17 February 2010
The word cyber and its relative dot.com are probably the most commonly used terminologies of the modern era. In the information age the rapid development of computers, telecommunications and other technologies

The word cyber and its relative dot.com are probably the most commonly used terminologies of the modern era. In the information age the rapid development of computers, telecommunications and other technologies has led to the evolution
of new forms of trans-national crimes known as “cyber crimes”. Cyber crimes have virtually no boundaries and may affect every country in the world. They may be defined as “any crime with the help of computer and telecommunication technology”, with the purpose of influencing the functioning of computer or the computer systems. The extent of loss involved worldwide of cyber crimes is tremendous as it is estimated that about 500 million people who use the Internet can be affected by the emergence of cyber crimes. Cyber crimes are a very serious threat for the times to come and pose one of the most difficult challenges before the law enforcement machinery Most cyber crimes do not involve violence but rather greed, pride, or play on some character weakness of the victims. It is difficult to identify the culprit, as the Net can be a vicious web of deceit and can be accessed from any part of the globe. For these reasons, cyber crimes are considered as “white-collar crimes". To understand cyber crime as a significantly new phenomenon, with potentially profoundly new consequences, it is necessary to recognize it as a constituent aspect of the wider political, social and economic reconstructing currently effecting countries worldwide. This new technology not only provides opportunities for the profitable development of an international information market but has also raised the specter of new criminal activities to exploit them. The very technology that enables multinationals to do business more effectively and challenge the individual controls and regulations of nation states, also offers the prospect of globally organized criminal networks. Moreover the free flow of uncensored information on electronic networks and web- sites is as attractive to insurgents and extremist groups as it is to dissidents proclaiming their human rights. Just as crimes have changed with the growth of information technology so have the categories of criminals who engage in such crimes. There are three basic categories of criminals who engage in such crimes, ranging from hackers, information merchants and mercenaries, to terrorists, extremists and deviants.

The Vast Range Of Cyber Crimes .....................................
Hacking:
It is the most common type of Cyber crime being committed across the world. Hacking has been defined in section 66 of The Information Technology Act, 2000 as follows "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 hacking".
Punishment for hacking under the above mentioned section is imprisonment for three years or fine which may extend Upto two lakh rupees or both. A Hacker is a person who breaks in or trespasses a computer system. Hackers are of different types ranging from code hackers to crackers to cyber punks to freaks. Some hackers just enjoy cracking systems and gaining access to them as an ordinary pastime; they do not desire to commit any further crime. Whether this itself would constitute a crime is a matter of fact. At most such a crime could be equated with criminal trespass.

Published in Legal service india
Authors : B.Jyoti Kiran & Shiladitya Goswami