Cybercrime: These Mistakes Can Make You A Cyber Criminal

Technology is evolving at a faster pace. With this advancement in technology, each of our activities is getting digitized. The days of letters and real-time meetings are gone. Manpower has been replaced by robots. Everything around us is changing and digitizing. So also the threat of cybercrime.

No doubt, this digitization makes our life easier. However, it even puts us in invulnerable hands. The number of cybercrime is also increasing. One of the reasons behind cybercrimes is digital violence. Before knowing more about digital violence, let’s first know what digital violence is.

What Is Cybercrime?

Digital violence includes all those criminal acts. which are done with the help of the internet, ICT, emails, and other technologies. This affects the physical, mental and psychological health of the patient. In addition to this, it also harms the reputation thereby affecting their economic status. Today, it is very difficult for a victim to associate fully with society. 

Digital violence is an evil for the well-being of society. Hence, we should try to prohibit all forms of digital violence. Now, first, let’s know about the most possible types of cybercrime.

These Mistakes Can Make You A Cyber Criminal: Cybercrime

Digital violence can occur in various ways. It also includes stalking someone’s profile for evil intentions. There are various types of digital violence. 

1. Hacking: Hacking refers to the act of accessing someone’s account without their permission. Valuable information is stolen from the owner’s account. Sometimes they even leave traces of activities that have the potential to ruin the reputation of the owner of the targeted account.
2. Stealing of identity: This is also a common problem today. Every single day many new fake profiles pop . These fake profiles ruin the reputation and credit of the targeted person.
3. Spreading of private information: This is one of the most common forms of digital violence. The spreading and dissemination of any kind of private information are also common these days.
4. Surveillance: Sometimes, people use spy software to keep an eye on the activities of their target accounts. They track all their activities including their online status, location thereby stealing this information. 
5. Harassment / Threats/use of offensive language: This includes blackmailing the person by getting access to their private information. Use of vulgar abusive language during a conversation, threatening, and blackmailing are also forms of digital violence.
6. Attacks in coordination: These types of attacks are generally committed by groups of persons. They hack a website and then blackmail the owner thereby asking him/her to do something to get their website back. 

All these forms of cybercrime are illegal and punishable. Many laws are made to protect us from such cheaters. However, we still fall prey to their tricks. Now, let’s look at how these forms of violence affect the victims.

Effects of Digital Violence

Digital violence affects a person’s morals thereby lowering his/her self-confidence. They affect a person not only at a personal level but also at the social level. At the personal level, the victim is harassed mentally and morally.

At the social level, the victim is viewed and treated like garbage by society. The fear of this humiliation has forbidden women from participating in any kind of online meetings or gatherings.

So, the main effects of digital violence are:

1. Physical abuse 
2. Mental harassment
3. Emotional trauma & depression
4. Lowering down of morals
5. Disruption in family life
6. Loss of name and fame

All these effects sometimes even force innocent people to suicide. According to some reports, nearly 67% of the suicides are due to digital violence. 

The victims of Cybercrime

People belonging to all age categories become victims of digital violence. But, generally, people belonging to the age group of 13-20 years are more vulnerable to such attacks.

This is because the teenagers of this age group do not know how to use social media properly. This unavailability of information leads them to various forms of digital violence.

The cases and forms of digital violence are increasing at a faster rate. To combat this various laws and regulations are formulated. Every person needs to know these laws. These laws and rights are not just essential for safety but may also help us from falling into unwanted problems. 

Everybody, as a human being, has the liberty and right to live a life of freedom and peace. As a citizen, we have various rights. These rights help us in leading a peaceful life.

Along with all other rights, we even have some digital rights. We should be aware of them as it’s a must for our safety. 

Some Cases Of Digital Violence

Here are some popular cases of digital violence:

1. Meena Kandasamy, a Dalit writer and activist had written about a beef-eating festive in her Twitter accounts. She was threatened by acid attacks and gang rape. She was even humiliated and abused. 
2. Rega Jha, an Indian editor at Buzzfeed wrote about the praiseworthy performance of Pakistani players in the 2015 match. This instigated men. Thereafter, abusive comments even from eminent personalities like Chetan Bhagat crept into her comment section.

These are only a few cases. Every day, millions of such cases arise across the globe. Many incidents of hacking of government websites pop up everyday.

Various bugs and worms released by hackers act as traps for normal people. However, it’s high time now. We should grow conscious and take the necessary steps regarding this. 

What Can You Do If You Experience Digital Violence (Cyber Attack)?

Being a victim of digital violence is very embarrassing. People commit suicide cause they have no one to talk to. These times demand hours of conversation and support. Having no one as support leads to thoughts of suicide.

However, as an individual, each one of us can stop digital violence. 

1. If you are a victim of digital violence, then don’t stay quiet. Irrespective of whatever the form is, stand up against it.
2. Talk to elders and police about your issue. Research about it on the internet and find out possible solutions.
3. Remember, being a victim isn’t a crime. It’s necessary to stand up. So, stand up and fight.
4. Know about the digital laws of your country. If you find to the site and follow the instructions.
5. Contact the social media team for help.
6. If any of your relatives, friends, or colleagues is a victim, then listen to their story. Support them. Help them stand.
7. Keep up your moral support.
8. We should accept the victims of digital violence in a generalized manner. Harsh treatment is mandatory for culprits.
9. Before believing in anything present in social media, we should check the credibility of the information.
10. Various countries have various data protection laws and other laws for digital privacy. It is essential as an individual to know about them.  

Conclusion

Everything had its advantages and disadvantages. We can’t judge technological advancements by their disadvantages. However, we can’t ignore it too. We must use every gift of technology fruitfully. 

Social media platforms should also grow careful about these rising issues. The number of cases is increasing day by day. This indicates that people aren’t using technology properly. Hence, very social networking platform should enforce stringent rules and regulations.

Also, it is very essential to check the information before trusting it. One should not connect with strangers. At the same time, each one of us should inform our loved ones about it.

They shouldn’t share any private information on social media. Even accepting friend requests from strangers may prove to be harmful.

We should take every possible step for our safety. The government should also formulate stringent rules related to cybercrimes.

The consciousness of our people along with the support of our society and government can drive this evil out of our world.

Aniket Mandal

Content writer