AN OVERVIEW OF CYBERCRIME IN INDIA

February 2012

The Cost of Cybercrime

In India in 2010:
29.9 million people fell victim to cybercrime $4 billion in direct financial losses $3.6 billion in time spent resolving the crime 4 in 5 online adults (80%) have been a victim of cybercrime 17% of adults online have experienced cybercrime on their mobile phone

Source: Norton Cybercrime Report 2011

Why India?
A rapidly growing online user base
121 million internet users 65 million active internet users, up 28% from 51 million in 2010 50 million users shop online on ecommerce and online shopping sites 46+ million social network users 346 million mobile users had subscribed to data packages
Source: IAMAI; Juxt; wearesocial 2011

What kind of

cybercrimes?

The majority of cybercrimes are centered on forgery, fraud and phishing India is the third-most targeted country for phishing attacks after the US and the UK Social networks as well as ecommerce sites are major targets 6.9 million bot-infected systems in 2010 14,348 website defacements in 2010 6,850 .in and 4,150 .com domains were defaced during 2011 15,000 sites hacked in 2011 India is the number 1 country in the world for generating spam

What about the Law?

Information Technology Act 2000
CHAPTER XI OFFENCES 66. Hacking with computer system.

(1) Whoever with the intent to cause or knowing that he is likely to cause wrongful loss or damage to the public or any person destroys or deletes or alters any information residing in a computer resource or diminishes its value or utility or affects it injuriously by any means, commits hack. (2) Whoever commits hacking shall be punished with imprisonment up to three years, or with fine which may extend up to two lakh rupees, or with both.

Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008 - Chapter XI

65. Tampering with Computer Source Documents 66. Computer Related Offences 66A. Punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc 66B. Punishment for dishonestly receiving stolen computer resource or communication device 66C.Punishment for identity theft 66D. Punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource 66E. Punishment for violation of privacy 66F. Punishment for cyber terrorism 67. Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form 67A. Punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc. in electronic form 67B. Punishment for publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in sexually explicit act, etc. in electronic form

What should government tackle?

The police have recorded 3,038 cases but made only 2,700 arrests in 3 years (between 2007 and 2010) India registered only 1,350 cases under the IT Act and IPC in 2010 50% of cybercrimes are not even reported

Why are so few cases are reported and does that mean the legislation is inadequate?

Arrests & Reports under IT Act

Under the IT Act, 966 cybercrime cases were filed in 2010 420 in 2009) Geographic breakdown of cases reported:
153 from Karnataka, 148 from Kerala 142 from Maharashtra 105 Andhra Pradesh 52 Rajasthan 52 Punjab

233 persons were arrested in 2010 33% of the cases registered were related to hacking
Source: National Crime Records Bureau

Arrests & Reports under IPC

Under the IPC, 356 cybercrime cases were registered in 2010 (276 cases in 2009) Geographic breakdown of cases reported 104 from Maharashtra 66 Andhra Pradesh 46 Chhattisgarh The majority of these crimes were either forgery or fraud cases.
Source: National Crime Records Bureau

The future of cybercrimes in India

Continued website hacks and defacements Data and information theft

Increasing phishing attacks on ecommerce and financial websites

Cybercriminals targeting social and professional networks Threats directed at the mobile platform: smartphones and tablets

Michela Menting michela.menting_yoell@kcl.ac.uk PhD Law Candidate Cybercrime & Legislation Kings College London

Nota Bene: All information in this ppt is collated from freely available resources found online. This ppt is free of copyright.