Cyber Crime – Legal Position in India
During the year 2016-18 India has been ranked 2nd amongst the countries affected by cyber attacks. As per the source, the cybercrime rate in India was raised at 22% on IoT deployments.
Table of Content:
Introduction
Cybercrime, or we can say computer or e-crime, in which the criminal uses the computer as an instrument to commit the crime or illegal offenses such as committing frauds, intellectual property, trafficking in child pornography, violating privacy, stealing identities, etc. It is especially done with the help of the internet. Nowadays cybercrime has grabbed more importance and attention because in the world of e-commerce the computer has become the center of commerce, entertainment, and government. The computer and internet were initially used by the United States, and due to this Americans became the earliest victims and criminals of this crime. By the 21st century, though, this crime was widely spread across the globe there is hardly a country that remained which is not touched by this crime.
During the year 2016-18 India has been ranked 2nd amongst the countries affected by cyber attacks. As per the source, the cybercrime rate in India was raised at 22% on IoT deployments. This year IoT department of India has faced the highest the number of cyber attacks. If we can see reports, consecutively the second time in a row, India has been facing cyber attacks.
According to a recent survey, it is observed that Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bengaluru among the 15 Indian cities have faced a large number of cyber attacks. In 2018, according to the Annual Cyber Security Report by CISCO, “53% of cyber-attacks caused more than $500K of financial loss to organizations”. Since 2017, data breaches were raised by 7.9% in India. Also, it was noted that INR 4,552 ($64) is recorded as the average cost per data breach. We can see that the rate of cybercrime in India is increased up to such an extent that India comes on the 4th rank out of the top 10 targeted countries in the world. In a report by India Today, “Chennai experienced the highest percentile of cyber-attacks with a stat of 48% in the first quarter of 2019”.
Nothing has been changed in the cybersecurity policies of the company throughout India despite several warning signals given to them. Though there are many examples of cyber-attack in India still due to lack of awareness organizations don’t take any serious step towards it. Some recent examples of major cyber-attack that causes huge loss to the well known companies in India are discussed below.
Recent cyber-attacks in India
In the cyber world criminals used advanced hi-tech methods for their targeted users. Recently many sectors have faced cyber-attacks in India.
1. Cosmos Bank Cyber Attack in Pune
In 2018 Cosmos bank in Pune had faced a cyber attack. Hackers siphoned off Rs 94.42 crore from the Cosmos co-operative bank ltd in Pune which was a shock throughout the banking sector. To steal the details of various visa holders and debit cardholders hackers hacked into the bank’s ATM server. From around 28 countries money was wiped off by hacker gangs and immediately withdrew the amount as soon as they were informed.
2. ATM System Hacked
Canara Bank ATM servers also came as the target of cyber-attackers around mid-2018. It was reported that around 20 lakh rupees were swiped out by the attackers from multiple accounts. According to the sources, cyber attackers had the ATM details of approximately 300 users out of which 50 users were estimated as a victim of this attack. To steal the information of debit cardholder’s hackers used skimming devices. It was traced that the transactions which were made from these stolen ATM details have amounted from Rs.10, 000 up to the extent of Rs.40, 000.
3. UIDAI Aadhar Software Hacked
At the beginning of 2018, there was a massive breach of personal data of about 1.1 billion Indian Aadhar card holders which was assumed to be a drastic start of the year. It was revealed by the UIDAI (unique identification authority of India) that approx. 210 websites of the government of India had leaked the details of Aadhar online. The information or data revealed online includes not only Aadhar details but also PAN number and mobile number, bank account numbers, every personal information of individual card holders, IFSC codes, etc. Along with this, there was another news that shook the nation that Aadhar information of any person was selling by anonymous sellers for Rs.500 over WhatsApp. And also, if a person wants to take the printout of someone’s Aadhar card they need to pay extra Rs 300.
4. Hack Attack on Indian Healthcare Websites
Recently in 2019 the healthcare websites of India also became came into the eye of the cyber attacker and became one of the victims of these attacks. It is reported by the cyber security firms of the United States that firstly hackers broke into the website and then invaded India’s leading healthcare website. In this attack hackers successfully grab the information of around 68 lakhs patients and doctors too.
5. SIM Swap Scam
It was reported that in August 2018 in Navi Mumbai two hackers were arrested as they transferred 4 crore rupees from various bank accounts. They transferred money illegally from the bank accounts of many individuals. Both the attackers successfully blocked SIM cards for various individuals by fraudulently getting access to their SIM card details all the transactions were carried out through online banking with the help of fake document posts. Along with this, they also tried to hack accounts of various well-known companies.
Case Laws Related to Cyber Scam
Shreya Singhal vs Union of India [2013 12 SCC73]
In this case, the constitutionality of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act was challenged on the ground of the Right of Freedom of Speech and Expression granted under Article 19(1) (a) of the constitution. In the instant case, two women Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Srinivasan posted a comment on social media against the Bandh declare in the state for the demise of the founder of a political party namely Shiv Sena. The ladies were arrested by the police in the purview of section 66A of the I.T. Act which prescribes the punishment for sending offensive messages through electronic means. The Supreme Court held that section 66A of the IT Act is not constitutionally invalid and hence upheld its validity.
Avinash Bajaj vs State [NCT] of Delhi [(2008) 150 DLT 769]
In this case, the petitioner was the managing director of the Bazee Company which is an online platform for shopping. On the website, a pornographic video was uploaded and the company took 2-3 days to remove the video but until then many people buy that video, therefore, he was charged under section 292 IPC and section 67 of the IT Act. The court held that Mr. Avinash was not involved in the uploading of a pornographic video and also the site is like a third party platform upon which sellers registered to sell their products and buyers purchase the goods and services from them and therefore the petitioner was released and he paid two sureties of worth Rs. 1 lac each.
CBI Vs Arif Azim [(2008) 105 DRJ 721: (2008) 150 DLT 769]
In this case, Sony India ltd running a website named www.sony.sambandh.com a platform on which the NRIs can make an online payment and deliver the products of Sony to any person in India. The payment was done via a credit used by an American citizen to deliver a television set and headphones to a person named Arif Azim who resides in Noida. Later when all the formalities and delivery were done the credit card company inform Sony that the card user is denying such payment and Sony lodged a complaint in CBI regarding the fraud. Later it was found that Arif Azim an employee of a call center acquired the detail of the card user and used to order the products by the detail of the card.
Conclusion
The statistics and unfortunate events of recently happened cyber-attacks in India are a warning signal and a wake-up call for every individual and company to protect themselves from getting targeted by these cyber attackers by update their cyber security systems. It is well said by someone that “Prevention is better than cure” and people need to implement this phrase in their real-life by adopting various techniques to secure their sensitive data to get hacked. An investment in installing and upgrading cyber security solutions is a smart move to prevent them in the future.