Exploring Cyber Victimology: Understanding the Impact of Online Crimes

Written by Meher Makwana

The internet has transformed many of our lives and now people have started inhabiting in cyberspace. Rapid changes and developments in technology can bring positive results as well as negative consequences one of them being cyber victimization. The term refers to the process in which others are victimized through the use of information and communication technologies. There is a difference between cyberbullying and cyber victimization. Cyberbullying demonstrates socio-emotional competence as less empathic responsiveness and displays a higher moral disengagement than noncyber bullies. On the other hand, cyber victims tend to use both adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation to cope with their negative emotions. According to the National Crime Records Bureau data, the incidents of cyber crimes increased of nearly 6% from the year before. [1]

Based on cybercrime limitations the type of cybercrime can be multiform. Regarding the target/object, it can be occurred to individuals and society at large as well as the government. A cybercrime with the individual victims can be a fraud through online purchasing, including carding actions for victimization carried out by a person or group of people by using another person’s documents, computer, internet. Cybercrime with corporate as the victim occurs towards corporations in the banking sectors or various fields of public services. In online-based transportation businesses, there are corporations that have been victims of various frauds or carrying out fake transactions or orders.

Cybercrime with the community can be explained using the case of Avnish Bajaj v. NCT of Delhi [2] where Avnish Bajaj, the CEO of Bazee.com was arrested under Section 67 of the IT Act for broadcasting of cyber pornography. Someone else had sold these copies of the CD containing pornographic materials through the Bazee.com website, The court in the judgement found that he was nowhere involved in the sale of the CDS but whoever the site was earning revenue for the advertisement carried via their website, there were clear evidences collected indicated that the offence of cyber pornography cannot be attributed to Bazee.com but some other person. This is one of the few cases which can be used to describe few possibilities of cybercrime against society. Cybercrimes with the government as the victims can be done by attacking the web or government sites.

The major substantive criminal law is the Indian Penal Code a complete code that deals with offences including cyber-crimes. Therefore, this conventional criminal law is sufficient to deal with the kind of crimes including the cyber-crime. India enacted the Information Technology Act 2000 basically to regulate e-commerce.

Acts                                                              Offences Under IPC                          Provision Of IPC

1 Sending threatening message                     Criminal Intimidation                         Section 503

2 Sending defamatory message                          Defamation                                     Section499

3 Bogus websites, cyber frauds                           Cheating                                        Section 420

4 Spoofing/Forged e-record                                 Forgery                                          Section 463

5 Web-jacking                                                     Extortion                                        Section 383

6 Pornography                                                    Obscenity                                       Section 292

7 On-line harassment                                          Stalking                                         Section 354-D

The above-mentioned chart mentions some of the few offences that cover some parts of cyber crimes against the victims and the remedy under the law. According to the FBI report, India stands third among the top 20 cybercrime victims. The national crime reporting portal (cybercrime.gov.in) which was started by the central government received 33,152 complaints till now and lodging more. According to the National Crime Records Bureau NCRB data, a total of 57,248 cases of cyber crime were registered in India in 2021 of which Telangana has topped the chart among the states accounting for more than 19%. As many as 33,230 cases accounting for nearly 61% of the total cyber crime were done with the motive of committing fraud whereas sexual exploitation which was the second most common motive accounted for 8.6% followed by extortion which accounted for 5.4%. [3]

As the most credible global certification body, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has approved the Cybersecurity Framework as a framework for harmonizing the cybersecurity approach. To manage cyber-related risks responsibly the NIST Cybersecurity Framework includes guidelines, standards, and best practices. According to the framework, flexibility and affordability are of prime importance. Moreover, it aims at fostering resilience and protecting critical infrastructure by implementing measures like:

• A better understanding, management, and reduction of the risks associated with cybersecurity.
• Prevent data loss, misuse, and restoration costs.
• Determine the most critical activities and operations that must be secured.
• Provides evidence of the trustworthiness of organizations that protect critical assets.
• Optimize the cybersecurity return on investment (ROI) by prioritizing investments.
• Responds to regulatory and contractual requirements
• Assists in the wider information security program.

 With the advancement in technology, disturbing elements are appearing on the dark web that is disturbing. The Internet has become a tool of evil deeds that are exploited by intelligent people for evil motives and sometimes for financial gain. Thus, at this point in time, cyber laws come into the picture and are important for every citizen. Due to the fact that cyberspace is an extremely difficult territory to deal with, some activities are classified as grey activities that cannot be governed by law.

In India as well as across the globe, with the increasing reliance of humans on technology, cyber laws need constant up-gradation and refinement to keep pace. There has also been a significant increase in the number of remote workers as a consequence of the pandemic, which has increased the need for application security. There is a need for legislators to take extra precautions to keep ahead of the imposters so that they can act against them as soon as they arise. It can be prevented if lawmakers, internet providers, banks, shopping websites and other intercessors work together. However, ultimately, it is up to the users to participate in the fight against cybercrime. The only way for the growth of online safety and resilience to take place is through the consideration of the actions of these stakeholders, ensuring they stay within the confines of the law of cyberspace.

Reference:

[1]:        https://ncrb.gov.in/en/cyber-crimes-statesuts

[2]:    https://enhelion.com/blogs/2021/03/01/landmark-cyber-law-cases-in-india/

[3]:   https://ncrb.gov.in/sites/default/files/CII-2021/CII_2021Volume%202.pdf