Home / Legal Explainers / Media & Intellectual Property / Internet / Online Abuse / Account Takeover and Unauthorised Access

Account Takeover and Unauthorised Access

Last updated on May 28, 2024

If someone takes over your online account, accesses your data or the hardware/software on your computer without your permission, that person is guilty of the offence of unauthorized access.1 For example, if someone gains access to your Gmail account without your permission. 

The offender is liable to pay you damages/compensation by way of a monetary amount not exceeding one crore rupees. However, it needs to be established that the offender accessed your account dishonestly.2

  1. Section 43(a), The Information Technology Act. [↩]
  2. Section 24 and 25, The Indian Penal Code, 1860. [↩]

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 5 / 5. Vote count: 2

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

Please share your feedback about this post!

Sharing feedback will help us improve our content. Tell us how!

If you want to keep your feedback confidential, please mention it in your feedback. If you have a question, please ask us in the comments or Ask Nyaaya sections.

Comments

Patel Tanvi sureshbhai

December 11, 2023

One boy is on Instagram he is fraud and scam and by mistake i was visited his link which is share by him on Instagram as a sponsored in gaming materials and now he hack my gaming account which is linked with Facebook account and he changed my id password and he is not giving me the password until i give him nudes pics

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a question you want to ask our legal experts?

Ask Nyaaya

Related Resources

Online Harassment and Violence against LGBTQ+ Persons

Online abuse happens on various platforms on the internet - social media, chat forums, etc. When faced with online abuse, your first step should be to see what the policy of the platform where the abuse is happening, and what steps the platform recommends for you to stop it. 
Crimes and Violence

Reporting Online Abuse

If you are a victim of online abuse or know someone being victimised, you must report it to the authorities.
Crimes and Violence

Guide on the Rights of Transgender Persons in India

This Guide discusses the general provisions in the Constitution of India, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020.
citizen rights icon

Stopping the Abuse

When faced with online abuse, your first step should be to see what the anti-abuse policy of the platform is, and what steps the platform recommends for you to stop it.
Crimes and Violence

How do you Complain against Sexual Crimes?

If you want to complain against sexual crimes, you can do it through any of the ways that have been listed herein.
Crimes and Violence

Reporting Child Sexual Abuse

If you are aware of any incident and are reasonably certain that a child is a victim of any form of sexual abuse please use any of the ways mentioned herein to contact an authority to help the child out.
Crimes and Violence