Manuscript Number : SHISRRJ23660

As fast as we are moving towards the digital world, the number of cyber crimes is also increasing at the same rate. The pace at which technology has progressed; at the same pace man's dependence on the internet has also increased. By sitting at one place, through the Internet, man's access has become easy to every corner of the world.In today's time, everything that a person can think of can be accessed through the internet, such as social networking, online shopping, storing data, gaming, online study, online job etc. In today's time, internet is used in almost every field. With the growth of the Internet and its associated benefits, the concept of cyber crimes has also evolved.Currently, a large population of India uses social networking sites. There is a lack of awareness among people regarding the use of social networking sites in India. Also, most of the social networking sites have their servers abroad, which makes it difficult to reach the root cause of cyber crime in India.Cyber crimes are essentially criminal activities where a computer, network or electronic information technology device is the source, instrument, target or location of the crime. Cyber crimes occur through illegal access to other data bases, illegal interception, data interference, system interference, misuse of equipment, forgery and electronic scam. In this article cyber crime, its types, preventive measures and provisions made by the government have been discussed. Along with this, the role of social networking sites in cyber crime was also evaluated.