (or ‘herder’).
Cyber Bullying. Bullying that occurs via digital
devices such as a computer, a smartphone, or a tablet is
known as cyberbullying. People may read, engage in, or
post material on social networking sites, forums, or in
games where cyberbullying can occur. Bullying mostly
affects children, adolescents, and women. Bullying has
the potential to cause significant emotional and
psychological damage as well as physical changes in
victims. Victims may be subjected to abusive tweets,
messages, or postings that make violent suggestions,
harass, or even threaten the victims' lives. Identity theft,
credit card theft, bullying, stalking, and psychological
manipulation are all types of cybercrime that fall under
the umbrella term "cyberbullying".
Cyber Espionage. Breaking into computer
systems and networks with the goal of obtaining sensitive
government or business information is an example of this
approach in action. Other than that, the main aim is to
better understand competitor nations' capabilities and
intentions, or in the instance of industrial espionage, to
obtain confidential corporate information in order to
better understand a rival company's business plan or to
steal intellectual property from them. About 300 British
businesses were the victims of Chinese cyber espionage
operations in December 2007.
Phishing. This is essentially a social engineering
method designed to mislead clients and users and obtain
their private information. Phishing, on the other hand, is
closely linked to classical "Fishing" since it is based on
the fisher troller method of communication. Fish trollers
utilize bait to catch fish in rivers in traditional fishing.
Phishing attacks employ similar social engineering
methods to persuade the end user to divulge their
personal credentials, which then allows the intruder to
seize control of the system. There are a variety of ways to
circumvent network security measures. Phishing attacks
enable end users to disclose their credentials to attackers
by convincing them to commit a security violation on the
network in order to take over security settings.
Cyber Stalking with the growth of social networks,
online harassment is taking centre stage as a source of
rights abuses. The victims of cyber stalking are
vulnerable individuals who are well-known to the cyber
stalkers and hence the target of abusive online messages,
texts, and emails. Their intention is often to create
chaotic and depressive feelings on the part of their
victims.
Cyber Child Pornography. Even before the
internet, there was child pornography, but technological
advances have led to a fast growth in the creation,
dissemination, and marketing of this kind of pornography
throughout the world. Children's pornography is a broad
term that encompasses everything from photos and films
of naked youngsters to audio recordings of children in
improper situations, such as sexual ones. Several
research projects have been carried out in order to
reduce the amount of child pornography instances that
are reported.

15. Motivations behind cybercrimes

Motivations for cyber-dependent crimes focus

largely around personal profit or financial gain (for
example, the use of malware to gain access to bank
account details) or can also be a form of protest and/or
criminal damage (for example, hacking and website
defacement). Motivations can largely be inferred by
examining the function of the programs or tools that are
used. Some research also suggests that there are more
unorthodox motivations, for example, satisfying
intellectual curiosity/challenge, general maliciousness,
revenge, establishing respect and power amongst online
communities, or even simply boredom.
Cyber-dependent crimes vary in the extent to
which they target specific victims or are more random in
nature. Viruses, for example, may be widely spread to
infect large numbers of victims indiscriminately.
Advanced persistent threats (APTs), on the other hand,
refer to highly planned, sophisticated, and prolonged
attacks to achieve a specific goal, for example, in terms of
taking down infrastructure or obtaining specific
information about a person or organization. APTs are
typically linked to state-sponsored cyber-attacks e.g.
Stuxnet and Flame.

16. Characteristics of victims

Victimisation surveys suggest that

younger people and men who use the internet appear to
be more vulnerable to computer viruses. The Crime
Survey for England and Wales found that computer
viruses in 2011/12 were statistically significantly more
likely to be experienced by men (35%) than women
(27%) (ONS, 2012). They were also more likely to be
experienced by those in younger age groups (37% of 16-
to 24-year-olds and 33% of 25- to 34-year-olds)
compared with those aged 35 and over (for example,
25% of 55- to 64-year-olds).

Men (7%) were also more likely than women (6%)

to have reported experiencing unauthorised access
to/use of their personal data in the past year (ONS,
2012). The experience was statistically significantly less
likely among the older age groups (those aged 45 and
over) compared with other age groups and, specifically
within this age range, men aged 65–74 were more likely
to report than women aged 65–74.

17. Security behaviors amongst the general public

Take-up of anti-virus software by adult internet

users generally appears high. Around two-thirds (67%) of
adult internet users in the 2011/12 CSEW reported
installing up- to-date anti-virus software.

Beyond anti-virus, wider security practices are not

universally undertaken. The CSEW (ONS, 2012) found
that three in five (61%) adult internet users looked for
secure sites, but just one in four (24%) only use credit
cards (rather than debit/charge cards) when shopping
online, and just over one in four (27%) stated that they
avoided putting personal details online. Slightly different
findings have been found in other surveys, for example,
an Ipsos MORI (2013) survey found that just 43 per cent
of adult internet users surveyed checked that sites were
secure (i.e. displayed the closed padlock, or ‘https’ prefix).
These differences are likely to be due to differences in
terms of survey methodology and sample size. In terms of
social networking behaviours, YouGov (2012) reported
that 52 per cent of UK citizens indicated that they would
accept a friend request on Facebook from someone they
did not know directly.
18. Platform use

Mobile phones and smartphones can be at risk of

cyber crime in addition to desktop or laptop computers.
Just 46 per cent of mobile phone users and 57 per cent
of smartphone users were aware of AV for their phone or
smartphone (Ofcom, 2013). An even lower proportion
reported using AV for their mobile phone (18%) or
smartphone (27%). However, it is unclear what type of
mobile phone was held by users in this research. This is
important as iPhones are protected from malware
through Apple’s approval process for code to be included
in the App Store (which is the only route for installing
software on the phone unless it has been jailbroken).
This closed approach limits the potential for malware
code to get onto the devices. Android platforms, however,
require users to download AV to obtain such protection.

Another area for potential risk is public wi-fi use.

Just 5 per cent (n=1,458) of internet users in a survey by
Ipsos MORI (2013) said that they used a public wi-fi
connection for at least an hour a week. However, a
greater proportion of public wi-fi users had experienced 1
or more security breaches compared with those using
home connections (53% compared with 35%). This raises
questions regarding vulnerabilities amongst public wi-fi
users. However the analysis was based on a very small
sample of wi-fi users and it is unknown whether the
public wi-fi was directly related to the security breaches
asked about in the survey. However, use of public wi-fi is
growing – ONS (2011b) reported a sevenfold increase in
the use of public wi-fi hotspots, from 0.7 million in 2007,
to 4.9 million in 2011.

19. Security behaviors amongst businesses

Almost all (97%) businesses from the four sectors

surveyed in the CVS adopted one or more forms of
security on their computers. The most common measure
was AV or anti-spam software, used at 92 per cent of
premises (see Table 1.5), followed by firewalls (86%).
Around one-half of premises (51%) stated that they had a
data security policy, staff code of conduct for computer
use or a data security officer responsible for ensuring
data security (Home Office, 2013b).

In general, the proportion of premises with security

measures on computers increased with business size. For
example, 91 per cent of organisations with over 50
employees had a data security policy in place compared
with just over 43 per cent of businesses with 1–9
employees. However, both small and large businesses
were almost equally likely to have AV/anti-spam software
and firewalls (Home Office, 2013b).

20. Estimating the costs of cybercrime

Estimating the costs for all types of cyber crime (not

just cyber-dependent crime) is challenging. The first main
attempt to do so was conducted by Detica (2011), which
estimated overall costs of £27 billion to the UK. As
outlined by the Home Affairs Select Committee (2013)
report on e-crime, the precision of this estimate has
subsequently been questioned (for example, Anderson et
al., 2012) due to the lack of robust and transparent data
upon which their estimates were based. The UK cyber
security strategy (Cabinet Office, 2011) recognised the
challenges in this area and noted that: “a truly robust
estimate will probably never be established, but it is clear
the costs are high and rising”.

Some progress in this complex area has been made

with work conducted by Anderson et al. (2012) who sought
to estimate separate costs for different cyber crimes
(including cyber-dependent crimes), and opted not to
produce one total estimate given the paucity and level of
reliability of the data available. Anderson et al. drew
largely upon data from global case-studies and excluded
costs for particular crime types where there were
insufficient data. Estimates for the UK were partly based
on scaled down global estimates, based on the UK being
five per cent of the world in terms of gross domestic
product (GDP). For example:

 revenue obtained by criminal gangs from fake

anti-virus was estimated at $5m for the UK. This was
based on an estimated $97 million in terms of global
revenue using evidence found on internal databases of
sales and prices run by three criminal gangs during 2008–
10.
 annual botnet herder income was estimated to
be in the single millions per year, assuming: there are
approximately 50 million bots worldwide with a herder
income of 50 cents per machine per week, meaning that a
20,000- machine botnet earns a herder $190 a week.
 Anderson et al.'s approach provided a step
forward in this area, although there are limitations to their
method. Depending heavily on a GDP-based share of total
crime costs to calculate UK estimates relies both on the
accuracy of the global estimates used and the assumption
that the relative proportion of an offending category in the
UK is always equal in cost to its proportionate GDP. Based
on the limited research available (i.e. Anderson et al.'s
work), the costs of cyber crime could reasonably be
assessed to equate to several billion pounds per year. To
develop a more precise assessment of the cost of cyber
crime our understanding of the prevalence of different
types of cyber crime must be markedly improved (see
Chapter 4: 'Improving measurement of cyber crime').
 The available literature in this area also focuses
on impacts from cyber crimes in monetary terms. However,
there may be a range of non-financial impacts as well. The
BSC (House of Commons Science and Technology
Committee, 2012) specifically mentions the possibility of:
 criminal charges to be brought against owners
who unknowingly were in possession of a bot-infected
machine, or machines being used to host illegal content,
such as child pornography;
 loss of sensitive or personal data impacting on
personal relationships; and
 irreplaceable loss of some items stored on
computers.
 Further work looking at wider impacts in this
area and how these could be incorporated into
assessments of cost and harm would be beneficial.

21. Characteristics of offenders

There is limited published UK evidence available

regarding the characteristics of cyber-dependent
offenders. Published evidence is generally reliant upon
small numbers of offender case-studies or interviews and
tends to focus on their methods and motivations (as
discussed on p 6). The main exception is the Offending,
Crime and Justice Survey. There is little published
evidence around offender characteristics, their
backgrounds, career pathways, the links between online
and offline offending and progression into different
criminal roles and interventions to prevent (re-)offending.

The Home Office Offending, Crime and Justice

Survey (OCJS) provides some insight into the
characteristics of cyber-dependent and cyber-enabled
offenders. The survey was the first and only nationally
representative survey of self-reported offending carried
out every year between 2003–06 and includes questions
on self-reported technology offending (Allen et al., 2005).
Despite the survey now being quite dated it can help to
fill some knowledge gaps in this area. Not all of the
offending behaviours included in the survey necessarily
relate to criminal activity, nor would they all be classed
as a crime within Home Office Counting Rules.

The most common technology-related activity

amongst young people was illegal downloading. In the
2004 OCJS around one in four (26%) of 10- to 25-year-
old internet users reported that they had illegally
downloaded software, music or files in the 12 months
prior to the survey (Wilson et al., 2006).

In relation to cyber-dependent offending, 1 per

cent of internet users aged 10 to 25 years had sent a
computer virus in the 12 months prior to the survey and
the same proportion reported using a computer to access
another person’s computer files without permission.
Males were more likely than females to report both
sending viruses (2% compared with 1%) and gaining
unauthorised access (2% compared with 1%). Age
differences are also evident, with 10- to 17-year-olds
more likely than 18- to 25-year-olds to participate in both
activities (2% versus 1% for both viruses and hacking).

Cyber-enabled offending was rare. The number of

young people who reported obtaining someone else’s card
details over the internet was very low (0.1% of all 12- to
25-year-olds), and the same proportion reported buying
goods or services over the internet using someone else’s
card details without the card owner’s permission (0.1% of
12- to 25-year-olds).

The survey also found that 3 per cent of 10- to 25-

year-olds reported visiting a website which gave details
on how to commit a crime, while 1 per cent of 18- to 25-
year-olds said that they had visited a racist website (this
question was not asked to those aged under 18).
Similarly, 1 per cent of OCJS internet-users (aged 10 to
25 years) reported sending an email message intended to
harass, scare or threaten.

Case-study research has attempted to categorise

particular types of cyber offenders. Hackers are often
presented on a continuum – at the one-end are ‘white-
hat’ or ‘ethical’ hackers, infiltrating systems to help to
find vulnerabilities and at the other are ‘black-hat’
hackers or ‘crackers’, intent on malicious criminal
damage. A number of hacker classifications exist, for
example, Rodgers (2000) suggests that there are seven
subtypes of hackers:

• newbies (who have limited skills and experience,

and are reliant on tools developed by others, also known
as ‘script-kiddies’);

• cyberpunks (who deliberately attack and

vandalise);

• internals (who are insiders with privileged access

and who are often disgruntled employees);

• coders (who have high skill levels);

• old guard hackers (who have no criminal intent

and high skill levels, so would most likely equate to
white-hat hackers);

• professional criminals;

• cyberterrorists.

Cyber-dependent offenders have also been

categorised in terms of skill level. Holt and Kilger (2012)
outline the skills distribution of hackers in terms of a
pyramid. A small but elite group of skilled hackers sits at
the top of the pyramid – the only group with sufficient
knowledge to engage in truly sophisticated attacks on
their own. They are responsible for identifying new
vulnerabilities and creating the required tools and
techniques to undertake cyber attacks. Beneath this
group are a larger group of semi-skilled hackers who can
use the tools of the high-skilled group but lack the skill
and innovation to create their own tools. The lowest and
largest group of hackers are the low or unskilled group
(which includes ‘script-kiddies’). These individuals have
little real understanding of the tools and techniques
behind cyber attacks, but can still be a nuisance to
security professionals.

There is limited published evidence available

regarding organised cyber crime. The survey evidence
available reveals that approximately 25 per cent of
respondents to the 2012 CVS thought that their most
recent online ‘crime’ incidents were committed by an
organised group of criminals rather than someone working
alone (Home Office, 2013b). However, these reports cannot
be independently verified. AV providers have also observed
increases in targeted attacks, which they suggest are
indicative of increasing levels of organised attacks,
attempting to phish users for credentials and push
malware, rather than more ‘random’, non-targeted attacks
(Symantec, 2012).

Case-study evidence has identified that some

traditional hierarchical organised crime groups have
recognised the value of new technologies in facilitating the
commission of crimes (for example, extortion, fraud,
distribution of illegal materials) and money laundering (for
example, using Ebay or online games such as Second Life)
(Choo and Smith, 2008). Global organised crime groups
such as the Asian triads and the Japanese Yakuza have
been linked directly with cyber-enabled crimes such as
computer software piracy, and credit card forgery and
fraud (Choo and Smith, 2008). Whilst these types of
groups may not be working online themselves, evidence
22. Methods

The technical skills and methods central to cyber-

dependent crimes such as hacking are comprehensively
outlined in other literature. Furnell (2010), for example,
describes different tools available to hackers such as
“packet-sniffers” used to capture network traffic and
potentially intercept unencrypted data; and “vulnerability
scanners”, which are used to test for security holes and
identify vulnerabilities. However, cyber-dependent
offenders cannot be identified solely through their use of
these tools as many of the same tools that can be used to
attack a system, can also be used to defend it (Furnell,
2010). Scanning facilities, for example, should be used by
security staff to identify vulnerabilities in order to fix
them and keep attackers out.

It is not necessary though for offenders to always

have in-depth technical skills to commit these crimes.
The emergence of sophisticated and automated ‘do-it-
yourself’ malware kits and hacking tools available to
purchase in online web forums means that opportunities
for complex forms of offending are now opened up to a
much wider range of lower-skilled individuals. In the
online global marketplace hackers sell a variety of
products and services, including: malware kits; spam and
phishing services (including bulk email lists); DDoS
attacks and web- hosting on compromised servers. The
growth of botnet malware means that skilled attackers
can now lease out their large attack infrastructure to
semi-skilled hackers for a fee. Also available for purchase
in online forums are personal data, such as credit card
and PIN numbers.

23. Cybercrime Law Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages:
Penalizes offenders of cybersex and child
pornography. Offenders of these crimes are now subjected
to punishment under the provisions of the law. The rights
of the children, especially the victims of this law, are
further protected due to the Cybercrime Law.
 Protects the people from cyberbullying. Provisions in
the Cybercrime Law are meant to protect individuals and
groups from libellous claims that are meant to attack
them. The law concerns not only incidents of
cyberbullying, but also other instances similar to that.

Provisions in the law punish cybersquatters. This

provision assists in deterring cybersquatters. That is,
anyone who owns and misuses a certain domain (for
example, a company website), and uses it for illegal and
personal gain. Cybersquatters deceive people into support
their own personal gain.

Deters online identity theft. Identity theft online is

now penalized by the law. This provision protects the
individual’s privacy and protection as well. There are many
ventures in which an individual’s identity may be attained
online, which prompted the provision of this section.

Disadvantages:
Ambiguous Terms. Important terms in the law are
not clearly defined. This is dangerous as it may have various
degrees of interpretation. For example, online libel does not
define, as to whether or not certain situations are
considered libellous. Ambiguous terms may also be found in
the provision for Real time collection of data, etc.
Threatens Freedom of Speech. The ambiguity of the
provisions, particularly the online libel, can cause people to
be wary of what they say online. The exposition of the truth
may be seen as libellous, depending on the way it is treated.
In short, people are subconsciously being restrained by the
law. Even if the freedom of speech is not unlimited, the law
still inhibits somehow, those individuals that want to speak
out. There is a fear that any negative comment and criticism
may be seen as an “attack,” and can be used against them.
Maintenance of the Law. The implementation and
execution of the Cybercrime Law would alone cost the
Philippines P 50,000,000 a year. Not to mention the actual
prosecution of it. The Cybercrime law, deals with delicate
subject matters, and must be handled with balance and
objectivity in order to make it work.

24. Conclusion
 In recent years, internet has very quickly changed
starting with education, startups, and sports to
entertainment medium. So internet is the knowledge
hub for each and every person having little knowledge
about operating the web browser or mobile devices. The
use of internet also contains both advantages and
disadvantages. The worst disadvantage of internet is
Cyber-Crime. Now-a-days Cybercrime is an emerging
threat to all the internet and computer users as well as
society in general. Therefore, various countries
government, police departments and other intelligence
departments are now being strict and reactionary to
these emerging cyber threats and spreading of cyber-
crimes.
Capacity of human mind is unfathomable. It is
not possible to eliminate cyberc rime from the cyber
space. It is quite possible to check them. History is the
witness that no legislation has succeeded in eliminating
crime from the globe. The only possible step is to
make people aware of their rights and duties (to report
crime as a collective duty towards the society) and
further making the application of the laws more
stringent to check crime. Undoubtedly the Act is a
historical step in the cyber world. Further I all
together do not deny that there is a need to bring
changes in the Information Technology Act to make it
more effective to combat cybercrime. I would conclude
with a word of caution for the pro-legislation school
that it should be kept in mind that the provisions of
the cyber law are not made so stringent that it may
retard the growth of the industry and prove to be
counter-productive.

Cyber-dependent crimes (or ‘pure’ cyber crimes)

are offences that can only be committed using a
computer, computer networks or other form of
information communications technology (ICT). These acts
include the spread of viruses or other malware, hacking
and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
Definitions of these are outlined below. They are activities
primarily directed against computers or network
resources, although there may be a variety of secondary
outcomes from the attacks. For example, data gathered
by hacking into an email account may subsequently be
used to commit a fraud. This chapter refers only to cyber-
dependent crimes in their primary form – as offences
‘against’ computers and networks.
 Cyber Crime in the Society: Problems and Preventions

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