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Cyber Law is the law governing cyber space.
Cyber space is a very wide term and includes computers,
networks, software, data storagedevices (such as hard disks, USB
disks etc), the Internet, websites, emails and even electronic
devices such as cell phones, ATM machines etc.
Law encompasses the rules of conduct:
1. that have been approved by the government, and2. which are in
force over a certain territory, and3. which must be obeyed by all
persons on that territory.
Violation of these rules could lead to government action such as
imprisonment orfine or an
order to pay compensation.
Cyber law encompasses laws relating to:
1. Cyber crimes2. Electronic and Digital Signatures3.
Intellectual Property4. Data protection and privacy
Money is the most common motive behind all crime. The same is
also true for cyber crime.
Globally it is being observed that more and more cyber crimes
are being committed for financialmotives rather than for revenge or
for fun.
With the tremendous increase in the use of internet and mobile
banking, online sharetrading, dematerialization of shares and
securities, this trend is likely to increase unabated.
Financial crimes include
y cyber cheating,y
credit card frauds,y money laundering,y hacking into bank
servers,y computer manipulation,y accounting scams etc.
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Illustration 1
Punjab National Bankin India was cheated tothe tune of Rs. 13.9
million through falsedebits and credits in computerized
accounts.
Illustration 2
Rs. 2,50,000 were misappropriated from Bankof Baroda in India
through falsification ofcomputerized bank accounts.
Illustration 3
The Hyderabad police in India arrested anunemployed computer
operator and his friend,a steward in a prominent five-star hotel,
forstealing and misusing credit card numbersbelonging to hotel
customers.
The steward noted down the various details ofthe credit cards,
which were handed by clientsof the hotel for paying their bills.
Then, hepassed all the details to his computer operatorfriend who
used the details to make onlinepurchases on various websites.
Illustration 4
In 2004, the US Secret Service investigatedand shut down an
online organization thattrafficked in around 1.7 million stolen
creditcards and stolen identity information anddocuments.
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This high-profile case, known as OperationFirewall, focused on a
criminal organizationof some 4,000 members whose Web sitefunctioned
as a hub for identity theft activity.
Illustration 5
In 2003, a hacker was convicted in the USA forcausing losses of
almost $25 million. Thedefendant pleaded guilty to numerous
chargesof conspiracy, computer intrusion, computerfraud, credit
card fraud, wire fraud, andextortion.
The hacker and his accomplices from Russiahad stolen usernames,
passwords, credit cardinformation, and other financial data
byhacking into computers of US citizens. Theywould then extort
money from those victimswith the threat of deleting their data
anddestroying their computer systems.
