When we talk about national security, we talk about the security of over one billion people and sovereignty of a country that is culturally rich, politically stable, socially compact and economically emerging. The worst victim of terrorism and naxalism India and its national security has been threatened recently by cyber crime.
They concept of cyber crime is not radically different from the concept of conventional crime. Cyber crime is the latest and perhaps the most complicated problem in the crime world of the country. In the context of national security, cyber crime may involve hacktivism (on-line activity intended to influence polity), traditional espionage or information warfare and related activities.
Another way to define cyber crime is simply as criminal activity involving the information technology infrastructure, including illegal access, illegal interception (by technical means of non-public transmissions of computer data to, from or within a computer system), data interference (unauthorized damaging deletion, deterioration, alteration or suppression of computer data), systems interference (interfering with the functioning of a computer system by inputting, transmitting, damaging, deleting etc.) misuse of device, forgery (ID theft) and electronic fraud. The rising level of cyber crime is an indication of an enormous threat to national security. Lawmakers and law enforcement agencies have to give immediate attention to the matter.
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Cyber crime is a rampant evil with its roots firmly planted on the growing dependence on computers in the contemporary scenario. In today’s age when everything from small gadgets to nuclear plants is being operated through computers, cyber crime has assumed threatening ramifications Various kinds of cyber crimes are prevailing in the world today. Hacking, bombing, diddling, spoofing, botnet attacks, salami attacks and viruses are capable of breaching the security in the information systems of vital installations. There have been several instances in the recent past to support the prevalence of these attacks on a large scale. In fact, the first recorded cyber crime dates back to 1820. Joseph Marie Jacquard, a textile manufacture in France produced the loom which involved a seniors of steps. This caused fear among Jacquard’s employees that their traditional employment and live hood were being threatened. They committed acts of sabotage to discourse Jacquard from further use of the new technology.
Cyber terrorism is a threat to national security which may be defined as ” the premeditated use of disruptive activities or the threat thereof, in cyber space, with the intention of further social, ideological, religious, political or similar objectives or to intimidate any person in furtherance of such objects”. A cyber terrorist is a person who uses the computer system as a means or ends to achieve the following objectives – (1) putting the public or any section of public in fear, or (2) affecting adversely the harmony between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities; or (3) coercing or overawing the government established by law; or (4) endangering the sovereignty and integrity of the nation.
Cyber crime is a global phenomenon and therefore the initiative to fight it should come from the same level. Today cyber and organized crime has become the order of the day round the globe and the need to put an end to this criminal act cannot be kept aside. Research has shown that people lose millions of with this set of people because they are enemies of progress of the nation. All efforts to put this to end have proved unsuccessful because even the people fighting the crime are criminals. A typical example of this is a lawmaker, a member of the Nigeria’s National Assembly Hon. Moris Ibekwe (late) who was in the maximum security prisons in Nigeria for an alleged involvement in a free fraud. If a member of a legislature can be involved in such un ungodly act, what would unemployed youth do?
The capacity of human is unfathomable. It is not possible to eliminate cyber crime from the cyber space but, it is quite possible to check them for national security. History is witness that no legislation has succeeded in totally eliminating crime from the globe. The only possible step is to make people aware of their rights and duties and further making the application of the laws more stringent to check crime. There is a need to bring changes in the Information Technology Act to make it more effective. To combat cyber crime it should also be kept in mind that the provision of the cyber law are not made so stringent that it may retard the growth of the industry and prove to be counter productive.
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Of late, anti-Gandhi forums or hate India posting along with war for people who hate India campaigns on Google’s Social Network Site, Orkut, have been perplexing authorities. Fan clubs of underworld dons like Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Shakeel and other wanted dons are also doing the rounds on Orkut. One such community even asks people i they would like to join the D. Company. If a criminal ends up having a number of fans all across the globe, it is crazy. This throws light on the mindset of the people. As for the anti-India, anti-Pakistan campaigns, we must realize that in the long run these antagonistic feelings can pose an irreversible threat to our own existence and people behind these acts of notoriety should be penalized as they are somewhere fuelling a sense of hostility in the already estranged relations between the two counties.
These cyber crimes pose a threat to the national security of all countries, even technologically developed countries like USA also. Technology savvy terrorists are using 512-bit encryption, which is next to impossible to decrypt. The recent example may be cited of Osama Bin Laded, the LTTE attack on America’s army deployment system during Iraq war. The organized hackers have certain objective. The reason may be to fulfill their policies bias, fundamentalism etc.