Neeraj Dubey
The advancement of technology has made man dependent on Internet for all his needs. Internet has given man easy access to everything while sitting at one place. Social networking, online shopping, storing data, gaming, online studying, online jobs, every possible thing that man can think of can be done through the medium of internet. Internet is used in almost every sphere. With the development of the internet and its related benefits also developed the concept of cyber crimes. Cyber crimes can be defined as the unlawful acts where the computer is used either as a tool or a target or both.
The term is a general term that covers crimes like phishing, credit card frauds, bank robbery, illegal downloading, industrial espionage, child pornography, kidnapping children via chat rooms, scams, cyber terrorism, creation and/or distribution of viruses, Spam and so on. With increasing mobile and internet penetration in the country, cyber crimes have also increased proportionately. Between 2011 and 2015, more than 32000 cyber crimes were reported across the country. More than 24000 of these cases are registered under the IT Act and the remaining under the various sections of IPC and other State Level Legislations (SLL). In a report published by the National Crime Records Bureau report (NCRB 2011), the incidence of cyber crimes under the IT Act has increased by 85.4% in the year 2011 as compared to 2010 in India, whereas the increase in incidence of the crime under IPC is by 18.5% as compared to the year 2010. Cyber Crimes in India are registered under three broad heads, the IT Act, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other State Level Legislations (SLL). Under the IT Act and IPC have been growing continuously. The cases registered under the IT act grew by more than 350% from 2011 to 2015. There was almost a 70% increase in the number of cyber crimes under the IT act between 2013 and 2014. The cases registered under the IPC increased by more than 7 times during the period between 2011 and 2015.
The list of states with the highest incidence of cyber crime for the period 2011 to 2015 throws no surprises. Maharashtra tops the list with more than 5900 cases in the 5 years followed by Uttar Pradesh with close to 5000 such cases. Karnataka is third with more than 3500 cases. The bottom 10 are relatively smaller states with lower population and lower internet penetration. The Government says that use of social media has also emerged as a key tool for committing cyber crimes and attacks that affect nation and society and is conscious of increase in cyber crimes. It has taken various steps in the form of awareness, training, legal framework, emergency response and implementation of best practices to prevent occurrence of such Cyber-crimes. In the wake of increasing cyber threats the Narendra Modi Government has created a Cyber-security chief’s position under the Prime Minister’s Office and has appointed Gulshan Rai, a top official in the IT ministry. Rai, who has been heading the computer emergency response team at the department of electronics and information technology (DeitY), will now take charge as special secretary for cyber security, people familiar with the development. In response to a question in the Lok Sabha, the Government mentioned that the following measures are being taken to tackle cyber crimes.
However, there is currently no national agency to assess the nature of cyber threats and respond to them effectively. Some analysts recommend the creation of a National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) as an answer to the challenge. An NCSA would improve India’s resilience and defense systems. In recent times, India has launched a series of cyber security initiatives to digitally empower its citizens and safeguard cyberspace. The Government has taken a slew of measures to tackle cyber-security violations and cybercrimes in the country,” Prasad said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. “A total number of 23, 254, 552, 1,237, 2,565, 8,266, 10,315, 13,301, 22,060, 71,780 and 96,383 security incidents including phishing, scanning, spam, malicious code, website intrusions etc. were reported to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) during the years 2004 to 2014 (till September), respectively.” he said. “The Government has also initiated Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) project with the aim to develop human resource in the area of Information Security at various levels. Phase-I of the programme has been completed,” Prasad informed the house. He mentioned that all major websites are being monitored regularly to detect malicious activities. “All Central Government ministries or departments and state or Union Territory Governments have been advised to conduct security auditing of entire Information Technology infrastructure. All the new Government websites and applications are to be audited with respect to cyber-security prior to their hosting,” the Minister said. CERT-In has empanelled a total number of 45 security auditors to carry out security audit of the IT infrastructure of Government, public and private sector organizations. India is also in the process of setting up national cyber security architecture.
India’s infrastructure is susceptible to four kinds of digital intrusions: espionage, which involves intruding into systems to steal information of strategic or commercial value; cybercrime, referring to electronic fraud or other acts of serious criminal consequence; attacks, intended at disrupting services or systems for a temporary period; and war, caused by a large-scale and systematic digital assault on India’s critical installations. The architecture will provide a framework for designated agencies to monitor, certify and fortify India’s networks in accordance with the law.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued an Advisory to the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations on Cyber Crime. The State Governments have been advised to build adequate technical capacity in handling cyber crime including technical infrastructure, cyber police stations and trained manpower for detection, registration, investigation and prosecution of cyber-crimes. India and the U.S. agreed to cooperate on cyber security issues during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent trip to the U.S. As a part of the U.S.-India Cyber Relationship Framework, both countries agreed to share cyber security best practices, share threat information on a real-time basis, promote cooperation between law enforcement agencies and encourage collaboration in the field of cyber security research. In 2015, India and the U.K. made a joint statement about cooperation in the cyber security space.
The two countries agreed to work together to provide professional development and establish a Cyber Security Training Centre of Excellence. The U.K. also agreed to help launch the proposed National Cyber Crime Coordination Centre in India. India has also entered into cyber security cooperation with Malaysia and the European Union. There is a strong case for India to collaborate with more countries, but in the meantime, these partnerships are a great foundation. Establishing a national cyber security command center, such as the recently announced National Cyber Security Center created by IBM for Australia, would boost India’s cyber security defenses, make Indian businesses globally competitive and create a safer Digital India.
(The author is Sr. Faculty – GCET Jammu )
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