DailyPost 2165
CROWDSOURCING CYBER CRIME DATA
Is crowd sourcing of cyber-crime data the only way to understand the depth of the penetration of cybercrimes in India? Given the nature of the digital transformation and digital immersion age, we hear of cybercrimes all around the place. If only people losing in loan Apps been really accounted for, it would itself come to some formidable number. Do have the details of the way it was done; OTP, credit, UPI, POS and what not? The devil lives in the detail. The real modus operandi remains unknown. Variety of sections in our common law would need to be redefined with its commensurate connect with the cybercrimes, they cannot remain as distinct entities.
The Indian mass media is obsessed with declaring the govt. cybercrime figures as etched in stone. It can be NCRB data or a RTI reply. Lots of serious journalism can be done in the direction of cybercrime data discovery, but who is bothered. They are a true reflection of the cases registered rather the number of offences committed, in a country any number goes reported for a variety of reasons. But for the straight loss in financial crimes, more often than not, we try to keep fixing a lot of cybercrimes ourselves, which might or might not happen. How many of the cybercrimes which you would have to know of has reached the police and got registered, under IT Act and IPC.
Bangalore has been declared today as the identity theft capital of India in a news item based on NCRB data. How rampant it is all across would be known if it gets discovered by unsuspecting and ignorant victims and then the victim decides to go to the police in every single case. Bangalore tops the cities in cyber criminals succeeding in gaining access to smartphones, email accounts and financial instruments. Bangalore has witnessed an increase of 72% and NCRB figures for the year 2021 is 1685. Given the number of digital transactions, assets and operations we handle, this does not correspond with the reality. Karnataka also has topped in identity theft crimes too and Bangalore topped the list of metropolitan cities with 6423 cybercrimes.
While the digital penetration has increased by leaps and bounds, the crime figures have followed the conventional model of increase in a way. Have crimes been reported in areas where the awareness is more, or might be where it impacts the individual or the business enterprise by not reporting, legal liability. What planning can be done on the current figures is doubtful, even understanding the whole gamut of cybercrime and its likely trajectory is suspect. For once we have to think out of the box and work too in that manner, to force ourselves to understand by numbers and complexity and then create resources to tackle cybercrime based on that data. Have faith in people who battle it out cybercrimes without government support; crowd source cybercrime data / information, people would be more than forthcoming for sure, the complexities of cases and even evidence and documentation thereof. Only this approach will pay.
UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLEXITY OF CYBER CRIMES IN ALL ITS COMPLEXITY IS THE FIRST CHALLENGE.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.