"I felt like I was about to pass out but somehow I gathered enough strength to rush down to my didi's place. Since she had Internet access at her home, I wanted to check it out for myself. But my didi's son who had also received the friend request from the fake account didn't let me see those nude photos. He was concerned that I would be too distraught and do something rash like commit suicide," recalls Pratima
Thus began her encounter with cyber crime. Pratima had correctly suspected that this was her estranged husband's dubious work.
Police Inspector Pashupati Rai of the Cybercrime Investigation Cell at Hanuman Dhoka claims that of all the different kinds of other illegal acts carried out on the cyber space, such defamation via social networking sites is the most widespread crime in Nepal.
"Cases of phishing, website disputes, hacking are less compared to the complaints we have of abuse, hate speech and emergence of obscene materials on the Internet. Email threats, illegal data access and web SMS threats come a close second but the records in our country show that they still don't have anything on the misuse of social networking sites," explains Inspector Rai.
If the number of complaints lodged for illegal data access and email threats together in the fiscal year 2070-2071 BS amounts to a mere four, the people who have been victims of cyber crime on social networking sites in that time period alone adds up to 91.
What's more, investigations behind such illegal acts apparently always lead to personal vendettas of one sort or the other. The tech-savvy generation seems to have anointed the likes of Facebook as their battleground. The reasons range from broken friendships, internet dating to relationships gone sore, technology appears to have become a handy tool to seek revenge for many in our country.
"It's become such a convenient way to bully somebody. Recently, one of my ex hacked into my Facebook and email account and sent some ridiculous messages to my colleagues as well as family members. When I confronted him, he said it was just his 'little' payback for 'breaking his heart.' But there is little about such acts.
"This is a legit crime, people ought to realize that," says Nikita Shrestha*, 23. She still has no clue how her ex got her passwords but has decided not to press charges on accounts of his parents' request.
Today, majority of Nepali cities may enjoy easy access to the Internet but the progress hasn't helped its population become aware of the laws and rights in terms of cyber crime. The issue remains vague for many educated city dwellers as well. If the victims at times need to be informed that they have a solid case on their hands under the country's cyber legislations, the perpetrators themselves too sometimes don't realize that they have crossed a specific legal line.
"Often, what we find is that even the citizens who come to file reports of cyber crime aren't quite clear on where they stand in terms of the law. Usually, they have a complaint and they know that the one stop shop is Hanuman Dhoka, so they pile in. It's here that we educate them on their rights," says Inspector Rai.
It's pretty obvious that cyber crime is yet to spread its tangled web of illegal activities far and wide in our country. When we read reports of big companies abroad admitting to its clients' data being stolen by hackers or an international gang of cybercriminals successfully robbing up to $1bn or even Sony Pictures having to endure the embarrassment of their leaked private emails, it shows us how things can get worse. These postings of defamatory information and occasional cases of fraud or hackings could just as easily catapult itself into full-fledged cyber crimes of enormous consequences.
In a way, we have to be thankful that so far illegal activities on our cyberspace have been largely limited to a certain level. Our law enforcement teams have been able to make do with whatever little resources and intelligence network they have at their disposal. However, with the world becoming increasingly dependent on technology, we can't afford to ignore the cyber threat.
"This can certainly be a big risk for us all in the future. At present, we are mostly tackling outcomes of very public relationship spats, so that's manageable. But tracing cyber crimes requires highly technically skilled manpower as well as scientific aids to extract evidence. We don't have such capabilities yet. We don't even have a proper lab," says DSP Dinesh Acharya of the Crime Investigation Department at Hanuman Dhoka.
He further elaborates on the need for existing cyber laws to cover more forms of cyber crimes. Apparently, there are loopholes on what is defined as a cyber crime as well as the procedure that needs to be followed to investigate it. There have also been times where the inadequacies of the existing regulations have posed as obstacles to persecuting the accused.
These days, everybody is susceptible to cyber attack. Tech expert Sunoj Das Shrestha, cofounder of Karkhana and President of Robotics Association of Nepal suggests people to be consciously wary on the Internet.
"There are several techniques to protect ourselves online, and in today's day and age, everybody ought to learn about them. Even small steps like using incognito mode while using browsers on a friend's laptop or in cyber cafes is highly recommended. This way, there will be no trace of your personal information. Similarly, it's mandatory to have strong passwords or codes and to change them once in a couple of months," he says, adding that some people tend to overlook the significance of this, but when practiced, it can really protect you.
"Further it's also wise to connect your accounts with one another. If, for example, your Facebook gets hacked, you'll get notifications in your mail. Even small steps like these can make a huge difference," adds Sunoj.
After all, it's likely that our carelessness will make us a victim. This applies on a national scale as well. There is no room for negligence. Cyber criminals are notorious for discovering and exploiting any vulnerability in a system, and if we aren't careful and cautious enough, we might just be a sitting target for them.
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