What Is Cyber Law?

Cyber law is any law that applies to the internet and internet-related
technologies. Cyber law is one of the newest areas of the legal system. This is
because internet technology develops at such a rapid pace. Cyber law provides
legal protections to people using the internet. This includes both businesses and
everyday citizens. Understanding cyber law is of the utmost importance to
anyone who uses the internet. Cyber Law has also been referred to as the "law of
the internet."

Cybercrime and Cybersecurity

Areas that are related to cyber law include cybercrime and cybersecurity. With
the right cybersecurity, businesses and people can protect themselves from
cybercrime. Cybersecurity looks to address weaknesses in computers and
networks. The International Cybersecurity Standard is known as ISO 27001.

Cybersecurity policy is focused on providing guidance to anyone that might be

vulnerable to cybercrime. This includes businesses, individuals, and even the
government. Many countries are looking for ways to promote cybersecurity and
prevent cybercrime. For instance, the Indian government passed the Information
Technology Act in 2000. The main goal of this law is to improve transmission of
data over the internet while keeping it safe.

Information is another important way to improve cybersecurity. Businesses, for

example, can improve cybersecurity by implementing the following practices:

 Offering training programs to employees.

 Hiring employees who are certified in cybersecurity.

 Being aware of new security threats.

Cybercrimes can be committed against governments, property, and people.

Categories of Cyber Crime
Generally, there are three major categories of cybercrimes that you need to know
about. These categories include:

 Crimes Against People. While these crimes occur online, they affect the
lives of actual people. Some of these crimes include cyber harassment and
stalking, distribution of child pornography, various types of spoofing, credit
card fraud, human trafficking, identity theft, and online related libel or
slander.
 Crimes Against Property. Some online crimes happen against property,
such as a computer or server. These crimes include DDOS attacks, hacking,
virus transmission, cyber and typo squatting, computer
vandalism, copyright infringement, and IPR violations.
 Crimes Against Government. When a cybercrime is committed against the
government, it is considered an attack on that nation's sovereignty and an
act of war. Cybercrimes against the government include hacking, accessing
confidential information, cyber warfare, cyber terrorism, and pirated
software.

Most of these types of cybercrimes have been addressed by the IT ACT of 2000
and the IPC. Cybercrimes under the IT ACT include:

 Sec. 65, Tampering with Computer Source Documents.

 Sec. 66, Hacking Computer Systems and Data Alteration.
 Sec. 67, Publishing Obscene Information.
 Sec. 70, Unauthorized Access of Protected Systems.
 Sec. 72, Breach of Confidentiality and Privacy.
 Sec. 73, Publishing False Digital Signature Certificates.

Special Laws and Cybercrimes under the IPC include:

 Sending Threating Messages by Email, Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sec. 503.
 Sending Defamatory Messages by Email, Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sec. 499
  Forgery of Electronic Records, Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sec. 463
 Bogus Websites & Cyber Fraud, Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sec. 420
 Email Spoofing, Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sec. 463
 Web-Jacking, Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sec. 383
 Email Abuse, Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sec. 500

There are also cybercrimes under the Special Acts, which include:

 Online Sale of Arms Under Arms Act, 1959

 Online Sale of Drugs Under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
Act, 1985

Cyber Law Trends

Cyber law is increasing in importance every single year. This is because
cybercrime is increasing. To fight these crimes, there have been recent trends in
cyber law. These trends include the following:

 New and more stringent regulations.

 Reinforcing current laws.
 Increased awareness of privacy issues.
 Cloud computing.
 How virtual currency might be vulnerable to crime.
 Usage of data analytics.

Creating awareness of these issues will be a primary focus of governments and

cyber law agencies in the very near future. India, for instance, funded cyber trend
research projects in both 2013 and 2014. In addition, India held an international
conference related to cyber law in 2014. This was meant to promote awareness
and international cooperation.

Cyber Law and Intellectual Property

An important part of cyber law is intellectual property. Intellectual property can
include areas like inventions, literature, music, and businesses. It now includes
digital items that are offered over the internet. IP rights related to cyber law
generally fall into the following categories:

 Copyright. This is the main form of IP cyber

law. Copyrights provide protection to almost any piece of IP you can
transmit over the internet. This can include books, music, movies, blogs,
and much more.

 Patents. Patents are generally used to protect an invention. These are used
on the internet for two main reasons. The first is for new software. The
second is for new online business methods.

 Trademarks/Service Marks. Trademarks and service marks are used the

same online as they are in the real world. Trademarks will be used for
websites. Service marks are used for websites that provide services.

 Trade Secrets. Trade secret laws are used to protect multiple forms of IP.
This includes formulas, patterns, and processes. Online businesses can
use trade secret protections for many reasons. However, it does not
prevent reverse engineering.

 Domain Disputes. This is related to trademarks. Specifically, domain

disputes are about who owns a web address. For instance, the person who
runs a website may not be the person who owns it. Additionally, because
domains are cheap, some people buy multiple domains hoping for a big
payday.

 Contracts. Most people don't think contracts apply online. This is not the
case. For example, when you register for a website, you usually have to
agree to terms of service. This is a contract.

 Privacy. Online businesses are required to protect their customer's privacy.

The specific law can depend on your industry. These laws become more
important as more and more information is transmitted over the internet.
  Employment. Some employee contract terms are linked to cyber law. This
is especially true with non-disclosure and non-compete clauses. These two
clauses are now often written to include the internet. It can also include
how employees use their company email or other digital resources.

 Defamation. Slander and libel law has also needed updating because of the
internet. Proving defamation was not altered substantially, but it now
includes the internet.

 Data Retention. Handling data is a primary concern in the internet age. An

area where this has become a big issue is in terms of litigation. In lawsuits,
it is now common to request electronic records and physical records.
However, there are no current laws that require keeping electronic records
forever. This is not true for physical records.

 Jurisdiction. Jurisdiction is a key part of court cases. Cybercrime has

complicated this issue. If a cybercriminal is located in Minnesota and their
victim is located in North Carolina, which state has jurisdiction? Different
states have different rules about this issue. Also, it can depend on in what
court, federal or state, a case was filed.

Protecting IP can be difficult over the internet. An example of this would be the
popularity of pirated movies and music. Each business that relies on the internet
needs to develop strategies for protecting their IP. Governments can also take
part in this process. In 1999, India did just this by updating their IP laws.

Cyber Security Strategies

Besides understanding cyber law, organizations must build cybersecurity
strategies. Cybersecurity strategies must cover the following areas:

 Ecosystem. A strong ecosystem helps prevent cybercrime. Your ecosystem

includes three areas—automation, interoperability, and authentication. A
strong system can prevent cyberattacks like malware, attrition, hacking,
insider attacks, and equipment theft.
 Framework. An assurance framework is a strategy for complying with
security standards. This allows updates to infrastructure. It also allows
governments and businesses to work together in what's known as
"enabling and endorsing'.

 Open Standards. Open standards lead to improved security against

cybercrime. They allow business and individuals to easily use proper
security. Open standards can also improve economic growth and new
technology development.

 Strengthening Regulation. This speaks directly to cyber law. Governments

can work to improve this legal area. They can also found agencies to handle
cyber law and cybercrime. Other parts of this strategy include promoting
cybersecurity, proving education and training, working with private and
public organizations, and implementing new security technology.

 IT Mechanisms. There are many useful IT mechanisms/measures.

Promoting these mechanisms is a great way to fight cybercrime. These
measures include end-to-end, association-oriented, link-oriented, and data
encryption.

 E-Governance. E-governance is the ability to provide services over the

internet. Unfortunately, e-governance is overlooked in many countries.
Developing this technology is an important part of cyber law.

 Infrastructure. Protecting infrastructure is one of the most important parts

of cybersecurity. This includes the electrical grid and data transmission
lines. Outdated infrastructure is vulnerable to cybercrime.

Everyone knows that this is the age of computer and vast majority of people
are using computer. Development of science and technology has direct
effect on our daily life as well as in our social life. Computer technology has
made communication possible from one part of the world to the other in
seconds. They can see the transactions in one part of the world while
staying in the other part. Computer development is one of the greatest
 scientific achievements of the 20 th century. Computers are used in various
fields as well as in teaching and learning. Some of the major computer
application fields are listed below.
1. An aid to management: The computer can also be used as a management
tool to assist in solving business problems.
2. Banking: Branches are equipped with terminals giving them an online
accounting facility and enabling them to information as such things as
current balances, deposits, overdrafts and interest charges.
3. Industrial Application: In industry, production may be planned, coordinated
and controlled with the aid of a computer.
4. Engineering Design: Computer help in calculating that all the parts of a
proposed design are satisfactory and also assist in the designing.
5. Meteorology: Data is recorded at different levels of atmosphere at different
places, using remote sensors carried on a satellite.
6. Air Travel: Small computers are installed as a part of the plane's equipment.
7. Road Traffic Control: Computers assist with the control of traffic lights.
8. Telephones: Computerized telephone exchanges handle an ever increasing
volume of calls very efficiently.
9. Medicine: Computers are widely used in hospitals for such task as
maintaining drugs, surgical equipments and linen, for payroll and also for
checkup and treatment of diseases.
In addition computers are also used for recording and film studios, research,
military, etc.
Computers have both positive and negative impact in our daily life as well as
in our social life. But the gross development of the nation is faster with the
application of computers in industries and education. The both positive and
negative impacts of computers are listed below.
Positive Impact of Computer -
o The work can be done in very less time.
o More information can be stored in small space.
o Multitasking and multiprocessing capabilities of data.
o Easy to access data.
o Impartiality.
 o Documents can be kept secret.
o Error free result.
o It can be used for various purposes. i.e. It can be used in any type of work.
Negative Impact of Computer -
o Highly expensive.
o Accidents.
o Data piracy.
o Increased Unemployment.
o Huge data and information can be lost sometimes.
o Fast changing computer technology.
o Service distribution.
o Illiteracy of computing and computers.

Cyber law and Ethics

Meaning of Cyber Law

Cyber law is also known as Cyber Law or
Internet Law. Cyber law Indiais the area of law
that deals with the Internet’s relationship to
technological and electronic elements,
including computers, software, hardware and
information systems (IS).
Internet law or Cyber law India is a term that encapsulates the legal issues
related to use of the Internet. It is less a distinct field of law than intellectual
property or contract law, as it is a domain covering many areas of law and
regulation. Some leading topics include internet access and usage, privacy,
freedom of expression, and jurisdiction
Thus Cyber law India can consider as a part of the overall legal system that
deals with the Internet, E-commerce, digital contracts, electronic evidence,
cyberspace, and their respective legal issues. Cyber law India covers a
fairly broad area, encompassing several subtopics including freedom of
expression, data protection, data security, digital transactions, electronic
communication, access to and usage of the Internet, and online privacy.

Ethics
Ethics though viewed from two angles, normative and prescriptive. First,
ethics refers to well-based standards of right and wrong that prescribe what
humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to
society, fairness, and specific virtues. Ethics, for example, refers to those
standards that impose the reasonable obligations to refrain from rape,
stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical standards also include
those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. And, ethical
standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the
right to freedom from injury, the right to choose, the right to privacy, and
right to freedom of speech and expression. Such standards although
consider as adequate standards of ethics because they however supported
by consistent and well founded reasons.
Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of personal ethical
standards, as well as community ethics, in terms of behaviour, feelings,
laws, and social habits and norms which can deviate from more universal
ethical standards. So it is necessary to constantly examine one’s standards
to ensure that they are reasonable and well founded.
Ethics also means, then, the continuous effort of studying of our own moral
beliefs and conduct, and striving to ensure that we, and our community and
the institutions we help to shape, live up to standards that are reasonable
and solidly-based for the progress of human beings.

Cyber Ethics
Ethics and morality in different circumstances
connotes varied and complex meanings. Each
and everything which then opposed to public
policy, against public welfare and which may
disturb public tranquility maybe termed
immoral and unethical.
The world of Internet today has become a parallel form of life and living.
Public are now capable of doing things which were not imaginable few
years ago. The Internet is fast becoming a way of life for millions of people
and also a way of living because of growing dependence and reliance of
the mankind on these machines. Internet has enabled the use of website
communication, email and a lot of anytime anywhere IT solutions for the
betterment of human kind.
Internet, though offers great benefit to society, also present opportunities
for crime using new and highly sophisticated technology tools. Today e-
mail and websites have become the preferred means of communication.
Organizations provide Internet access to their staff. By their very nature,
they facilitate almost instant exchange and dissemination of data, images
and variety of material. This includes not only educational and informative
material but also information that might be undesirable or anti-social.
Regular stories featured in the media on computer crime include topics
covering hacking to viruses, web-jackers, to internet pedophiles,
sometimes accurately portraying events, sometimes misconceiving the role
of technology in such activities. Increase in cyber crime rate has
documented in the news media. Both the increase in the incidence of
criminal activity and the possible emergence of new varieties of criminal
activity pose challenges for legal systems, as well as for law enforcement.

Impact of Cyber crime on cyber law and

ethics in 21st century
Cyber crime, hacking, ‘cyber-ethics’ etc. is an addition to the crimes in
today’s era. Hence we need to evolve a ‘cyber-jurisprudence’ based on
which we can evaluate and criticize ‘cyber-ethics’. The right to freedom of
belief thought and expression which considered as basic principals
envisaged in our constitution. The freedom of press also a guaranteed right
provided by our constitution.
Further the constitution also guarantees right to information and as such
the citizens have the fundamental right to know what is happening around
them. But on the other hand our constitution guarantees the right to
privacy, though not an expressed fundamental right the courts in India have
taken a lead and have recognized it as a fundamental right. Every man has
some penumbral zones of privacy, which cannot infringed upon even by the
State. It can further contended that the right to life has also infringed upon
as right to life envisages right to life with human dignity. As this publication
has damaged the political person of the leaders.

Although a guideline is needed in relation to cyber

law and ethics i.e to stop the current technology
products from being exploited for example
replicating original CDs and selling them as pirated
software, this unethical behaviour can be controlled
by the code of conducts.
There are also problems of privacy when confidential information is
intercepted or disclosed, lawfully or otherwise. Internationally, both
governmental and non-state actors engage in cyber crimes, including
espionage, financial theft, and other cross-border crimes. Activity crossing
international borders and involving the interests of at least one nation’s
state thus sometimes referred to as cyber welfare.
Measures To Curb The Crime under Cyber
Law and Ethics
Though by passage of time and improvement in technology due to Cyber
Law and Ethics thus made technology easier and user friendly for the
consumers so make their daily activities, it has lead to harsh world of
security threats at the same time by agencies like hackers, crackers etc.
various Information technology methods have introduced to curb such
destructive activities to achieve the main objects of the technology to
provide some sense of security to the users.

Cyber Law and Ethics includes few basic

prominent measures to curb cyber crimes and
are as follows:

 Encryption
This however considered as an important tool for protecting data in transit.
Plain text (readable) can thus converted to cipher text (coded language) by
this method and the recipient of the data can decrypt it by converting it into
plain text again by using private key. Except for recipient whose possessor
of private key to decrypt the data, no one can gain access to sensitive
information.
Not only the information in transit but also the information stored on
computer can protected by using Conventional cryptography method. Usual
problem lies during the distribution of keys as anyone if overhears it or
intercept it can make the whole object of encryption to standstill. Public key
encryptograpy was one solution to this where the public key could known to
the whole world but the private key was only known to receiver, its very
difficult to derive private key from public key.
  Syncronised Passwords
These passwords are schemes used to change the password at user’s and
host token. The password on synchronised card changes every 30-60
seconds which only makes it valid for one time log-on session. Other useful
methods introduced are signature, voice, fingerprint identification or retinal
and biometric recognition etc. to impute passwords and pass phrases.

 Firewalls
It creates wall between the system and possible intruders to protect the
classified documents from leaked or accessed. It would only let the data to
flow in computer which thus recognised and verified by one’s system. Thus
it only permits access to the system to ones already registered with the
computer.

 Digital Signature
Digital Signature created by using means of cryptography by applying
algorithms. This has its prominent use in the business of banking where
customer’s signature thus identified by using this method.

Other Preventive Measures For Cyber Crimes

Prevention is always better than cure. A netizen should take certain

precautions while operating the internet and should follow certain
preventive measures which can defined as:

 Identification of exposures through education will assist

responsible companies and firms to meet these
challenges.
 One should avoid disclosing any personal information to
strangers via e-mail or while chatting.

 One must avoid sending any photograph to strangers by

online as misusing of photograph incidents increasing day
by day.

 An update Anti-virus software to guard against virus

attacks should be used by all the netizens and should also
keep back up volumes so that one may not suffer data loss
in case of virus contamination.

 A person should never send his credit card number to any

site that however not secured, to guard against frauds.

 Parents should keep a watch on sites that their children are

accessing, to prevent any kind of harassment or
deprivation in children.

 Web site owners should watch traffic and check any

irregularity on the site. It is the responsibility of the web site
owners to adopt some policy for preventing cyber crimes
as number of internet users are growing day by day.

 Web servers running public sites must physically

separately protected from internal corporate network.
 It is better to use a security programmes by the body
corporate to control information on sites.

 Strict statutory laws need to passed by the Legislatures

keeping in mind the interest of netizens.

 IT department should pass certain guidelines and

notifications for the protection of computer system and
should also bring out with some more strict laws to
breakdown the criminal activities relating to cyberspace.

 As Cyber Crime thus the major threat to all the countries

worldwide, certain steps should however taken at the
international level for preventing the cyber crimes.

 A complete justice must provided to the victims of cyber

crimes by way of compensatory remedy and offenders to
punish with highest type of punishment so that it will
anticipate the criminals of cyber crime.
 UNIT:3

Cyber Torts: The tort of cyber defamation is considered to be the act of defaming, insulting,
offending or otherwise causing harm through false statements pertaining to an individual in
cyberspace. This is commonly done through the Internet via websites, blogs, forums, emails
and instant messaging, chat rooms and now in the social networking sphere. Defamation law in
general describes the tort as “the issuance of a false statement about another person, which
causes that person to suffer harm” (Larson) where libel is the written form and slander is
spoken. Libel is typically the form addressed with cyber defamation because the Internet
essentially receives the same protections as print and published media. The other elements
applied to defamation include:

 The unprivileged publication of the statement to a third party

 If the defamatory matter is of public concern, fault amounts at least to negligence on the part of
the publisher
 Perceivable damage to the plaintiff

· Reasons For Occurrence Of Cyber Tort:

1. Capacity to store data in comparatively small space- The computer

has unique characteristic of storing data in a very small space. This
affords to remove or derive information either through physical or
virtual medium makes it much more easier.

2. Easy to access-The problem encountered in guarding a computer

system from unauthorised access is that there is every possibility of
breach not due to human error but due to the complex technology.
By secretly implanted logic bomb, key loggers that can steal access
codes, advanced voice recorders; retina imagers etc. that can fool
biometric systems and bypass firewalls can be utilized to get past
many a security system.

3. Complexity of systems-The computers work on operating systems

and these operating systems in turn are composed of millions of
codes. Human mind is fallible and it is not possible that there might
not be a lapse at any stage. These lucanas can be taken advantage
of and computer security systems can be penetrated into.
 4. Negligence- Negligence is very closely connected with human
conduct. It is therefore very probable that while protecting the
computer system there might be any negligence, which in turn
provides a loop hole to gain access and control and in turn misuse
the computer system.

5. Loss of evidence- Loss of evidence is a very common & obvious

problem as all the data are routinely destroyed as they are updated
every next moment. Further collection of data outside the territorial
extent also paralyses this system of investigation.

CYBER DEFAMATION:
The term defamation is used to define the injury that is caused to the
reputation of a person in the eyes of a third person. The injury can be done
by words oral or written, or by signs or by visible representations. The
intention of the person making the defamatory statement must be to lower
the reputation of the person against whom the statement has been made in
the eyes of the general public. Cyber defamation is a new concept but the
traditional definition of the term defamation is application to the cyber
defamation as it involves defamation of a person through a new and a
virtual medium.

Cyber defamation is publishing of defamatory material against another

person with the help of computers or internet. If someone publishes some
defamatory statement about some other person on a website or send
emails containing defamatory material to other persons with the intention to
defame the other person about whom the statement has been made would
amount to cyber defamation. The harm caused to a person by publishing a
defamatory statement about him on a website is widespread and
irreparable as the information is available to the entire world. Cyber
defamation affects the welfare of the community as a whole and not merely
of the individual victim. It also has its impact on the economy of a country
depending upon the information published and the victim against whom the
 information has been published.

The following are mediums by which offense of cyber defamation can be

committed:

 World Wide Web

 Discussion groups
 Intranets
 Mailing lists and bulletin boards
 E-mail

There are two broad category of case falling under cyber defamation:

 The first category involves the cases in which the liability is of the primary
publishers of the defamatory material, e.g. web site content providers, e-
mail authors etc;
 The second category involves the cases involving the liability of the internet
service providers or bulletin board operators.