READIT-2007 - Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research

Cyber Crimes and Information Frauds: EMERGING
CHALLENGES FOR LIS PROFESSIONALS
G. Rathinasabapathy * and L. Rajendran*
"The modern thief can steal more with a computer than with a gun. Tomorrow's terrorist may be
able to do more damage with a keyboard than with a bomb".
– National Research Council, "Computers at Risk", 1991.
Abstract
Remarkable achievements in the IT sector is really a matter of pride to India but the associated problem
that is causing serious concern is the rapid raise in cyber crimes. With increased use of computers and Internet in
homes and offices, there has been a proliferation of cyber crimes in India. Cyber crime which is also known as
‘Internet crimes’ or ‘Computer crimes’ is any criminal activity that uses a computer either as an instrument, target
or a means for perpetuating further crimes or offences or contraventions under any law. These offences involve not
only the use of computers but the Internet, cyberspace and the tools and techniques of World Wide Web as well.
While the worldwide scenario on cyber crime looks bleak, the situation in India is also not better. Major cyber
crimes reported in India are denial of services, defacement of web sites, spam, computer virus and worms,
pornography, cyber squatting, cyber stalking and phishing. Especially, cases of spam, hacking, cyber stalking and
email fraud are rampant in India. In the first half of 2006 itself, around 1000 Indian websites were attacked. The
Library and Information professionals are now handling huge databases, access to online journals and web-enabled
online public access catalogues, etc. Further, most of the big libraries especially academic libraries are now having
various kinds of networks like Local Area Network, Wide Area Network, etc. Library services are also being offered
in networked digital environment. Hence, the Library and Information Science professional should also be aware of
the cyber crimes and the ways and means to combat cyber crimes. In this context, this paper attempts to brief the
cyber crimes, its relevance to LIS professionals and suggests some precautious measures to combat cyber crimes.
Keywords: Cyber Crime; Computer Crime; Internet Crime; Information Frauds; LIS
Professionals
1. INTRODUCTION
The use of computers, Internet and network based services have increased in the libraries
of India. Indian libraries especially the academic and research libraries are widely using
computers for various purposes viz. circulation, cataloguing, information services, collection
development and serial control.
Integrated library automation software packages like SOUL, LIBSYS, AUTOLIB are
being widely used by the libraries. Most of the academic and special libraries have their own
web site and they provide Web enabled Online Public Access Catalogue (Web OPAC) services.
Some universities and research institutes have already started their own Institutional Repositories
* Madras Veterinary College Library, Vepery, Chennai – 600 007, Tamilnadu.
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