Cyber Law & It Act 2000

Cyber Law & IT ACT 2000

Background for Cyberlaws  In 1969 America’s Department of Defense commissioned the construction of a super network called ARPANET. The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network(ARPANET).  Basically intended as a military network slowly grew and the internet was born.  According to International Data Corporation (IDC), Approximately 163 million individuals or entities will use the internet by the end of this year as opposed to 16.1 million in 1995.  This present state of the Internet make the necessity of Cyberlaws more important.

Need for Cyberlaw

• Due to the anonymous nature of the Internet, it is possible to engage into a variety of criminal activities with impunity and people with intelligence, have been grossly misusing this aspect of the Internet to perpetuate criminal activities in cyberspace. • Also the number of users are increasing rapidly. • Hence the need for Cyberlaws arises.

Cyber Crime

• 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.

Criminal Misuse of Information Technologies Unauthorized access & Hacking 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.

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.

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.

E-mail related crimes Email Spamming Sending malicious codes through email Email bombingSending threatening emails Defamatory emails Email frauds

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. attempts to "flood" a network, thereby preventing legitimate network traffic attempts to disrupt connections between two machines, thereby preventing access to a service

Cyber law

• Cyber law is a system of law and regulation for the cyber space. Simply speaking cyber law is a generic term which refers to all the legal and regulatory aspects of internet and the world wide web. • The growth of Electronic Commerce has propelled the need for vibrant and effective regulatory mechanisms which would strengthen the legal infrastructure, and would be crucial for the success of Electronic Commerce. • The cyberlaw of India is defined under IT Act, 2000

IT ACT 2000

• The Act came into effect following the clearance of the Information Technology Bill 2000 in May 2000 by both the houses of the Parliament. The Bill received the assent of the President Of India in August 2000 (IT Act 2000). • The IT Act 2000 attempts to change outdated laws and provides ways to deal with cyber crimes. Such an act is required as people can perform purchase transactions over the net through credit cards without fear of getting misused. • IT Act 2000 is very important to control cyber crime.

Various Objectives of IT ACT 2000 • Chapter-II of the Act specifically stipulates that any subscriber may authenticate an electronic record by affixing his digital signature. • Chapter-IV of the said Act gives a scheme for Regulation of Certifying Authorities. The Act envisages a Controller of Certifying Authorities who shall perform the function of exercising supervision over the activities of the Certifying Authorities as also laying down standards and conditions governing the Certifying Authorities as also specifying the various forms and content of Digital Signature Certificates. • Chapter-VII of the Act details about the scheme of things relating to Digital Signature Certificates. The duties of subscribers are also enshrined in the said Act.

Various Objectives of IT ACT 2000 • Chapter-IX of the said Act talks about penalties and adjudication for various offences. The penalties for damage to computer, computer systems etc. has been fixed as damages by way of compensation not exceeding Rs. 1,00,00,000 to affected persons. • Chapter-X of the Act talks of the establishment of the Cyber Regulations Appellate Tribunal, which shall be an appellate body where appeals against the orders passed by the Adjudicating Officers, shall be preferred. • Chapter-XI of the Act talks about various offences and the said offences shall be investigated only by a Police Officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. These offences include tampering with computer source documents, publishing of information, hacking which is obscene in electronic form.

Various Objectives of IT ACT 2000

The Act also provides for the constitution of the Cyber Regulations Advisory Committee, which shall advice the government as regards any rules, or for any other purpose connected with the said act.

Advantage of IT ACT 2000 •

The E-commerce industry carries out its business via transactions and communications done through electronic records. It thus becomes essential that such transactions be made legal.

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The Act legalizes the e-mail and gives it the status of being valid form of carrying out communication in India. This implies that e-mails can be duly produced and approved in a court of law as a legal document.

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The Act now allows Government to issue notification on the web thus helping E-governance.

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It eases the task of companies of the filing any form, application or document by laying down the guidelines to be submitted at any appropriate office, authority, body or agency owned or controlled by the government.

Advantage of IT ACT 2000 • The act also provides statutory remedy to the corporate in case the crime against the accused for breaking into their computer systems or network and damaging and copying the data is proven. The remedy provided by the Act is in the form of monetary damages, not exceeding Rs. 1 crore. • The law has also laid guidelines for providing Internet Services on a license on a non-exclusive basis. • The law sets up the Territorial Jurisdiction of the Adjudicating Officers for cyber crimes and the Cyber Regulations Appellate Tribunal.

Criticism of IT Act 2000 •

The law misses out completely the issue of Intellectual Property Rights, and makes no provisions whatsoever for copyrighting, trade marking or patenting of electronic information and data.

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The law even stays silent over the regulation of electronic payments gateway and segregates the negotiable instruments from the applicability of the IT Act.

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The act empowers the Deputy Superintendent of Police to look up into the investigations and filling of charge sheet when any case related to cyber law is called.

Criticism of IT Act 2000 •

Internet is a borderless medium; it spreads to every corner of the world where life is possible and hence is the cyber criminal.

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Adequate and reasonable provisions must me made in the IT Act, 2000 regarding “Internet censorship”

Digital Signature • Digital signature provides authentication to an electronic record. • Makes electronic document valid. Carry same property as of a handwritten signature on a paper. • It consist of public key and a private key. – Private key is allocated to a individual which enables the user to fix a digital signature. – Public key is available to all who want to check authentication of records.

The key are provided by regulatory authorities and are unique.

Benefit of Digital Signature Benefits of Digital Signature • Authentication • Integrity Drawbacks of Digital Signature • Doesn’t provide certainty of date and time

Few tips to protect you from cyber crime • Protect your PC • • • • •

Use a firewall Install anti-virus software and prevent virus infections. Make regular backups Secure wireless networks Get the latest updates and browse the internet safely.

Few tips to protect you from cyber crime • Protect yourself • • • • •

Bank online safely Shop only safely Use strong passwords Be careful with file sharing Protect your privacy

Making Cyber law more effective • A sound Cyber law regime: It is important to realize that we need “qualitative law” and not “quantitative law”. • A sound enforcement machinery: A law might have been properly enacted and may be theoretically effective too but it is useless unless enforced in its true letter and spirit. The law enforcement machinery in India is not well equipped to deal with cyber law offences and contraventions. • A sound judicial system: A sound judicial system is the backbone for preserving the law and order in a society. In short, the dream for an “Ideal Cyber Law in India” requires a “considerable” amount of time, money and resources.

Cyber Law Cases in India • Parliament Attack Case • Official Website of Maharashtra Government Hacked • City Principal Seeks Police Help To Stop Cyber Crime • Community sites: The new Danger

Conclusions • Computer – related crime is a real. • Increase in number of crimes. • Law should be alter as and when required. • Cyber law defined as a though full group conversation about core values and distinct benefits to the society will persist . • Law as that applicable to physical , geographically defined territories. • It is the duty of every citizen to contribute toward making the said cyber space.

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