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Volume-4, Issue-4, August-2014, ISSN No.: 2250-0758
International Journal of Engineering and Management Research
Available at:
www.ijemr.net
Page Number: 31-39
Cyber Crimes in India 2012-13: Facts and Measures
Dr. B.D. Karhad
B.M. College of Commerce, Pune, INDIA
I.
INTRODUCTION
During the 1960s a group of researchers in USA defense, who invented a computer network that will continue to work even if any of the computer is lost or destroyed, for example, during a war or a natural disaster. Over the next 20 years or so companies, universities and other researchers involved in this research and all become linked to web networks. Then ordinary people, started using the Internet, and there were millions of people around the world, who use it in many different ways. Today, computers and Internet have become an important element in the lives of people of all ages. In particular, the new generation carries a lot of work with the help of a computer. Computers and Internet has become an indispensable passion for the new generation.
Cyber crime is an attack against persons or groups of persons committed with criminal motive, to damage the reputation of the victim or do physical or mental harm to the victim, directly or indirectly, with the help of modern networks such as the Internet and mobile phones. Generally, cyber crimes are categorized as e-mail abuse, cyber stalking, phishing, vishing, hacking, online job and lottery fraud, credit card fraud, identity theft and skimming. Cyberspace is a computer network consisting of a worldwide network of computer networks, to facilitate the transfer and exchange of data. Examples of risks on the Internet include- Using information by Identity thieves that they find online, to access the bank account or ruin credit rating of any customer. Phishing is a common trick on sites that have been used or pretending used for legitimate purposes. PayPal and eBay are two of the most common targets for fraud and phishing crimes. Popular social networking sites like Facebook are used to attain such fraudulent goals.
In this paper the the researcher would study the data published by National Crime Records Bureau, about the cyber crimes reported in India during the year 2013, interpret the data to understand the trends in cyber crimes in different states and cities and suggest measures to reduce the instances of cyber crimes in the country.
II.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The recent high-profile hacking of Twitter accounts from major newspapers has shown that the UK communications industry - like all sectors of the economy - is not safe from online attacks. Enterprise customer data and credit card information theft, loss of sensitive business information and valuable intellectual property had been reported stolen. These attacks will not only cause embarrassment and damage to reputation, they can cost companies significant amounts of money and potentially causing long-term damage. Many companies improve their security, but the threat is growing. The government's goal is to make the country one of the safest places in the world to do business in cyberspace. As part of this, different steps are to be taken to protect ourselves against common attacks, such as putting in place a right number of employees, adequately trained. There is a need to prevent users from cyber security to help them to perform the appropriate actions to protect themselves. The risk of inaction in case of cyber crimes is high, but the opportunities for growth of online business are huge, therefore, developing right defenses and putting them at place, would help in reducing and controlling cyber crimes.
III.
HYPOTHESIS
Ho: Cyber crimes in India are on rise.
IV.
OBJECTIVES
The major objectives of the study are:
1.
To study the data published by National Crime Records Bureau, about the cyber crimes reported in India during the year 2013.2.
To interpret the data and understand the trends in cyber crimes in different states and cities.3.
To suggest measures to control and reduce the instances of cyber crimes in the country.32
V.
TYPES OF CYBER CRIMES
When any crime is committed over the Internet it is referred to as a cyber crime. There are mainly two types of cyber crimes. They are offences under IT Act and IPC, 1860, as stated below.
Offences under the Information
Technology Act, 2000
Offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860
1)
Tampering computer source documents
2)
Hacking with computer systems
a.
Loss /damage to computer source/
utility
b.
Hacking
3)
Obscene publication / transmission in
electronic form
4)
Failure
a.
of compliance / orders of certifying
authority
b.
To assist in decryption the
information intercepted by Govt
agency
5)
Un-authorised access/ attempt to access of
protected computer system
6)
Obtaining licence of digital signature
certificate by misinterpretation /
suppression of fact
7)
Publishing false digital signature certificate
8)
Fraud digital signature certificate
9)
Breach of confidentiality / privacy
10)
Other
1)
Offences by / against public servant
2)
False electronic evidence
3)
Destruction of electronic evidence
4)
Forgery
5)
Criminal breach of trust / fraud
6)
Counterfeiting
a.
Property/mark
b.
Tampering
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VI.
DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION
1. Cases Registered:
Incidences of cyber crimes cases registered during 2013 (offences under IPC) are presented below:
Table 1A: Incidence of Cases Registered Under Cyber Crimes in States/UTs During 2012 & 2013 and Percentage Variation
Sr.
No.
State/UT
IT ACT
IPC Section
2012
2013
Variation
%
2012
2013
Variation
%
1 Uttar Pradesh 205 372 81.50% 44 310 604.50% 2 Andhra Pradesh 429 635 48.00% 25 16 -36.00% 3 Maharashtra 471 681 44.60% 90 226 151.10% 4 Kerala 269 349 29.70% 43 34 -20.90% 5 Karnataka 412 513 24.50% 25 20 -20.00% 6 Other (30 States) 1090 1806 65.7% 374 731 95.5%
2876 4356 51.5% 601 1337 122.5%
It is observed from table 1 that cyber crimes registered under the IT Act rose sharply by 51.5% from 2012 to 2013 and those registered under the Indian Penal Code, by 122.5% for the same time period. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka are the top three states hit by cyber crime recorded under the new IT Act. Uttar Pradesh was counted as the fourth state to register 372 cases of cyber crime. In a year’s time the state has seen an 81.50% increase in such cases. Kerala stands fifth in the
list with 349 cases of cyber crime registered in 2013. Maharashtra reported 681 cyber crime cases that are to be the highest. It registered 44.6% increase comparatives for the year 2012. Andhra Pradesh also registered 635 cases in 2013 marking an increase of 48% compared to 2012. However, in Karnataka, in 2013, 513 cases were registered that was 24.5% more than cases registered in 2012. In all, there have been 4356 incidents of cyber-crime in year 2013.
2. Persons arrested under I.T. Act
Persons arrested under I.T. Act for cyber crimes by age-group during 2013 (State & UT-wise) are presented below:
Table 2: Persons Arrested under I.T. Act by Age-group during 2013 (State & UT-wise)
Sr.
No.
States / UT
Below
18
Years
Between 18
to 30 Years
Between 30
to 45 Years
Between 45
to 60 years
Above
60 Years
Total
1 Andhra Pradesh 9 180 94 13 0 296
2 Kerala 9 73 52 17 0 151
3 Madhya Pradesh 2 104 44 13 2 165
4 Maharashtra 17 214 161 31 3 426
5 Uttar Pradesh 0 213 65 5 0 283
6 Other (30 states or
UTs) 8 415 306 52 5 777
Total 45 1199 722 131 10 2098
Percentage 2.14% 57.15% 34.41% 6.24% 0.48% 100%
It is observed from table 2 that, the maximum arrests for cyber crimes under the IT Act i.e. 1999 out of 2098 (57.15%) came from the 18-30 age groups, 722 (34.41%) from the 30-45 age groups, and 45 (2.14%) from
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3. Persons Arrested under IPC Sections
Persons arrested under IPC for cyber crimes by age-group during 2013 (State & UT-wise) are presented below:
Table 3: Persons arrested under IPC by Age-group during 2013(State & UT-wise)
Sr.
No.
States / UT
Below 18
Years
Between 18 to
30 Years
Between 30 to
45 Years
Between 45 to
60 years
Above 60
Years
Total
1 Bihar 0 7 196 4 0 207
2 Haryana 0 44 61 28 3 136
3 Maharashtra 0 64 93 19 1 177
4 Uttar Pradesh 0 204 99 16 0 319
5 West Bengal 0 39 67 45 0 151
6 Other (30 states
or UTs) 0 90 87 32 4 213
Total 0 448 603 144 8 1203
Percentage 0% 37.24% 50.12% 11.97% 0.67% 100%
It is observed from table 3 that out of 1203 persons arrested under IPC for cyber crimes, persons between 18 to 30 years were 37.24%, between 30 to 45 years were 50.12%, between 45 to 60 years were 11.97% and rest 0.67 were from other age groups.
Citiwise analysis shows that Uttar Pradesh has highest number of arrests, Bihar is at the second and Maharashtra at the third place. In all states highest numbers of persons arrested are either from the age group of 18 to 30 years or
30 to 45 years.
4. Cases Registered and Number of Persons Arrested:
Incidence of cases registered and number of persons arrested are presented in table 4.
Table 4: Incidence of Cases Registered and Number of persons arrested under Cyber crimes (IT Act & IPC Sections) during 2013 (all India)
Sr. No.
Crime Head Cases
Registered %
Person
Arrested % Offences under IT Act
1 Tampering computer source documents 137 3.15% 59 2.81% 2 Hacking with computer systems
i) Loss /damage to computer source/ utility 1966 45.13% 818 38.99% ii) Hacking 550 12.63% 193 9.20% 3 Obscene publication / transmission in electronic form 1203 27.62% 737 35.13% 4 Failure
i) Of compliance / orders of certifying authority 13 0.30% 3 0.14% ii) To assist in decryption the information intercepted by
Govt agency 6 0.14% 7 0.33%
5 Un-authorized access/ attempt to access of protected computer
system 27 0.62% 17 0.81%
6 Obtaining licence of digital signature certificate by
misinterpretation / suppression of fact 12 0.28% 14 0.67% 7 Publishing false digital signature certificate 4 0.09% 8 0.38% 8 Fraud digital signature certificate 71 1.63% 51 2.43% 9 Breach of confidentiality / privacy 91 2.09% 30 1.43%
10 Other 274 6.29% 161 7.67%
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Offences under IPC
Sr.
No. Crime Head
Cases
Registered %
Person
Arrested %
1 Offences by / against public servant 1 0.07% 2 0.17% 2 False electronic evidence 6 0.45% 7 0.58% 3 Destruction of electronic evidence 6 0.45% 4 0.33%
4 Forgery 747 55.87% 626 52.04%
5 Criminal breach of trust / fraud 518 38.74% 471 39.15%
6 Counterfeiting 0.00% 0.00%
i) Property/mark 10 0.75% 34 2.83% ii) Tampering 8 0.60% 10 0.83% iii) Currency / stamps 41 3.07% 49 4.07%
Total (B) 1337 100% 1203 100%
Grand total (A+B) 5693 3301
An analysis of table 4 shows that the maximum cases of cyber crimes in 2013 were for hacking with computer systems. Transmission of obscene messages, or obscene publication/transmission in electronic form came a distant second in the category. Out of total 4,356 cases 2,516 i.e. 57.76% cases were registered for hacking with computer systems with 1,011 arrests. The numbers for
obscene publications/transmission in electronic form, stood at 1,203 (27.62%) cases registered, with 737 arrests. Also, under IPC 747 out of 1337 (55.87%) cases were registered for forgery with 626 arrests, and 518 (38.74%) were registered for criminal breach of trust/fraud with 471 arrests.
5. Persons Arrested under Cyber Crimes by Age-group:
Persons arrested under cyber crimes by age-group (crime head-wise) are presented in table 4.
Table 5: Persons arrested under Cyber crimes by Age-group (Crime head-wise)
Sr.
No.
Crime head
Below
18
Years
Between 18
to 30 Years
Between 30
to 45 Years
Between
45 to 60
years
Above
60
Years
Total
Offences under IT Act
1 Loss or damage to
computer resource /utility 10 454 307 44 3 818 2 Obscene publication
/ transmission in electronic form
20 457 203 53 4 737
3 Other 15 279 212 34 3 543
Total (A) 45 1190 722 131 10 2098
Offences under IPC
1 Forgery 0 263 305 54 4 626
2 Criminal breach of trust / fraud 0 145 260 66 0 471
3 Other 0 40 38 24 4 106
Total (B) 0 448 603 144 8 1203
Grand Total (A +B) 45 1638 1325 275 18 3301
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It is observed from table 5 that during the year 2013, number of persons arrested under IT Act was 2098, and under IPC was 1203. Out of 2098 persons arrested, 454 were between 18-30 years of age, for loss or damage to computer resource /utility, and 457 persons for obscene publication / transmission in electronic form. Whereas, number of persons arrested under IPC was
1203. Out of 1203 persons so arrested, 263 were for forgery and 143 for criminal breach of trust/fraud, which were between 18-30 years of age. In addition to this, 305 persons arrested were for forgery and 260 for criminal breach of trust/fraud, which were between 30-45 years of age.
6. Cases Registered under I.T. Act:
Incidence of Cyber Crime, Cases Registered under I.T. Act (State & UT-wise) is presented in table 6, as below.
Table 6: Incidence of Cyber Crime, Cases Registered under I.T. Act (State & UT-wise)
Sr.
No. State / UTs
Tampering computer
source documents
Hacking
Obscene publication / transmission in electronic form
Failure of
Total Loss
/damage to computer
source / utility Sec. 6(1)
Hacking sec. 66(2)
compliance / orders of certifying
authority
To assist in decrypting the
information intercepted by
Govt agency 1 Andhra
Pradesh 30 330 16 234 0 0 610
2 Karnataka 8 247 182 48 0 0 485
3 Madhya
Pradesh 1 226 14 41 0 0 282
4 Maharashtra 11 246 29 122 4 2 414
5 Rajasthan 6 124 23 81 0 0 234
6 Other (30 states or UTs)
81 793 286 677 9 4 1850
Total 137 1966 550 1203 13 6 3875
Percentage 3.54% 50.74% 14.19% 31.05% 0.34% 0.15% 100%
It is observed from table 6 that out of 3875 cases registered under I.T. Act for cyber crimes, 3.54% cases were registered for Tampering computer source documents, 64.93% for hacking, 31.05% for Obscene publication / transmission in electronic form, and remaining for failure of compliance /orders of certifying
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7. Cases Registered under IPC:
Incidences of Cyber Crime, Cases Registered under IPC (State & UT-wise) are presented in table 7 below:
Table 7(A): Incidences of Cyber Crimes cases registered during 2013 (Offences under IPC)
Nature of Cyber Crime
Uttar
Pradesh
Maha-rashtra
Haryana
West
Bengal
Bihar
Other
30
states
Total
Offences by/against public servant 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 False electronic evidence 1 0 0 0 0 5 6 Destruction of electronic evidence 1 0 2 0 0 3 6
Forgery 219 215 81 21 44 167 747
Criminal breach of trust/fraud 89 10 122 96 72 129 518 Counterfeiting – property mark,
tampering, currency/ stamps 0 1 6 15 0 37 59
Total 310 226 211 132 116 342 1337
Percentage 23.19% 16.90% 15.78% 9.87% 8.68% 25.58% 100.%
It is observed from table 7(A) that out of 1337 cases registered in the year 2013 under IPC for cyber crimes, 55.87% cases were registered for forgery, 38.74% for Criminal breach of trust/fraud and remaining for other cyber crimes. Citiwise analysis shows that Uttar pradesh
has highest number of cases, Maharashtra is at the second and Haryana at the third place. In all states highest numbers of cases registered are for either forgery or criminal breach of trust/fraud.
8. Cyber Crimes cases registered under IPC (citiwise):
Incidences of cyber crimes cases registered during 2013 (Offences under IPC) are as under.
Table 7(B): Incidences of Cyber crimes cases registered during 2013 (Offences under IPC)
Nature of Cyber Crime
Cities
Total
%
Mumbai Lucknow Asansol Amritsar Jaipur
Offences by/against public servant 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00% False electronic evidence 0 0 0 0 0 4 1.01% Destruction of electronic evidence 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00%
Forgery 89 67 0 21 9 260 65.66%
Criminal breach of trust/fraud 3 5 48 5 12 107 27.02% Counterfeiting – property mark,
tampering, currency/ stamps 0 0 4 0 0 25 6.31%
Total 92 72 52 26 21 396 100.%
Percentage 23.23% 18.18% 13.13% 6.57% 5.30% 100%
It is observed from table 7(B) that out of 396 cases registered in the year 2013 under IPC for cyber crimes, 65.66% cases were registered for forgery, 27.02% for Criminal breach of trust/fraud and remaining for other cyber crimes. Citywise analysis shows that Mumbai has
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9. Motives and Suspects:
Cases Registered under Cyber Crimes by Motives and Suspects (States & UTs) are prseaented in table 8 given below:
Table 8: Cases Registered Under Cyber Crimes by Motives and Suspects (States & UTs)
State / UTs
Motives Revenue
settling scores
Greed / money
Extortion Cause disrepute
Prank/ satisfaction
of gaining control
Fraud/ illegal gain
Eve teasing/
harrasment Other Total
Andhra Pradesh 7 63 0 0 0 219 225 137 651 Karnataka 0 93 5 6 0 118 67 244 533 Kerala 23 28 0 25 0 44 136 127 383 Maharashtra 15 133 14 75 15 210 233 212 907 Uttar Pradesh 12 84 19 0 14 375 161 17 682 Other (30 states
or UTs) 55 420 35 42 10 274 294 1407 2537 112 821 73 148 39 1240 1116 2144 5693
It is observed from table 8 that in Maharashtra that stood first in cyber crime, eve teasing or harassment accounts for 233 cases, while the motive has been stated as fraud or illegal gain in 210 cases, greed in 133 cases and causing disrepute in 75 cases. In Uttar Pradesh, which stood second, eve teasing or harassment accounts
for 161 cases, while the motive has been stated as fraud or illegal gain in 375 cases and, greed in 84 cases. Andhra Pradesh also stood third with 651 cases, with main motive of eve teasing and sexual harassment which account for
225 cases.
VII.
HYPOTHESIS TESTING
It is observed from the data analysis and interpretation that cyber crimes registered under the IT Act rose sharply by 51.5% from 2012 to 2013 and those registered under the Indian Penal Code, by 122.5% for the same time period. As this is substantial increase it proves the hypothesis that cyber crimes in India are on rise.
VIII.
MEASURES
The measures to reduce cyber crimes in India are: 1) Be Cautious while giving out personal information
such as name, address, telephone number or financial information on the Internet. Make sure that the website is secure.
2) Control the crimes by using different combinations of user ID / password for different accounts, through a combination of letters, numbers, special characters (at least 10 characters in total) and regularly change the password.
3) Download applications or software from trusted sources only.
4) Forensics evidence can be used to identify Internet crimes.
5) Activate automatic updates to prevent possible attacks on old software.
6) Activate firewall, anti-virus software, for security attacks and block spyware from your computer.
7) Amend some sections of information technology act, 2000 and IPC that are necessary to control Cyber Crimes in India.
8) Avoid uploading pictures online, particularly to strangers, and chat friends to prevent incidents of its abuse.
9) Aware that cell phones are vulnerable to viruses and hackers.
10) If you need help for maintenance or installing software on your computer consult the computer maintenance service providers.
11) In case of any suspicion of a cyber crime, identity theft or fraud, report to local police, or cyber crime branch.
12) Keep watch on the websites that your children access to prevent any kind of harassment of children.
13) Make sure that social networking profiles (such as Facebook, twitter etc.) are set to Private.
14) Never give credit card number to any site that is not safe, to protect against fraudulent money transfers. 15) Never respond to emails that ask you to verify your
information or your user ID and password.
16) Take regular back-up of all important files and store it in another location.
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18) The Wi-Fi (wireless) home network is vulnerable to penetration if it is not properly secured.
19) Use encryption for sensitive files such as tax returns or financial records.
20) Use latest applications and operating systems (like Windows) and update it regularly.
IX.
CONCLUSION
Cyber crimes are a result of new technologies. As it has been said that everything has got two faces, the electronic media is also good and bad. Nowadays people are focusing on one side (the bad side) that is not encouraging. This is to be compared, with good side and the results be published. The one side analysis may make parents too cautious, resulting in denial to the genius mind the use of the internet. To conclude, it can be largely a result of the younger generation lacking cyber education and ethics.
REFERENCES
Books, Journals
[1] AK Shrivastav ( 2013), ICT Penetration and Cyber crime in India, IJARCSSE, July 2013
[2] H Saini (2012), Cyber-Crimes and their Impacts: A Study – IJERA, Vol 2, issue 2, April, 2012.
[3] N.S. Nappinai, (2010)”Cyber Crime Law in India: Has Law Kept Pace with Emerging Trends”, Journal of International commercial Law and Technology Vol.5, Issue 1 (2010)
[4] Ammar Yassir, Samitha Nayak (2012), “Cyber Crime: Threat to Network Security”, IJCSNS, VOL.12 No.2, Febuary, 2012.
[5] Rupinder Pal Kaur (2013), STATISTICS OF CYBER CRIME IN INDIA: AN OVERVIEW, IJECS, ISSN: 2319-7242, Volume2, Issue 8, August, 2013 pp. 2555-2559 [6] Yougal Joshi, Anand Singh (2013), A Study on Cyber Crime and Security Scenario in India, IJEMR, Volume-3, Issue-3, June 2013, ISSN No.: 2250-0758, pp 13-18 .
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[1] daily.bhaskar.com [2] en.wikipedia.org [3] en.wikipedia.org [4] http:newslivenet.com [5] ibnlive.in.com [6] indianexpress.com [7] smallseotools.com [8] tech.firstpost.com
[9] timesofindia.indiatimes.com [10] www.google.co.in
[11] www.google.co.in [12] www.ijemr.net [13] www.printweek.com [14] www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca
[15] www.thehindubusinessline.com [16] www.ijemr.net
