Editorial Analysis for Civil Services - Cybercrime Against Women

Introduction:

  • Information Technology solutions have opened the way for a new world of internet, business networking, and e-banking, which is emerging as a way to cut expenses and transform complex economic matters into simpler, faster, more efficient, and time-saving operations.
  • Various criminals, such as hackers and crackers, have discovered ways to interfere with internet accounts and have been successful in gaining illegal access to the user’s computer system and stealing valuable data.

What is Cybercrime:

  • In general, cyber crime is described as “any unlawful act involving the use of a computer, communication device, or computer network to commit or enable the commission of a crime.”

Types of Cybercrime against women:

  • Harassment via email involves blackmail, threats, and the sending of love letters in anonymous names or the sending of embarrassing emails on a regular basis.
  • Cyber stalking: ‘Stalkers benefit from the anonymity that the internet provides. He could be on the other side of the globe, a next-door neighbor, or a distant relative!’ It entails tracking a person’s online activities by posting (often threatening) remarks on bulletin boards frequented by the victim, entering chat rooms frequented by the victim, and persistently bombarding the victim with emails, among other things. In general, the stalker’s messages are intended to inflict emotional anguish and have no genuine purpose.
  • Cyber defamation, often known as cyber smearing, is defined as the deliberate infringement of “another person’s right to his good name.”
  • Computers and/or the Internet are used to perpetrate cyber-defamation. Because of its speed, it is regarded as a greater threat.
  • Child pornography: Child sexually abusive material (CSAM) is any material that contains a sexual image of a child who has been mistreated or exploited sexually. “It is illegal for posting or transmitting content depicting children in sexually explicit acts, etc. in electronic form,” says Section 67 (B) of the IT Act.
  • Cyberbullying is a type of harassment or bullying that occurs through the use of electronic or communication devices such as a computer, cellphone, laptop, or other similar device.
  • Cyber grooming is when a person establishes an online interaction with a young person and manipulates or forces him or her into engaging in sexual activity.

Laws in India to fight Cybercrime against women:

  • The IT Act’s Chapter XI deals with offenses including tampering with computer source material.
  • Section 65 deals with computer system hacking.
  • Section 66 deals with the electronic publication of obscene information.
  • Access to a protected system is dealt with in Section 67.
  • Breach of confidence and privacy is dealt with under Section 70.

Other Remedial Methodologies in India:

  • If a victim is a victim of cybercrime, they should call the nearest cyber cell or police station.
  • An anonymous complaint can also be made through the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (cyber crime.gov.in).

The following documents must be provided in order to file a complaint alleging the commission of a cyber-crime:

  • The following information should be provided in the event of a hack: Logs from the server.
  • If your website has been vandalized, make a soft and hard copy of the defaced page.
  • If the data on your server, computer, or other network equipment is compromised, a soft copy of the original data as well as the compromised data is necessary.
  • Details on the access control mechanism, such as who had what level of access to the hacked system.

Source: THE HINDU.