List of cyber-crimes in India

What are cybercrimes?

This term in general covers all unlawful acts, such as phishing, credit card frauds, illegal downloading, uploading child pornography, transferring of viruses, sending spams and others.

It is shocking to see the rate of cybercrimes committed in India rise by almost double in 2017 as compared to earlier. What exactly is included in online crimes and what are the types of cyber-crime prevalent in India?

Cyber Crimes are divided into various categories as follows:

1.Hacking

Hacking is a form of partial or complete illegal intrusion within a system, website or a network. Hacking usually aims at acquiring important data or information through wrongful means. Hackers write codes or use ready-made programs to attack the network they want to extract information from. 

Section 43 and Section 66 of the IT Act covers the civil and criminal offences of data theft or hacking respectively.

2. Child Pornography

Porn content is easily available these days online. While watching porn indoors is not considered a crime in India, child pornography comes under strictest laws and sexual abuse of children is considered a serious crime in India. Luring children into sexual acts, taking their nude photographs or using them in any form which is exploitative in nature is prohibited.

- Selling and distribution of pornographic material in India is illegal under Section 292 of IPC

- Distribution or sale of obscene material to young adults and children under the age of 20 is prohibited under Section 293 of IPC and IT Act 67B

- Child pornography is strictly prohibited and is considered illegal under Section 67B of Information Technology Act, 2000

- Manufacturing and publishing of pornographic material is illegal under Section 292 and Section 293 of IPC

3.Cyber Stalking/Bullying

Cyber stalking is the most common crime related to the online world and also the most ignored one. Repeated acts committed to harassing a person such as making harassing phone calls, hurting the person's belongings, following the person around and others come under cyberstalking. Usually, it is women and children who fall prey to such acts of crime by paedophile men. There are no specific laws in India for treating cyber bullying, however, Section 67 of IT-Act prescribes punishment to those, publishing and transferring obscene material through electronic means.

Section 507 of IPC states that if anyone receives criminal intimidation by way of an anonymous communication then the person giving threats shall be punished. By virtue of word anonymous the offence of anti-bullying and cyberbullying is included in this section.

Section 66 E of IT-Act prescribes punishment for violation of privacy

4.Software Piracy

Another very common Cyber Crime and widely spread is software piracy, which means, illegally copying genuine or original programs and software and their distribution. This is a crime as it translates to copyright infringement as well. This includes trademark violation, patent violation, computer source code thefts and others as well.

Copyright of computer software is protected under the Indian Copyright Act of 1957

Provisions for Software Piracy are also covered under Section 63B of Indian Copyright Act 1957

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5.Phishing

Acting as a legitimate organization and sending false emails to users in an attempt to scam them and extract confidential information such as credit card details or social security numbers is known as phishing. Spam emails are sent to a large number of people based on the data collected through illegal means.

This is a punishable offence under Section 43 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 with a penalty up to Rs. 1 Crore.

6.Computer viruses

Most criminals take advantage of viruses to gain unauthorized access to systems and steal important data. These programs are usually carried through external devices such as pen drives, hard drives and others and are distributed widely from computer to computer. 

- The laws governing cyber security are covered under Section 43 and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

There are various other crimes such as:

- Denial of Service Attack in which the person committing the crime, floods the network of another person with spam emails, not allowing them to access the services they are entitled to

- Sale of illegal goods online such as weapons, drugs, wildlife and others

- Cyber Defamation by publishing wrong or illicit content about someone online or sending derogatory emails about a person

- Internet time theft by using another person's internet data for which another person has paid for.

- Investment fraud by offering fraudulent claims or loans online and duping customers into sharing their details for the same or taking money from them on a similar context.

- Cyber terrorism by spreading false information attacking military or nation in general.

The list of cybercrimes are not limited to the list provided above but the government has taken some serious measures to ensure that crime rates are reduced in future. It is important to report such crimes and not ignore them so that the government is able to take actions against the same. Talk to an expert lawyer near you to understand the implications and resolutions of Cyber Crimes committed against you.