What is Cyber-crime?

While most cyber crimes are carried out in order to generate profit for the cyber criminals, some cyber crimes are carried out against computers or devices directly to damage or disable them. Others use computers or networks to spread malware, illegal information, images or other materials. Some cyber crimes do both — i.e., target computers to infect them with a computer virus, which is then spread to other machines and, sometimes, entire networks.

A primary effect of cyber crime is financial. Cyber crime can include many different types of profit-driven criminal activity, including ransomware attacks, email and internet fraud, and identity fraud, as well as attempts to steal financial accounts, credit cards or other payment card information.

Cyber criminals may target an individual’s private information or corporate data for theft and resale.

Cyber crimes include the following:

• Hacking is a category of cyber crime that involves gaining unauthorized access to data stored on a person’s computer.
• Identity theft is the intentional use of another person’s identity.
• Cyber bullying, also referred to as online bullying, is a type of harassment and bullying that takes place via the internet.
• The use of the internet to monitor or harass someone is known as cyberstalking. False charges, slander, and defamation are all involved.
• Spoofing is a hacking technique in which hackers fool computer systems in order to gain an unfair advantage and steal information from online communities or websites.
• Financial fraud occurs when someone uses the internet to steal money or deprive others of their assets.
• Digital piracy, often known as online piracy, is the act of downloading and sharing digital copyrighted content without permission.
• Computer malware is malware programs that duplicate themselves in order to spread across computers.
• Malware is malicious software created by cyber criminals with the goal of causing harm to a server, client, or network.
• Theft of copyrighted content or material through the internet is known as intellectual property theft.
• Money laundering is the practice of using the Internet to transfer funds through various online payment methods.
• A denial of service (DOS) assault is a cyberattack that aims to impede the targeted server’s traffic. It prevents the intended users from accessing a system’s resources.
• Electronic terrorism, often known as cyber terrorism, is the use of the internet to carry out violent crimes. It entails posing a danger to someone or gaining ideological or political advantage.
• Vandalism refers to the intentional destruction and damage of an individual’s online content. It could also mean that your website’s online content gets changed without your authorization.

Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016

In 2016, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) was passed. It provides a comprehensive framework for all forms of cyber crime and is based on the Cyber Crime Bill of 2007.

It deals with the following internet crimes:

• Unauthorized data access (hacking)
• Denial of Service (DoS) assault (DOS Attack)
• Electronic forgery and electronic fraud
• Cyber terrorism

PECA Penalties on Cyber crimes

PECA imposes the following punishments on cyber criminals: