Accounts Linked to Cybercriminals Frozen | 17 Jan 2024

Why in News?

Recently, 8,674 bank accounts, allegedly linked to cybercriminals, have been frozen in Jharkhand on suspicion that these were being used for phishing activities.

  • The maximum of 2002 accounts were frozen in Deoghar district, followed by 1,183 in Dhanbad and 959 in Ranchi.

Key Points

  • The details of frozen accounts were received from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre and a district and bank-wise list of such information was prepared.
  • The data will be shared with the superintendent of police of all districts and banks for verification of the accounts.
  • The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been carrying out a massive operation against cybercriminals in Jharkhand.
    • 495 people have been arrested for allegedly being involved in cybercrimes, and First Information Report (FIRs) lodged against 107 for cyber frauds in the past three months.
    • 1,164 mobile phones and 1,725 SIM cards have also been seized during operations against cybercrimes.
    • Raids against cybercriminals are being conducted regularly in various districts, including Deoghar, Giridih, Bokaro, Jamtara and Ranchi.

Cyber Crime

  • Cybercrime is defined as a crime where a computer is the object of the crime or is used as a tool to commit an offense.
  • It involves illegal or unauthorized activities that exploit technology to commit various forms of crimes.
  • Types:
    • Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attacks: These are used to make an online service unavailable and take the network down by overwhelming the site with traffic from a variety of sources.
    • Botnets: Botnets are networks from compromised computers that are controlled externally by remote hackers. The remote hackers then send spam or attack other computers through these botnets.
    • Identity Theft: This cybercrime occurs when a criminal gains access to a user’s personal information or confidential information and then tries to tarnish reputation or seek a ransom.
    • Cyberstalking: This kind of cybercrime involves online harassment where the user is subjected to a plethora of online messages and emails. Typically, cyberstalks use social media, websites, and search engines to intimidate a user and instill fear.
    • Phishing: It is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. It occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity, dupes a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message.

Criminal Investigation Department (CID)

  • Established in 1902 by the British Government, CID is an investigation and intelligence department of state police. On the other hand, CBI is an agency of the Central Government.
  • CID is looking into murder, assault, riot or any cases as directed by respective High Courts.