What is Cyber Crime?

A Cyber Crime is an evil having its origin in the growing dependence on computers in modern life.

Cyber Crime has been an artifact of computer systems for a number of decades. However, the phenomenon of Cyber Crime did not truly come into being until the advent of the computer network. Information moving from across physical distances was much easier to intercept than that on a standalone system. Moreover, attaching a system to a network provided would-be criminals an access point into other vulnerable systems attached to the same network. But even in the early days of networked computing, Cyber Crime was rare. The relative rarity of computers, combined with the highly specialized knowledge needed to use them prevented widespread abuse. The Cyber Crime problem emerged and grew as computing became easier and less expensive.

The internet in India is growing rapidly. It has given rise to new opportunities in every field we can think of – be it entertainment, business, sports or education. There are two sides to a coin. Internet also has its own disadvantages. One of the major disadvantages is Cyber Crime – illegal activity committed on the internet. The internet, along with its advantages, has also exposed us to security risks that come with connecting to a large network. Computers today are being misused for illegal activities like e-mail espionage, credit card fraud, spam’s, software piracy and so on, which invade our privacy and offend our senses. Criminal activities in the cyberspace are on the rise.

A simple yet sturdy definition of Cyber Crime would be “unlawful acts wherein the computer is either a tool or a target or both”. Defining Cyber Crime, as “acts that are punishable by the Information Technology Act 2000” would be unsuitable as the Indian Penal Code also covers many cyber crimes, such as e-mail spoofing, cyber defamation etc.

Although the term Cyber Crime is usually restricted to describing criminal activity in which the computer or network is an essential part of the crime, this term is also used to include traditional crimes in which computers or networks are used to enable the illicit activity.

- Source Wikipedia

Cyber Crime is the latest and perhaps the most complicated problem in the cyber world. “Cyber Crime may be said to be those species, of which, genus is the conventional crime, and where either the computer is an object or subject of the conduct constituting crime”

- Source Parthasarathi Pati, an author

“Any criminal activity that uses a computer either as an instrumentality, target or a means for perpetuating further crimes comes within the ambit of Cyber Crime”.

A generalized definition of Cyber Crime may be “ unlawful acts wherein the computer is either a tool or target or both”