With the proper use of technology, human society is continuously developing by becoming civilized, while some people of criminal tendency are harming society by misusing it. One such crime is cybercrime, which is related to internet technology. By making good use of the Internet, where the whole world has turned into a village, its misuse has given rise to a complex and global problem like cybercrime, which is very difficult to control, because the Internet network is all over the world. Is spread around in. The whole world needs to take the collective initiative to solve this worldwide problem. Many countries including India have tried to take positive initiatives in this direction.
In general, any such act, which adversely affects the computer, is called cybercrime. Cybercrimes are those illegal acts in which computers and the internet are used as a means or target or both. According to The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), “any illegal, unethical, unauthorized act involving the processing and transmission of data without prior permission constitutes a cybercrime.” Such crimes include hacking, child pornography, cyberstalking, software piracy, credit card fraud, phishing, etc.
Classification of Cyber Crime
Cybercrime can be classified into the following forms.
Hacking
Hacking is a process in which the hacker steals the information of another person without his permission. Hacking is the process of collecting confidential information without permission with the help of flaws in any computer, network, website or software.
Spam e-mail
There are many types of e-mails in it, including e-mails that only harm the computer. Those e-mails cause a breakdown in the whole computer.
Phishing
This is called online forgery in Hindi. Under this, the criminal sends fake e-mails or messages through phishing, which are similar to a reputable company, your bank, credit, online shopping. Its purpose is to collect information related to the personal identity of people. Personal information includes name, e-mail, user ID, password, mobile number, address, bank account number, ATM PIN, debit or credit card number, CVV PIN, date of birth, etc.
Ransomware
It is a type of ransom demanding software. It is made in such a way that it encrypts all the files on any computer system and then demands ransom and destroys all the files on the computer if it is not paid.
Cyber stalking
Under this, a person or group of persons follows another person or group of persons through the Internet and tries to harm and harass him in every way. Under this, making false allegations on the Internet, abusing, sexual exploitation, tampering of data equipment, etc. are included.
Child pornography
Publishing or sending something in electronic format to children in a sexual act or by showing them naked is called child pornography.
The increasing scope of cybercrime
The most complex aspect of cybercrime is that this crime can be carried out sitting in any corner of the world. At present, the whole world is suffering from problems like online fraud, hacking, phishing bullying etc. Even America, the world’s most powerful country, is no exception. Hacking has become a hobby and business by the people today. Sometimes attempts are made to hack the sites of government institutions of all countries of the world. In India, from the Prime Minister’s Office to the Defense and External Affairs Ministries, Indian Embassies, missile systems, etc., there have been cyber attacks on computers.
Today the cyber security shield is being damaged through various viruses. At present, from pornography, pedo-file (child sexual abuse) to sex determination through morphing by adding someone’s face and someone’s torso, have also become major crimes in the cyber world. Pornographic sites also come under cybercrime. The youth is rapidly caught in this. These types of sites are creating filth in society culturally and ideologically. Today religious-political frenzy is also created through cybercrime.
Today terrorists are also spreading panic in the world through cybercrime. Terrorists are placing their plans and other secret messages in chatrooms, bulletin boards of pornographic websites and other such websites which cannot be easily suspected. The Internet today remains a secure and quick medium for terrorists to exchange secret messages. 3
Then the deadly effects of cybercrime are also seen in internet banking. Withdrawal of money from accounts has become a common problem today, due to which educated people are also falling prey. Along with this, the economy of the country also suffers due to cybercrime. On one hand, there is a danger of hacking etc. and on the other hand, a huge amount of money is being spent to stop it. In India, crores of rupees are lost every year due to cyber crimes and crores of rupees have to be spent on security arrangements. In the US, there is a loss of 10 billion dollars every year due to these crimes.
Need for international initiative
Cybercrime has become a worldwide problem today. There is a need for a strong international law to deal with this, as well as a strong mechanism of security needs to be developed at the global level. But the biggest problem in this context today is that the IT Act of every country is different. Governments abroad believe in improving a website instead of blocking it, while in India the demand for blocking the website itself starts. According to the Indian IT Act, a website cannot be blocked unless the content or information being uploaded on it poses a threat to national security. Anyway, shutting down a website does not solve the problem, but it is also true that the website is a means of propagating the problem.
The Budapest Convention is a convention on cybercrime. This is the first such international treaty in this context, under which, by streamlining national laws, improving investigative techniques, and increasing cooperation among other countries of the world in this regard, the demand for a ban on Internet and computer crimes has been sought. Has been. There are 56 members in this convention. India has not yet signed it. Russia and China have also been opposing it on the issue of national sovereignty.
Russia has presented its proposal to deal with international cybercrime at par with the Budapest Convention. The proposal was approved by the United Nations on December 2019. An expert committee will be set up under this new draft. It covers all regions of the world. For this, a new treaty will be signed in New York in August, 2020, under which all member states will share data related to cybercrime.
India’s efforts to control cyber crime
India is the second-largest user in the world after China. Along with this, incidents of cyber crime have been seen continuously here. Ensuring its safety is the main responsibility of the Government of India. Therefore, the Government of India has passed the Information Technology Act 2000, the provisions of which along with the provisions of the Indian Penal Code are sufficient to deal with cybercrime collectively. Sections 43,43A, 66, 66V, 66C, 66D, 66E, 66F, 67, 67A, 67V, 70, 72, 72A and 74 of the IT Act, 2000 relating to hacking and cyber crimes Huh. The Government has approved the security-related framework and for this the National Security Council Secretariat has been made the nodal agency.
The ‘National Cyber Security Policy-2013’ was issued by the government, under which the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Center (NCIIPC) has been formed by the government to protect the most sensitive information. Under this, there is a provision of imprisonment from 2 years to life and punishment or fine. The Computer Emergency Response Team was set up by the government which is the national agency for computer security. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center was inaugurated by the Ministry of Home Affairs in January 2020 to tackle cybercrime. There are 7 components of this scheme.
The Indian Security Conference on ‘New National Cyber Security Policy’ was organized in August, 2019 with special focus on cyber security strategies. Important initiatives have also been taken by the states in this regard, such as the ‘Cyber Dome Project’ developed by the Kerala Police Department. Its main objective is to prevent the increasing threat of cyber attacks and crimes by developing an ecosystem with various departments and nodal agencies. In this way the state is also trying to protect it from its dangers.
Apart from this, Computer Emergency Response Team, Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center, Cyber Sanitation Center etc. have been set up by the Government of India, along with information, security, education and awareness campaigns are being run. Along with this, India is coordinating with countries like America, Britain and China in this regard.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be said that cybercrime today has taken the form of a complex global problem, which everyone has to face together. Today, taking this seriously, efforts are also being made to take concrete steps for its control at the national and international level. At the same time, the common man should also keep in mind that to avoid this, caution is the biggest security on the internet, that is, one should avoid sharing his personal information on the internet and other electronic material and use of technology like computer and internet for human welfare. .