Advocate (Dr.) Prashant Mali's Blog

Who is an Adjudication Officer under the IT Act,2000 [ cybercrime court for civil cybercrime matters ]  Adjudicating officer is generally an IAS officer in the rank of Principal Secratary -Information Technology or an IAS officer who should not be less than the rank of a Director to the Government of India or an equivalent officer of a state government as an adjudicating officer who shall adjudicate whether any person has committed a contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or of any rule, regulation, direction or order and shall hold an inquiry in the manner prescribed by the central government. Further, the adjudicating officer is vested with the power of a civil court to adjudicate any matter before it. Under Section 46 of the IT Act,2000 the power to adjudicate has been specifically enshrined for the purpose of adjudging under this Chapter. The central government has notified “Scope and Manner of Holding Inquiry” as per the gazette notification for Information technology

  There are 22 sections and 31 instances (i.e section 66 actually is applicable for ten different crimes mentioned in section 43) of offences and cyber crimes provisioned in the IT Act,2000 . Some sections are Non- Bailable too and one section 66F is a grievous offence having provision of punishment of imprisonment for life. The table below shows the offence and penalties against all the mentioned sections of the IT Act,2000 Section Offence Punishment Bailable and Cognizable 65 Tampering with Computer Source Code Imprisonment up to 3 years or fine up to Rs 2 lakhs Offence is Bailable, Cognizable and triable by Court of JMFC. 66 Computer Related Offences i.e All 10 offences mentioned in Section 43 Imprisonment up to 3 years or fine up to Rs 5 lakhs Offences are Bailable, Cognizable and triable by Court of JMFC. 66-A Sending offensive messages through communication services, etc... Section is removed Imprisonment up to 3 years and fine in Shreya Singhals Case Offence is Bailable, Cogniza

How cybercriminals use cryptocurrency? Cybercriminals all over the world have leveraged this technology’s increased anonymity to buy and sell illegal goods, services, stolen data, underground infrastructure and force victims to pay ransom. While blockchain analysis enables researchers and law enforcement to glean information from illicit transactions, criminals have countered by adopting the use of cryptomixers to obscure their transactions and further complicate investigations. It has been observed gangs in the cybercriminal underground are increasingly relying on cryptomixing services to obfuscate the origin of their criminal earnings. What are Cryptomixers ? Cryptomixers are often stand-alone services that are available to the general public via the open internet. They often use anonymous means of communication and do not keep logs of customer transactions, which given the push by law enforcement for crypto exchanges to incorporate financial compliance laws into their operations, m