Advocate (Dr.) Prashant Mali's Blog

Arrest by Police in cyber crime cases By Adv (Dr.) Prashant Mali Cyber crime is a reality but personal liberty is a fundamental human right and a cornerstone of the social structure.  Arrest brings humiliation, curtails freedom and cast scars forever. Its deprivation is a matter of grave concern.  The law of arrest is one of balancing individual rights, liberties and privileges,on the one hand, and individual duties, obligations and responsibilities on the other. The police officer can , without an order/warrant from a Magistrate, arrest a person in respect of a cognizable offence punishable with imprisonment exceeding 7 years without mentioning any ' special reasons '. The problem arises when it comes to arrest of a person who is accused of an offence which is punishable up to 7 years. The Hon’ble Apex Court in Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar, (2014) 8 SCC 273 held; Our endeavour in this judgment is to ensure that the police officers do not arrest the accused unnecessarily an...

The cybercriminal economy is a continuously evolving connected ecosystem of many players with different techniques, goals, and skillsets. Ransomware as a service (RaaS) is a subscription-based model that enables affiliates to use already-developed ransomware tools to execute ransomware attacks. Affiliates earn a percentage of each successful ransom payment. Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) is an adoption of the Software as a Service (SaaS) business model.  RaaS users don't need to be skilled or even experienced, to proficiently use the tool. RaaS solutions, therefore, empower even the most novel hackers to execute highly sophisticated  cyberattacks .  RaaS solutions pay their affiliates very high dividends. The  average ransom demand increased  by 33% since Q3 2019 to $111,605, with  some affiliates earning up to 80%  of each ransom payment. The low technical barrier of entry, and prodigious affiliate earning potential, makes RaaS solutions specifically ...

Prashant Mali receiving award from Actor Makrand Deshpande  Advocate Prashant Mali Got Best Cyber and Privacy lawyer of the year by the hands of Makrand Deshpande , other awardees include Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar, ex Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale , VC of University of Mumbai, Hon. Sharad Pawar  n others . Lop Devendra Phadnavis and MP Sanjay Raut were chief guests  Earlier Lt. Balasaheb Thakre and Lt. Lata Mangeshkar we’re also recipients of the same award.  #award #cybercrime #privacy #lawyer #law #follow #media #mumbai #cybersecurity #publicpolicy #IamChevening #IVLP #media #news

How A Student Hacked into Teachers WHATSAPP Account? A teacher from Kerala noticed that her WhatsApp account was logged out soon after an online class. Knowing this, she lodged a complaint with cyberpolice. Police cracked the case and found out that the culprit was her student, studying in high school, who logged into the teacher’s account. The technique used by the student was simple. The teacher was using a screen-share app in her phone during the class . So the students were able to see the screen and also the pop-up notification alerts coming into the phone. The ‘culprit’ student then tried to login WhatsApp with teacher’s number in his phone. And the OTP for verification came as pop-up alert in the teacher’s phone which was visible for all the students. Thus the student easily logged in to the account. The teacher did not have two-step verification on the phone and did not have a password. The account in teacher’s phone got logged out as WhatsApp does not allow simultaneous use on...

  Why Cybercrime is increased ? Due to Low Cost I feel You can buy ransomware for  as little as $66 , or hire a threat actor for $250. And if you look hard enough, you can even get a phishing kit for free on underground forums. Although these illicit methods may not be expensive, the damage they inflict can be substantial. Phishing has become more popular than ever. Bhagwat Karad, the minister of state for finance reported to Indian parliament, that more than 50,000 (50,242) cases of cyber frauds, banking frauds using internet banking, ATM-Debit and Credit Cards were registered in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, citing RBI data (April-December 2021 period). During the nine-month period, the victims of these frauds lost a total of nearly Rs 167 crore. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, the number of  phishing complaints more than doubled in 2020  to 241,342 cases compared to the prior year. From there, attacks doubled again as ph...

The criminal use of cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrencies have been adopted as part of money laundering schemes and are particularly associated with several predicate offences including fraud and drug trafficking. They are also widely used as a means of payment for illegal goods and services offered online and offline. Money laundering is the main criminal activity associated with the illicit use of cryptocurrencies. The growing popularity and adoption of cryptocurrencies have led to their increasing use in money laundering schemes. Other criminal activities that show an intensive use of cryptocurrencies are related to the use of cryptocurrencies as a payment method for illicit goods and services, fraudulent cryptocurrency investments and cybercrime. In all instances, criminals want to obfuscate the source of the illicit assets with cryptocurrencies. A number of indicators show how criminals involved in frauds strongly rely on the use of cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies are also the mean...

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 techno...