With the growth of Internet, many cases of cyber crimes, frauds, cyber attacks and cyber bullying are reported. The nature of fraudulent activities and crimes keeps changing. To deal with such menaces, many countries have come up with legal measures for protection of sensitive personal data and to safeguard the rights of Internet users. The Government of India’s The Information Technology Act, 2000 (also known as IT Act), amended in 2008, provides guidelines to the user on the processing, storage and transmission of sensitive information. In many Indian states, there are cyber cells in police stations where one can report any cyber crime. The act provides legal framework for electronic governance by giving recognition to electronic records and digital signatures. The act outlines cyber crimes and penalties for them.
Cyber Appellate Tribunal has been established to resolve disputes arising from cyber crime, such as tampering with computer source documents, hacking the computer system, using password of another person, publishing sensitive personal data of others without their consent, etc. The act is needed so that people can perform transactions over the Internet through credit cards without fear of misuse. Not only people, the act empowers government departments also to accept filing, creation and storage of official documents in the digital format.
