Cyber Crime

The real power of today's internet is that it is available to anyone with a computer and a
telephone line placing in an individual' s hand the immense power of information and
communication.

Cyber crime is an evil having its origin in the growing dependence on computers in modern life.
In a day and age when virtually everything is being run on computers, cyber crime has assumed
rather sinister dimensions.

Unauthorized access to computer systems or networks is commonly referred to as hacking. This

includes theft of information stored in computer hard disks. Hacking and cracking are amongst
the gravest Cybercrimes known till date. No computer in the world is hacking proof.
Dissemination of obscene material and child pornography constitute most significant
cybercrimes known today. Various kinds of harassment can and does occur in cyberspace
including sexual, racial, religious or social.

Email bombing is another type of crime which refers to sending a large number of emails to the
victim resulting in the victim's email account or mail servers crashing. Data diddling involves
altering raw data just before it is processed by a computer and then changing it back after the
processing is completed. Electricity Boards in India have been victims to data diddling programs
inserted when private parties were computerizing their systems.

Virus / worm attacks 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 alter or
delete the data on a computer. Web jacking occurs when someone forcefully takes control of a
website (by cracking the password and later changing it). The actual owner of the website does
not have any more control over what appears on that website.

Cyber Terrorism is one distinct kind of crime in this category. This crime manifests itself into
terrorism when an individual "cracks" into a government or military maintained website. The
National Informatics Centre (NIC) was reportedly attacked from dial-up Internet connections in
China.Key intelligence officials claimed that hackers broke into the e-mail accounts of 200
ministers, bureaucrats and defense officials and continue to raid Indian servers at the rate of three
to four a day. China has denied all claims that it is behind the attacks.

In May 2000 LOVELETTER virus struck one in every five personal computers in the world. It
was sent out through email having "ILOVEYOU" in its subject line. Opening of the mail disabled
thousands of computers. Losses incurred during this virus attack were estimated at 10 billion US
dollar.

Life is about a mix of good and evil. So is the Internet. For all the good it does us, cyberspace has
its dark sides too. Awareness is important and any matter should be reported at once. Cyber
Crime Investigation Cell of the CBI started functioning in 2000.Any and every incident of cyber
crime involving a computer or electronic network can be reported to a police station, irrespective
of whether it maintains a separate cell or not.