CYBER CRIME IS now in our lexicon and we know how devastating this new breed of criminals can be. According to National Research Council, “The modern thief can steal more with a computer than with a gun. Tomorrow’s terrorist may be able to do more damage with a keyboard than with a bomb.” That says it all — about the threat and the danger that has come with the most revolutionary of technologies, the Internet which is synonymous with the worldwide web or wwww.  

 

A cyber criminal can steal data to make money, harass the user in different ways and create viruses that could corrupt our files and systems. Most countries, realizing the threat from the tech-savvy criminals, have enacted laws to punish offenders. In India, the police have even set up cyber cells to tackle this new menace. But these measures have proved to be insufficient, as the law enforcers often do not have high expertise that is needed to contain cyber crimes.

 

But more important than the law is the question: what is behind cyber crime? Most cyber criminals come from the educated lot. That makes it that much more difficult to control. A few days back, a newspaper report said that many young students were being hired in London to commit cyber crimes. Clearly, online crimes are becoming more organized and there isn’t now just one person committing the crime. Obviously, if money is being paid to the recruits, money is being made through cyber scams.

 

India needs to prepare to tackle this form of crime, as it has a large — or perhaps the largest — pool of techies and to compound it further there is this problem of growing unemployment, which primarily pushes people to crime. Unemployment in India rose from 6.0 per cent in 1993-94 to 7.3 per cent in 1999-2000, pushing up the number of job seekers to 27 million. The most disturbing part is that of these, 74 per cent are in rural areas and 60 per cent are educated.

 

Because the problem of unemployment is linked to cyber crime, there can be no respite from it till this root cause is addressed. Going by current scenario, we will have to live with cyber crime for years to come.

Related links:
Year 06: Who said what
India timeline: Glory & gloom
Education in 06: Reservation can ruin India
Diverse, even in New Year
No mercy for the merciless