Jharkhand

• 17 Jan 2024

Accounts Linked to Cybercriminals Frozen

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.