Cellular phones, electronic mail, Internet surfing, websites and e-commerce are the buzzwords of today's urban life. Computer networks and personal computers (PC's) have become an essential part of our daily life. India is emerging as an economic power on the global scene. But a recent report on crime shows that information technology is becoming a tool for criminal activities and the cyber cities of India are becoming their hubs which will be a grave threat to India's security.

India's major information technology hubs are grappling with a rapid rise in crime which threatens their glow. According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics tabled recently in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Indian Parliament), incidents of cognizable offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) have shown a staggering increase over the last few years in Hyderabad and Bangalore. Between 2001 and 2003, Hyderabad recorded a 71 percent increase in IPC crimes which includes murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, dacoity and bomb attacks. While 11,831 offences were registered in 2001, it went up to 14,413 in 2002 and 20,252 in 2003. In Bangalore the increasing incidents of crime were a cause for worry. Though the rise in IPC crimes was only seven percent in areas coming under Bangalore Urban district, in Bangalore Rural the increase was a disturbing 42 percent, up from 5,209 to 7,409 between 2001 and 2003. In Chennai, too, crime figures showed a rising trend. While 7,785 cases were registered in 2001 in Chennai and Chennai Railway districts, these figures rose to 9,154 in 2003, an increase of 17 percent.

However, a silver lining in these disconcerting figures was that New Delhi and Mumbai have become safer. IPC crimes decreased by about 13 percent from 2001 to 2003 in the national capital. While the figure stood at 54,384 in 2001, it came down to 49,137 and 47,404 in the two subsequent years. Despite the drop, Delhi could still claim the dubious title of being the 'crime capital of India' as its figures remain the highest of all Indian cities.

While crime in Faridabad in Haryana increased by 22 percent between 2001 to 2003, the posh suburb of Gurgaon recorded a minor rise of five percent in crime incidents. Contrary to popular perceptions, the official figures showed that crime in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh had actually fallen by 48 per cent. While 5,079 IPC crimes were registered in the district in 2001, the number shrank to just 2,627 two years later. Mumbai also showed a decline in crime - down by 11 percent from 30,991 in 2001 to 27,527 in 2003. Crime in the other major metropolis, Kolkata, recorded a 10 percent drop in this period from 11,970 to 10,714.

These statistics show that criminals have changed their strategy in the globalised information age, where processing of funds through illegal means like financial scams, money laundering, supply of fake currencies, hawala transactions and credit card frauds have become easier. The advanced e-cash systems means fewer face-to-face financial transactions. A Web project, monitoring defacement of Indian Web sites since 1998 to 20 September 2004 covers defaced Indian websites only .in ccTLD (Indian country code top level domain). The range of the data obtained for analysis is 6,430 of which a majority comprises .co.in domains. A total of 667 defacement records have been found under the .in ccTLD domains. The domain .co.in had 242 defacements which is more than 36 percent of the total defacements. This Includes websites of the Indian Parliament, the Indian army based in Kashmir, prominent network Zee TV, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Asian Age newspaper, the Indian Institute of Science, the National Informatics Centre and the Indian Science Congress - 2000. Enforcement authorities are concerned about these aspects but the internal crime aspects of cyber age have yet to be adequately addressed.

In the information age, while sovereignty and territoriality are under severe strain, the responsibility to police cyber space within its own territory is placed on every national government. Therefore, adequate legal measures to manage the Information and Communication Revolution, enhancing cooperation between the public and private sector, widening the concept of intelligence and protecting the information infrastructure by upgrading security standards are some of the measures available to manage the revolution. Most importantly, the changing dimensions of crime need to be taken into consideration while formulating and implementing laws. For achieving the goals envisaged by the Task Force on Information Technology Indian policy makers need to adapt themselves to the information age. Otherwise, its remarkable achievements in the sector will only be making India more insecure.