Career in Cyber Law

In 1820, the world recorded its first cyber crime. Nearly two centuries later, cyber crime is something which is affecting the lives of millions of Internet and computer users. Be it actress Esha Deol declaring that someone created a false profile of hers on www.facebook.com, young girls unwittingly getting caught in the web of e-pornography, embezzlement of funds through e-commerce, or even your own e-mail password being hacked—anybody can be a victim of cyber crimes.

Currently three kinds of cyber crimes are being committed in India. Cyber crime against people, which involves harassment, stalking and social networking crimes; cyber crime against property in the form of hacking, damage to computer source code or spreading virus in computer and crime against nations in the form of cyber war.

In Simple way we can say that cyber crime is unlawful acts wherein the computer is either a tool or a target or both.

Cyber crimes can involve criminal activities that are traditional in nature, such as theft, fraud, forgery, defamation and mischief, all of which are subject to the Indian Penal Code. The abuse of computers has also given birth to a gamut of new age crimes that are addressed by the Information Technology Act, 2000.

We can categorize Cyber crimes in two ways

The Computer as a Target :-using a computer to attack other computers.

e.g. Hacking, Virus/Worm attacks, DOS attack etc.

The computer as a weapon :-using a computer to commit real world crimes.

e.g. Cyber Terrorism, IPR violations, Credit card frauds, EFT frauds, Pornography etc.

Cyber Crime regulated by Cyber Laws or Internet Laws.

Technical Aspects

Technological advancements have created new possibilities for criminal activity, in particular the criminal misuse of information technologies such as

a. Unauthorized access & Hacking:-

Access means gaining entry into, instructing or communicating with the logical, arithmetical, or memory function resources of a computer, computer system or computer network.

Unauthorized access would therefore mean any kind of access without the permission of either the rightful owner or the person in charge of a computer, computer system or computer network.

Every act committed towards breaking into a computer and/or network is hacking. Hackers write or use ready-made computer programs to attack the target computer. They possess the desire to destruct and they get the kick out of such destruction. Some hackers hack for personal monetary gains, such as to stealing the credit card information, transferring money from various bank accounts to their own account followed by withdrawal of money.

By hacking web server taking control on another persons website called as web hijacking

b. Trojan Attack:-

The program that act like something useful but do the things that are quiet damping. The programs of this kind are called as Trojans.

The name Trojan Horse is popular.

Trojans come in two parts, a Client part and a Server part. When the victim (unknowingly) runs the server on its machine, the attacker will then use the Client to connect to the Server and start using the trojan.

TCP/IP protocol is the usual protocol type used for communications, but some functions of the trojans use the UDP protocol as well.

c. Virus and Worm attack:-

A program that has capability to infect other programs and make copies of itself and spread into other programs is called virus.

Programs that multiply like viruses but spread from computer to computer are called as worms.

d. E-mail & IRC related crimes:-

1. Email spoofing

Email spoofing refers to email that appears to have been originated from one source when it was actually sent from another source. Please Read

2. Email Spamming

Email "spamming" refers to sending email to thousands and thousands of users - similar to a chain letter.

3 Sending malicious codes through email

E-mails are used to send viruses, Trojans etc through emails as an attachment or by sending a link of website which on visiting downloads malicious code.

4. Email bombing

E-mail "bombing" is characterized by abusers repeatedly sending an identical email message to a particular address.

5. Sending threatening emails

6. Defamatory emails

7. Email frauds

8. IRC related

Three main ways to attack IRC are: "verbalâ 8218;?Ŧ#8220; attacks, clone attacks, and flood attacks.

e. Denial of Service attacks:-

Flooding a computer resource with more requests than it can handle. This causes the resource to crash thereby denying access of service to authorized users.

e. Pornography:-

The literal mining of the term 'Pornography' is “describing or showing sexual acts in order to cause sexual excitement through books, films, etc.”

This would include pornographic websites; pornographic material produced using computers and use of internet to download and transmit pornographic videos, pictures, photos, writings etc.

Adult entertainment is largest industry on internet. There are more than 420 million individual pornographic WebPages today.

Research shows that 50% of the web-sites containing potentially illegal contents relating to child abuse were ‘Pay-Per-View’. This indicates that abusive images of children over Internet have been highly commercialized.

Pornography delivered over mobile phones is now a burgeoning business, “driven by the increase in sophisticated services that deliver video clips and streaming video, in addition to text and images.”

Effects of Pornography

Research has shown that pornography and its messages are involved in shaping attitudes and encouraging behavior that can harm individual users and their families.

Pornography is often viewed in secret, which creates deception within marriages that can lead to divorce in some cases.

In addition, pornography promotes the allure of adultery, prostitution and unreal expectations that can result in dangerous promiscuous behavior.

Some of the common, but false messages sent by sexualized culture.

Sex with anyone, under any circumstances, any way it is desired, is beneficial and does not have negative consequences.

Women have one value - to meet the sexual demands of men.

Marriage and children are obstacles to sexual fulfillment.

Everyone is involved in promiscuous sexual activity, infidelity and premarital sex.

Pornography Addiction

Dr. Victor Cline, an expert on Sexual Addiction, found that there is a four-step progression among many who consume pornography.

1.Addiction: Pornography provides a powerful sexual stimulant or aphrodisiac effect, followed by sexual release, most often through masturbation.

2.Escalation: Over time addicts require more explicit and deviant material to meet their sexual "needs."

3.Desensitization: What was first perceived as gross, shocking and disturbing, in time becomes common and acceptable.

4.Acting out sexually: There is an increasing tendency to act out behaviors viewed in pornography.

g. Forgery:-

Counterfeit currency notes, postage and revenue stamps, mark sheets etc can be forged using sophisticated computers, printers and scanners.

Also impersonate another person is considered forgery.

h. IPR Violations:-

These include software piracy, copyright infringement, trademarks violations, theft of computer source code, patent violations. etc.

Cyber Squatting - Domain names are also trademarks and protected by ICANN’s domain dispute resolution policy and also under trademark laws.

Cyber Squatters registers domain name identical to popular service provider’s domain so as to attract their users and get benefit from it.

i. Cyber Terrorism:-

Targeted attacks on military installations, power plants, air traffic control, banks, trail traffic control, telecommunication networks are the most likely targets. Others like police, medical, fire and rescue systems etc.

Cyber terrorism is an attractive option for modern terrorists for several reasons.

1.It is cheaper than traditional terrorist methods.

2.Cyberterrorism is more anonymous than traditional terrorist methods.

3.The variety and number of targets are enormous.

4.Cyberterrorism can be conducted remotely, a feature that isespecially appealing to terrorists.

5.Cyberterrorism has the potential to affect directly a larger number of people.

j. Banking/Credit card Related crimes:-

In the corporate world, Internet hackers are continually looking for opportunities to compromise a company’s security in order to gain access to confidential banking and financial information.

Use of stolen card information or fake credit/debit cards are common.

Bank employee can grab money using programs to deduce small amount of money from all customer accounts and adding it to own account also called as salami.

k. E-commerce/ Investment Frauds:-

Sales and Investment frauds. An offering that uses false or fraudulent claims to solicit investments or loans, or that provides for the purchase, use, or trade of forged or counterfeit securities.

Merchandise or services that were purchased or contracted by individuals online are never delivered.

The fraud attributable to the misrepresentation of a product advertised for sale through an Internet auction site or the non-delivery of products purchased through an Internet auction site.

Investors are enticed to invest in this fraudulent scheme by the promises of abnormally high profits.

l. Sale of illegal articles:-

This would include trade of narcotics, weapons and wildlife etc., by posting information on websites, auction websites, and bulletin boards or simply by using email communication.

Research shows that number of people employed in this criminal area. Daily peoples receiving so many emails with offer of banned or illegal products for sale.

m. Online gambling:-

There are millions of websites hosted on servers abroad, that offer online gambling. In fact, it is believed that many of these websites are actually fronts for money laundering.

n. Defamation: -

Defamation can be understood as the intentional infringement of another person's right to his good name.

Cyber Defamation occurs when defamation takes place with the help of computers and / or the Internet. E.g. someone publishes defamatory matter about someone on a website or sends e-mails containing defamatory information to all of that person's friends. Information posted to a bulletin board can be accessed by anyone. It means that anyone can place Cyber defamation is also called as Cyber smearing.

Cyber Stacking:-

Cyber stalking involves following a persons movements across the Internet by posting messages (sometimes threatening) on the bulletin boards frequented by the victim, entering the chat-rooms frequented by the victim, constantly bombarding the victim with emails etc.

In general, the harasser intends to cause emotional distress and has no legitimate purpose to his communications.

p. Pedophiles:-

Also there are persons who intentionally prey upon children. Specially with a teen they will let the teen know that fully understand the feelings towards adult and in particular teen parents.

They earns teens trust and gradually seduce them into sexual or indecent acts.

Pedophiles lure the children by distributing pornographic material, then they try to meet them for sex or to take their nude photographs including their engagement in sexual positions.

q. Identity Theft :-

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in countries like America. It occurs when someone appropriates another's personal information without their knowledge to commit theft or fraud. Identity theft is a vehicle for perpetrating other types of fraud schemes.

r. Data diddling:-

Data diddling involves changing data prior or during input into a computer. In other words, information is changed from the way it should be entered by a person typing in the data, a virus that changes data, the programmsr of the database or application, or anyone else involved in the process of having information stored in a computer file. It also include automatic changing the financial information for some time before processing and then restoring original information.

s. Theft of Internet Hours:-

Unauthorized use of Internet hours paid for by another person.

By gaining access to an organisation's telephone switchboard (PBX) individuals or criminal organizations can obtain access to dial-in/dial-out circuits and then make their own calls or sell call time to third parties.

Additional forms of service theft include capturing 'calling card' details and on-selling calls charged to the calling card account, and counterfeiting or illicit reprogramming of stored value telephone cards.

t. Theft of computer system (Hardware):-

This type of offence involves the theft of a computer, some part(s) of a computer or a peripheral attached to the computer.

u. Physically damaging a computer system:-

Physically damaging a computer or its peripheralseither by shock, fire or excess electric supply etc.

v. Breach of Privacy and Confidentiality

Privacy

Privacy refers to the right of an individual/s to determine when, how and to what extent his or her personal data will be shared with others.

Breach of privacy means unauthorized use or distribution or disclosure of personal information like medical records, sexual preferences, financial status etc.

Confidentiality

It means non-disclosure of information to unauthorized or unwanted persons. In addition to Personal information some other type of information which useful for business and leakage of such information to other persons may cause damage to business or person, such information should be protected.

Generally for protecting secrecy of such information, parties while sharing information forms an agreement about he procedure of handling of information and to not to disclose such information to third parties or use it in such a way that it will be disclosed to third parties.

Many times party or their employees leak such valuable information for monitory gains and causes breach of contract of confidentiality. Special techniques such as Social Engineering are commonly used to obtain confidential information. It is against such crimes that a cyber lawyer wields his powers.

Even though in its nascent stages, cyber law has tremendous scope and prospects in India. With almost more than 100 million Internet users in India, companies taking to digital storage and dissemination of data, increasing popularity of e-banking, e-commerce, e-ticketing and even e-governance, there will undoubtedly be a need for good cyber lawyers in the future.

Although you do not need to be an IT specialist, but a bit of technological bent of mind and a knack for the cyber world will only add a cherry to the cake. The right blend of technological and legal knowledge. Inadequacy of technological know-how can deeply hamper your work as a cyber lawyer.”

Since a cyber lawyer has to inevitably deal with criminal law, intellectual property law, commercial and civil law in his cyber law cases, it is best to have a sound and in-depth knowledge of these laws apart from cyber laws to give your practice a real edge. “Scope of cyber law increases when combined with intellectual property rights laws as in many cyber law cases, the question of violation of copy rights is also involved.”

As far as job opportunities are concerned, the field of cyber law is full of them. For example, you can choose from private practice, litigation, corporate advising and international cyber law work. Although litigation may take some time to firm its roots, consultancy has a lot of instant money to offer.

The path of a cyber lawyer is full of challenges. Indian law is like a Hindu wife, it walks ten steps behind the husband, as the popular saying goes. Although the IT Act 2000 seems adequate, yet, keeping pace with the changes in a forever-in-flux field like information technology may prove to be an onerous task. The laws do need to catch up to give more teeth to cyber lawyers. Also, you need to be forever updated about the changes.

However, some computer security consultant opinion are “ instead of trying to tighten cyber laws, we need to concentrate more upon training the law enforcement agents and police departments”.

“Unfortunately, as of now, if somebody were to become a victim of cyber crime and tried to explain ‘what happened’ to the personnel at the local police department, then a lot would be lost in cyber-real world translation.” These are the challenges, which a cyber lawyer shall have to arm himself against.

“The job can be summed up in one word, exciting! You are always at the cutting edge of law and technology and at the forefront of development since in many ways this is still virgin territory.”

Cyber crime transcends geographical boundaries. Hidden behind the veil of anonymity, a cyber criminal could do his work sitting right next to you, without your even realising it. The task of a cyber lawyer is not only to suggest a cure but also to his/her prepare clients to prevent such things from happening. If you are fascinated by the unknown and dare to tread the uncharted paths, then cyber law is your cup of tea. Go for it.

Cyber law deals with legal issues concerning the use of computer, computer systems and computer networks as well as the Internet. Although it is an emerging field in India, it is making rapid progress.

Fast facts : Consultancy pays better than litigation here. Since it is still developing as a field, the challenge here is to keep upbreast about the latest developments in the field of information technology. Additional knowledge of intellectual property rights and criminal law serves your interests better.