Today, the world is dominated by new technologies, computers, and networks. Cyberspace is a place where people interact virtually and flow digital data through the network of interconnected computers. Any events taking place on the Internet do not take place in the locations where participants or servers are physically located but in cyberspace. It consists of all the actions which a person can perform with the help of the internets such as games, social media, chats, text messaging, videoconferences, exotic virtual worlds, or email.

In the present scenario, the world economy is running only with the help of cyberspace. Every coin has two sides internet also provides many opportunities for individuals and organizations to develop and prosper, but at the same time, it also provides new opportunities to commits cyber-crime and a series of new challenges to deal with this crime. Various terrorist groups are using ICT as a tool to disrupt the law and order of the country.

Meaning And Definition Of Cyber Space

The term ‘cyberspace’ was first coined by William Gibson in his 1982 short story ‘Burning Chrome’ to refer to a computer-generated virtual reality. However, the term became popular in 1984, after its use in Gibson’s novel Neuromancer. Etymologically, cyberspace is a compound word and the origin of the first term ‘cyber’ comes from the Greek word Kubernetes, which means pilot, governor, and ruler. The root ‘cyber’ is also related to ‘cyborg’; a term that describes a human-machine synthesis resulted from connecting the human body in advanced high-tech devices. According to Gibson, cyberspace is the name of a real non-space world, which is characterized by the ability for the virtual presence of, and interaction between, people through icons, waypoints and artificial realities’[1]. However, it is difficult to give concise definition to cyberspace as computer network and its service is increasing day by day.

Thus, cyberspace can be defined as a conceptual world of information and electronic networks accessible via the internet and can be rightly called space without frontiers, whose boundaries seem limitless.

Cyber Crime In India

With the increase in a virtual environment, cyber-crimes are also increasing. Whenever we think about cyberspace the first thing that comes to our mind is cybersecurity. Various measures are being taken by Governments and companies in order to prevent these cybercrimes. At the present time securing the data has become one of the biggest challenges in cyberspace.

Cyber-crime is neither define in Information Technology Act 2000 nor in the Information Technology Amendment Act 2008. Thus in simple words, it means any illegal activity or offense committed by Computers, computer technology, or the internet. In cyber-crimes computer is use as a tool for committing crimes or offenses such as Internet phishing, spoofing, child pornography, etc. It may happen that computer or data present in the computer is the target such as hacking, virus attack, Dos attack, etc. In India, cyberspace is regulate by Information Technology Act, 2000 it grants legal recognition to all transactions done through electronic devices and the Internet, recognizes the digital signature and also provides punishment and penalties to the wrongdoer. Thus, Cybercrime is categorize into 3 categories –

Cybercrimes against persons.
The Cybercrimes against the property.
Cybercrimes against government
The Cybercrimes against society

Cybercrimes Against Person

The Cybercrimes committed against a person and directly affect the individual. The theft of personal information of individuals and misuse of them. It includes various crimes such as Cyber harassment, cyberstalking, child pornography, social engineering, etc. Cyber harassment is distinct cybercrime that is commit in cyberspace. Harassment can be racial, social, sexual, or religious. Cyber harassment as a crime has resulted in the violation of the privacy of citizens. When the privacy of online citizens is violated it results in cybercrime of great nature.

Cybercrimes Against Property

This second category of cybercrimes is commit against all forms of property. These crimes include computer vandalism (deliberately damages others’ property) and transmission of harmful viruses or programs. A Mumbai-based start-up engineering company lost much money in the business when the rival company, an industry major, stole the technical database from their computers with the help of corporate cyber spy software. Certain offenses which affect a person’s property are Intellectual property crimes, cybersquatting, cyber trespass, hacking, etc.

Cyber Crimes Against Government

This third category of cybercrime is commit against the government, and nation’s sovereignty is affect. It is also known as cyber terrorism when an individual or group of people “cracks” into a government or military maintain website. It alsoincludes hacking, accessing confidential information, cyber warfare, etc. For example Mumbai attack 26/11 was cyber terrorism.

Cyber Crimes Against Society

This fourth category of Cybercrime is committed against people at large, it affect large number of people living in such as Child pornography, Bank thefts, Online gambling etc.

Present Trends Of Cyber Crimes In India

The National Crime Records Bureau report 2016 shows that 11,592 cyber-crime cases were reported in 2016, leading to 8121 arrests. Such crimes were committed primarily for financial gain from White-collar jobs people, but sexual cyber-crime also dominated the statistics. Uttar Pradesh accounted for maximum cybercrime in India with 2,195cases followed by Maharashtra with 2195 cases.[2]

MOTIVES OF CYBERCRIME	(in %)
Financial Gain	33.3%
Gain by Committing Fraud	9.6%
Insult to modesty of women	5.2%
Sexual Exploitation	5.1%

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released its 2017 data on 21^st October 2019 and according to the NCRB report, Cyber-crime cases in India almost doubled in 2017 with 21,796 cases in India. Karnataka had the highest rate of Cyber Crime with 5526 cases followed by Assam, Maharashtra. According to NCRB 2017 report:

56% of Cases were reported for the motive of fraud
6.7% cases were reported for sexual exploitation
4.6% cases were reported for causing disrepute

Therefore, in 2017, a total of 11,601 persons were arrested for cybercrime cases, 8,306 were charge-sheet, and only 162 were convict.[3]

According to NCRB 2018 reports 27,248 cases were registered in 2018

55.2% of cases were report for the motive of fraud
7.5% cases were register for sexual exploitation
4.4% of cases were report for causing disrepute.

However in NCRB report ‘Crime in India-2018’ states that clarifications are pending from West Bengal, Arunachal, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Kolkata.

Therefore, this graph represents gradual increase of Cyber-crime in India Since 2015.

The Internet Crime Report for 2019, released by the USA’s Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has revealed that India stands 3rd amongst the top 20 cybercrime victims[4].

Causes Of Cyber Crimes In India

A crime committed in cyberspace is by unemployed graduates or by literate people. Online shopping and social media are the root cause of cybercrimes these areas are most vulnerable it can be easily attacked by Cybercriminals. The cybercriminal wants to make large money in a short time. So, they target big and rich organizations like banks, Financial Institutions, etc. and it is very difficult to catch them. Hence, Cybercrimes are increasing day by day across the globe. Computers and networks are vulnerable so it is easy to have access to other’s personal data. Some of the reasons for increase cyber-crime in India are list below-

COMPUTERS ARE COMPLEX – As a computer or network is make up of complex operating systems so there might be some lacuna present so cybercriminals take advantage of it.
COMPUTERS ARE EASY TO USE – Cybercriminals generally use hacked computers and fake or stolen I.P. Address so it is difficult to catch these cybercriminals.
NEGLIGENCE DUE TO HUMAN CONDUCT
EVIDENCE RELATED TO CYBERCRIMES CAN EASILY BE DESTROY BY CRIMINAL.
TO MAKE QUICK MONEY- Cybercriminals are mainly related with Online Banking fraud or e-commerce fraud so it is easy for them to target vulnerable group of networks and they make good money from these institutions

Due to all such reasons, it is difficult to trace Cybercriminals. Hence, Cybercrime is increasing day by day. According to NCRB 2017 data cyber-crimes in India jumped by 77% in 2017, many new crime heads were introduce. India recorded 21,796 cyber-crimes in 2017, an increase of 77% from 2016. Countrywide, 1.7 cyber-crimes were commit per one lakh population in 2017.

Law Enforcement Agencies

National cyber-crime reporting portal is an initiative of Government of India to facilitate victims/complainants to report cyber-crime complaints online. Complaints report on this portal are dealt by law enforcement agencies/ police base on the information available in the portal. So while filing complaint it is necessary to provide correct and accurate details for prompt action.

Cyber Law in India is govern by Information Technology Act 2000, Information Technology Amendment Act 2008 and Indian Penal Code. However these IT Acts need some major reforms as punishment provide in these acts are not so stringent. Section 46 of the IT ACT states that an adjudicating officer must be establish in all the district courts to adjudicate the matters related to cyber-crimes. Person appointed as an Adjudicating officer must be central or state government employee and their rank must not be below of a Director rank or it must be equivalent to it and must have experience in the field of Information Technology as well as Judiciary. Every adjudicating officer has the power of civil court and they have the power to award a compensation upto Rs5crores.

Matters Which Can Be Admit By The Adjudicator:-

Credit Card Frauds
Illegal Online Bank Transfer
Data theft, Hacking
Defamation
Breach of Privacy
Domain Theft
Spreading virus
Source Code theft
Identity theft, etc.

Therefore, Central Government has directed that each State and Union territories must appoint an adjudicating officer but to date, only 6 states have adjudicating officers.

Section 48 of the IT Act, 2000 provides provision for the establishment of the Cyber Appellate Tribunal. Cyber Appellate Tribunal is situate in Delhi and it has the same power as the Civil Court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

If the parties are not satisfy with the Judgment of adjudicating officer then they can file an appeal in the Cyber Appellate tribunal within 25days from the date of receipt of the order from the adjudicating officer.

If a person is not satisfy with the decision or order of the Cyber Appellate Tribunal then she may appeal in High Court within 60days of receiving the communication of order from the tribunal.

States/UTs are primarily responsible for the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of crimes through their law enforcement machinery. Therefore the Law Enforcement Agencies take legal action as per provisions of law against cyber-crime offenders.

Cybersecurity

Today’s era is dominate by technology all the important data or information is secure in digital or cyber form, so it is necessary to maintain a high level of Cybersecurity. Cyber-security is the body of technology, processes, and practices that is design to protect networks, computers, programs, and data from attacks, damage, or authorize access. In a world where we are quick to share our personal information on social media and people are easily attract by these social media the hackers use them as a medium to get the information and the data they require.

Hence people must take appropriate measures especially in dealing with social media in order to prevent the loss of their information. As nowadays many companies have also start digital marketing via social media so they are also prone to Cyber-attacks.Silicon Valley bank companies believe that due to cyber-attack data may be lost and it will be a great loss to the business. Hence, Cybersecurity is to be enhance to protect computers and networks.

Various techniques to enhance Cybersecurity and prevent cyber-crimes are-

All the important data and information is to be protect via high-security passwords and the public should not be allow to access some important government websites.
Authentication of Data means whenever a person has received data they must first examine the authenticity of the data before downloading it.
Malware Scanners should be installed in all the systems as they will scan all the documents and data present in the system if some viruses or Trojan horses are present then it will eliminate all the harmful viruses.
A firewall is a kind of software that to be install in all the system as it scans all the data and messages leaving and entering the system, if the firewall finds some suspicious activity then it will not allow
those messages and data to enter the system and destroy it.
Antivirus software is to be install in all the systems as it is a must and basic necessity for every system.
Secure your mobile devices as mobile phones are more vulnerable to malicious software. Thus, the application should be download only from secure and trust sources.
Phones and Computers must be update regularly as these updates fix the software flaws and
block the cybercriminals from attacking your system.

Therefore, to protect systems, computers, electronic devices, and networks from Cyber-attacks it is very necessary to enhance our Cyber Security.

Steps Taken To Curb Cybercrime And Enhance Cybersecurity

Various steps have been taken by Government to curb cyber-crime such as Central Government has taken steps to spread awareness about cyber-crimes, training is given to law enforcement personnel/ prosecutors/ judicial officers to improve cybersecurity in Judiciary, which has improve cyber forensics facilities, etc. The Government has launched the online cybercrime reporting portal, www.cybercrime.gov.in it enables complainants to report complaints regarding Child Pornography/Child Sexual Abuse Material, rape/gang rape imageries, or sexually explicit content. The scheme has been roll out by the Central Government for the establishment of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to handle issues relate to

cybercrime in the country in a comprehensive and coordinate manner.

Further, Government has taken several steps to prevent and mitigate cybersecurity incidents such as the establishment of

the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC).

Conclusion

In this 21^st century, we are progressing towards digital India and we have the means to achieve our goal but it is not sufficient there is much we can do to ensure a safe, secure and trustworthy computing environment. It is crucial not only to our national sense of well-being but also to our national security and economy. Yet India has taken a lot of steps to stop cybercrime but

the cyber law needs to be change according to time and situation. We need to organize workshops and spread awareness among people about cyber-attacks.

There is an urgent need for ethical hackers who can go to the root cause of criminals. We as members of society person should consider, think and give the right directions to new generations to come. It is difficult to eradicate cyber-crimes but we should try our best to minimize them in order to have

a safe and secure future in cyberspace.