INTRODUCTION
The past couple of years brought a deadly virus with it. In the ending month of 2019, a report surfaced claiming emerges of new virus, namely Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID-19), in Wuhan, China and was regarded as very lethal. After a couple of month that virus spread throughout Europe and many other countries of the World. Thus India was no left out. As a result, the nation undergoes lockdown in March, 2020 and some places are still under lockdown. The imposition of lockdown was the necessity, but a sudden lockdown hinders every aspect daily life. We are now totally dependent on internet and few inches of screen. Colleges, offices, banks, business meeting & transactions and almost everything is gone virtual and was termed as Work From Home. The unemployment rate is also increased and as a result of that people are entering into criminal world.
CYBER CRIME DURING PANDEMIC
It is true that the crime rate is gone down as the nation is under lockdown but the reports say that cyber crime has increased in high proportion. As the use of different virtual meeting platforms, social media and online transactions increased the cyber criminals increased with it. The several traps that are used by the Cyber Criminals especially during this ongoing pandemic are:
- Hacking at the company’s data base, as the companies set VPN for their employees, so that they can access the company server from home, in order to carry on the work during the pandemic. This feature was also become helpful for the hackers as they targeted those VPN in order to enter in the system of Company. For instance, during the starting of pandemic the Cyber Chief said that the hackers tried to hack the PM Care fund database.
- Another trap that is being used by the criminals is Phishing. In this trap the criminals gathers the information about the users through emails or links which prima facie looks like legitimate, and thus the user’s gave their details and got trapped.
- There been also attempts to ask money from the hospitals or other organizations in the Government, by making fraudulent websites or impersonating other legitimate websites or portals.
- Spreading of fraudulent links and news through social media is not something which we are seeing in this lockdown period, in fact none of the above traps are new, but they are being lured more often with the emerge of COVID and imposition of lockdown.
- The eavesdropping attack also becomes more prevalent in these hard times. This attack is also known as Man in the Middle attack. The attacker enters into two other person’s transaction and interrupts the traffic, which make them able to steal the data. And once the attacker enters into the victims system he can filter all the information of victim’s system.
It is important to note here that the youth and the aged person both are getting trapped in the traps of cyber criminals and the spread of fake news impacts as badly as it forms a public opinion based on wrong facts, which sometimes also used for harassing people digitally.
LAWS ON CYBER CRIME
The Information Technology Law enacted in 2000 is the only specific law in this regard. It provides for cybercrimes, their punishment and appropriate remedies.
The offence of phishing is made punishable up to 3 years and fine not more than 1 lakh under section 66 A of the Act, also the section 66 A of the act deals with the acts of phishing. The offences like hacking is a civil offence but when is done fraudulently it becomes a criminal offences and is punishable under section 66 B. Online harassment and stalking is also been held as offences by the Act of 2000.
Besides the Information Technology Act, Indian Penal Code also provides punishment for cyber crimes and especially fraud by impersonating and online harassment is been discussed in the Code.
LOOPHOLES IN CYBER LAWS
The first and foremost problem in cyber related issue is Jurisdiction. The territorial jurisdiction is not been properly classified by any law or guidelines. This issue arises because a same site can be accessed from any corner of the country and maybe the harm done is in one state and the criminal is far-sitting in some other state that is why determination of jurisdiction is difficult.
The Act also fails in providing procedure and remedy for cyber attacks done from external sources. As we often hear news of hacking or attempts of hacking from Chinese sources.
The Act also lacks in providing separate provisions for offences like scams against big companies or scams against health sector, we are forced to use the basic punishment laws even for bigger crimes which is not enough and is not act as a deterrent.
REFORMS REQUIRED
Now there is the need for more advanced police training as the conventional training is not enough to cope up with the current scenario. A comprehensive act is the need of hour; it can be done by making amends in the existing laws or by enacting a new law.
The pop up advertisement should be regulated as in present situation they are unregulated, as those pop ups act as a bait to lure the users into the trap. The accessibility of every site from each and every corner is also required to be regulated, if we truly want to get rid of cyber crimes.
CONCLUSION
It is quite clear that Cyber Crime increased in these hard times and that’s why some guidelines are required to regulate online transactions and other aspects of digital world. It is also required to spread awareness among the people about the use and threats of these digital platforms. Nevertheless the amends are required to curb cyber related crimes, and now it is quite easy as many of the loopholes have been surfaced in this pandemic period.
Aishwarya Says:
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