Cyber Offences Related to Property

Hacking with Computer System (Section 66)

Dishonestly or fraudulently

Intending to cause wrongful loss or damage

Intending to cause wrongful gain

Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 punishes any person who, with the intent to cause or knowing that he is likely to cause wrongful loss or damage to the public or any person, destroys, deletes, or alters any information residing in a computer resource or diminishes its value or utility.

Example: A former employee hacks into their company’s server and deletes confidential files to harm the company’s reputation.

Answer:

This act amounts to hacking and is punishable under Section 66 of the IT Act with imprisonment up to 3 years or fine up to ₹5 lakhs or both.

Identity Theft (Section 66C)

Dishonestly using another person's password, digital signature, etc.

Section 66C deals with identity theft which includes the fraudulent or dishonest use of another person’s electronic signature, password, or any other unique identification feature.

Example: A person accesses someone else's bank account using their login credentials and transfers money without authorization.

Answer:

This is identity theft under Section 66C and is punishable with imprisonment up to 3 years and fine up to ₹1 lakh.

Cheating by Personation by using Computer Resource (Section 66D)

Section 66D penalizes cheating by personation through computer resources or communication devices. It applies when someone impersonates another person using electronic means for fraudulent purposes.

Example: A fraudster creates a fake website mimicking a government scholarship portal and collects personal details and payments from students.

Answer:

This is a case of cheating by personation under Section 66D and can lead to imprisonment up to 3 years and a fine up to ₹1 lakh.

Cyber Offences related to Documents and Records

Tampering with Computer Source Documents (Section 65)

Intentionally or knowingly concealing, destroying, altering, or furnishing false information

Section 65 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 penalizes any person who knowingly or intentionally conceals, destroys, or alters any computer source code which is required to be kept or maintained by law for the time being in force.

Example: A programmer alters source code of an accounting software to manipulate financial statements of a company without authorization.

Answer:

This act constitutes tampering with computer source documents and is punishable under Section 65 with imprisonment up to 3 years, or a fine which may extend to ₹2 lakhs, or both.

Breach of Confidentiality and Privacy (Section 72)

Disclosure of information obtained under IT Act without consent

Section 72 applies to any person who, in pursuance of any of the powers conferred under the IT Act, has secured access to any electronic record, book, register, correspondence, information, document or other material and discloses such material without the consent of the person concerned.

Example: An employee of a Certifying Authority shares the private key of a digital certificate with an unauthorized person.

Answer:

This amounts to breach of confidentiality and privacy and is punishable under Section 72 with imprisonment up to 2 years or a fine up to ₹1 lakh or both.