Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Cyber crimes of multiple kinds have increased by five times over the past four years in Pakistan. According to data provided by Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Cyber Crime Unit (CCU), 62 cases were reported in 2007, 287 cases in 2008 and in 2010 more than 312 cases were registered in different categories of cyber crimes. The number increased much more in the years 2013 and 2014. Experts of Information technology (IT) are of the view that instead of making good and constructive use of information technology, users of internet in Pakistan are more interested in its misuse. Hacking of social media accounts, email spoofing, sale of illegal articles, cyber stalking, intellectual property crime, forgery, unauthorized access to computer systems, theft of information contained in electronic form, virus attacks, internet time theft, password cracking and financial cyber crimes like hacking credit card numbers and bank accounts are some of cyber crime commonly commit by internet users in Pakistan. According to Sara Najam, Cyber Crime expert based in Karachi users of Internet should be aware that these are crimes but this will only happen when awareness campaigns will be launch and training will be given to the internet users. She said government and law enforcement agencies are trying to come up with more fitting ways to control the internet and introduce laws to control illegal activities. “One major issue in implementation of international laws of cyber crime in Pakistan is that what is legal in other parts of the world is illegal here so it is hard to regulate internet” she added. Some government departments in Pakistan are working to find ways to make the internet safer but lot than then is needed. She was of the view that more serious steps should have to be taken in order to solve these crimes and to prevent them so that people feel secure while using the internet. In available laws for Cyber Crime law titled as “Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2007” that was passed on 17 January 2007 offers penalties ranging from six months imprisonment to capital punishment for 17 types of cyber crimes, including cyber terrorism, hacking of websites and criminal access to secure data.
