India registered over 100 per cent rise in cyber crime during 2016-17: report

Srinagar: India registered over 100 per cent increase in cyber crime during 2016-17, a two-day conference on cyber laws and cyber security being held in Srinagar was told on Saturday

As per the statistics made available to the participants of the conference, there has been a significant rise in attacks on government and private sector, particularly financial sector.

“In government sector, there has been 136 percent increase in cyber crimes while the private sector has seen 119 percent in 2016-17,” said Prof Yasir Latif Handoo, assistant professor, Kashmir Law College. He added that there is need for International Court on cyber Crime on the lines of International Court of Justice to deal with such crimes.

The conference has been organized by Anjuman-e-Vukla ( organization of lawyers) and is being attended by several prominent lawyers from across the country, academia, students from different colleges and universities, as well as officials of the J&K government.

V Shekhar, senior advocate, Supreme Court of India, who was the chief guest, said the information technology has witnessed innovations in hardware and software components but there is a need for aggressive legal recourse to happenings in cyber world.

“After IT Act 2000 was enacted, many amendments have been brought in to cope with growing challenges in terms of privacy and theft in cyber world but we are far behind,” he said asserting “Our country also has to find solutions to mounting problems in cyber world”.

Prof A R Yusuf, who heads a group the conservation of Srinagar’s Dal Lake, said the cyber environment has witnessed gradual degradation due to the proliferation of technology in this cyber age.

“Our world has passed into a new era where youngsters using new technology are vulnerable to cyber crime. On social media, people fall prey to rumours and become carriers of misinformation because of which they have to face consequences,” he said.

He urged Anjuman-e-Vukla, Kashmir to organise such seminars in schools and colleges in rural areas and make people aware about the cyber laws and cyber security. 

A well-known Kashmiri lawyer Ateef Kanth said the cyber laws in India are “nascent” and a lot of education and research are required to formulate effective legislation on cyber crimes,

“The scale of cyber crimes in India is negligent, mostly dealing with privacy issues, while huge cyber scams have been reported globally. Keeping this in mind, we have to be proactive in evolving an effective, since most of offences defined in IT Act 2000 are bailable,” he said.

Tahir Majid Shamsi, additional solicitor general of India, J&K High Court, said that the scale of information available online makes the internet users vulnerable to privacy intrusion.

“Securing data is a big issue. In today’s world, most people don’t know importance of cyber laws, which are meant to protect your information. There is need to educate people on cyber laws,” he said.