Information and communication technology has become an integral part of our day-to-day life. It has just transformed the way we communicate, make friends, share updates, play games, and do shopping and so on. The technology has impacted most aspects of our day-to-day life. Cyber technology has also transformed the way we do financial transactions. More and more people are using online platforms for shopping, transferring money and other financial transactions.
New technologies have also created new opportunities for criminals. Traditional professional crimes like dacoity, robbery, house burglary and ordinary thefts are giving way to cyber-crimes. Cyber-crimes are offences that may be committed against individuals, companies or institutions by using computers, internet or mobile technology. Cyber-criminals use platforms such as social networking sites, e-mails, chat rooms, pirated software websites etc., to attack victims.
Since last two decades, from attack on information about individuals and organisations, the cybercrimes have come a long way and presently they range across a spectrum of activities. At one end are crimes that involve attempts to disrupt the actual working of computer systems. These range from hacking, spam disruption of internet and cyber terrorism. Midway along the spectrum lie transaction-based crimes such as fraud, trafficking in child pornography, digital piracy, money laundering, and counterfeiting. These are specific crimes with specific victims, but the criminal hides in the relative anonymity provided by the Internet. Another part of this type of crime involves individuals within corporations or government bureaucracies deliberately altering data for either profit or economic objectives. At the other end of spectrum are crimes that involve fundamental breaches of personal or corporate privacy, such as assaults on the integrity of information held in digital depositories and the use of illegally obtained digital information to blackmail a firm or individual. Also at this end of the spectrum is the growing crime of identity theft.
From the point of view of investigation, cybercrimes can be classified as; banking frauds, Identity theft and invasion of privacy, Internet fraud, ATM fraud, Wire fraud, File sharing and piracy, Counterfeiting and forgery, Child pornography, Hacking, Computer viruses, Denial of service attacks, Spam, steganography, and e-mail hacking and Sabotage.
Information and Technology Act, 2000 and IT(Amendment) Act, 2008 deals with various crimes and penal provisions. Section 66(A) to 66(F) deals with various types of offences and penal provisions. The total number of cyber-crimes registered and investigated in Karnataka State for the last five years are as follows;
The table above reveals that there is a five fold increase in number of cases reported during the last five years. The figures are likely to multiply in coming years as more people will become computer literate. Investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes is not that easy compared with traditional crimes due to the following;
- Cybercriminals are highly intelligent and use sophisticated gadgets which are difficult to trace.
- An important aspect of cybercrimes is its non-local character; action can occur in jurisdiction separated by wast distances. A person can commit cybercrimes by sitting in any country.
- Investigation agencies do not get adequate cooperation from social media networks and service providers
- Investigation officers, especially lower level policemen are not adequately trained to handle computer to hardware and software.
In order to effectively prevent and investigate cybercrimes, Karnataka State Police has taken effective steps by creating five Cybercrime Police Stations and 37 Cyber, Economic and Narcotic (CEN) Police Stations across the state. Policemen deputed in these police stations have been trained to handle sophisticated computer systems and other digital gadgets. Well-equipped Cyber Forensic Laboratory is being created at State FSL. District Cyber Forensic Aid units are created to help District Police Units in investigation of cybercrime cases.
The cyber section of the FSL was notified as Electronic Evidence Examiner under section 79 (A) of IT act on 04.09.2018 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of Government of India. This makes it one of the six forensic labs of the country to be notified. This notification has given greater credence to the evidences of our cyber experts in the court of law.
Civil society and citizens can play an important role in helping police to prevent cybercrimes. Safeguarding individual’s social networking accounts and financial accounts will prevent hackers and other criminals from committing cybercrimes such as frauds, hacking etc. Apart from this, organisations, especially financial institutions can create their own cyber security cells and develop adequate foolproof firewalls to protect data from compromise by criminals. Investigating agencies such as police organization should develop professional competence and expertise in handling cybercrime cases. These measures will go a long way in minimizing the occurrence of cybercrimes.