Cybercrime 2.0: Evolving Digital Threats and The Indian Legal Framework

Abstract

The fast growth of technologies has resulted in the development of cybercrimes into technologically complex forms of crimes that go beyond the conventional crimes like unauthorised access and data breach. In fact, the emergence of artificial intelligence, deepfakes, cryptocurrency, connected devices and social engineering is seen as the emergence of Cybercrime 2.0 that is discussed in the current paper. India, as one of the largest digital economies in the world, is faced with a challenge to address the constantly evolving cyber-threats. As for the mechanisms to combat cyber-crime, there is the legislative and institutional framework based mainly on the Information Technology Act, 2000, and supplemented by Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. However, the rate of technological advancement is usually faster than legislative and institutional response. The following research paper sheds light upon the evolving concept of Cybercrime 2.0 and the ability of India's legal system to meet the challenges of new threats in the digital age. Specifically, such problems as jurisdiction, digital evidence, attribution, enforcement, platform protection and individual rights protection will be considered. The paper emphasizes the need for a comprehensive legislative approach based not only on the expansion of criminal offenses but also on the development of flexible legislation, better investigation methods and institutions.