Computer Crimes in the USA - Article Example

 Computer Crimes in the USA The digitalization of economies has not only given a new flip to the international socio-economic setup, but has also made the global community vulnerable to novel threats and risks. With information technology infiltrating every aspect of personal and professional life, anti-social elements have found a new arena to execute their nefarious designs. Cyber crimes have assumed frightening proportions throughout the world. In fact, it is relatively easier to indulge in cyber crimes as the perpetrators of such crimes are not restrained by any possibility of identification or divulgence of their geographical locations (Prosise &Mandia, 2001). With e-commerce and virtual networking being a new trend, many countries have yet not come out with appropriate deterrent mechanisms to curb cyber crimes. Especially, the developing world is more prone to becoming a hotbed of computer crimes as the law enforcement agencies there are bereft of the requisite training, skills and infrastructure to deal with computer crimes. The current legal frameworks, particularly in Asia, Africa and Latin America are also not apt to handle cyber crimes. Until date, the primary thrust of R&D in information technology has been to promote and facilitate e-commerce, rather then to come out with means to discourage cyber crimes (Prosise & Mandia, 2001). In the absence of such intimidating technological deterrents, computer crimes are thriving and proliferating like never before. Phishing, cyber stalking, identity thefts, hacking, computer viruses and child pornography are some of the most rampant versions of cyber crimes. Scope of Computer Crimes Computer crimes have turned out to be an obnoxious menace, both within the United States and around the world. As per the credible statistics available for the year 2008, a majority of the cyber criminals have their base within the United States (Consumer Fraud Reporting, 2009). The prime reason for this being that the US has the highest number of internet users in the world. The United Kingdom commanded the second spot, with 10.5 percent of the total computer crimes affiliated to it (Consumer Fraud Reporting, 2009). Other major countries, which are home to a large section of the international cyber criminals, are Nigeria, Romania, the Netherlands and China (Consumer Fraud Reporting, 2009). While identity theft and Phishing happen to be the forte of the US based criminals, Nigeria mainly abounds in fake online lotteries and money transfers (Consumer Fraud Reporting, 2009). Figure 1: Top Ten Countries 1. United States 66.1% 2. United Kingdom 10.5% 3. Nigeria 7.5% 4. Canada 3.1% 5. China 1.6% 6. South Africa 0.7% 7. Ghana 0.6% 8. Spain 0.6% 9. Italy 0.5% 10. Romania 0.5% (Consumer Fraud Reporting, 2009) Figure 2: Top Ten States 1. California 15.8% 2. New York 9.5% 3. Florida 9.4% 4. Texas 6.4% 5. D.C. 5.2% 6. Washington 3.9% 7. Illinois 3.3% 8. Georgia 3.1% 9. New Jersey 2.8% 10. Arizona 2.6% (Consumer Fraud Reporting, 2009) Within the US, the densest concentration of cyber criminals stands to be in District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.) (Consumer Fraud Reporting, 2009). Nevada happens to be the second major hub for cyber criminals (Consumer Fraud Reporting, 2009). As for the numerical data, California, New York and Florida harbor the biggest count of computer criminals (Consumer Fraud Reporting, 2009). The total number of complaints filed with Internet Crimes Complaint Centre , which stood at 206,884 in 2007 augmented to 275,288 by the end of 2008 (Consumer Fraud Reporting, 2009). This amounts to an awesome annual increase of 33.1 percent (Consumer Fraud Reporting, 2009). The total losses estimated to be accruing from all of these complaints were nearly $ 264.6 million (Consumer Fraud Reporting, 2009). Hence, there is no denying the fact that computer crimes tend to be a universal and costly aspect of crime, which needs to be dealt with a firm hand. This requires the concerted and combined effort on the part of the international community. Though it is very difficulty to gather the exact and verifiable data pertaining to computer crimes, still as per some rough estimates, the scope of losses attributed to computer crimes stands to be in billions of dollars. It will be very interesting to have an insight into various types and attributes of the most common computer crimes. Phishing Phishing is the most infamous and notorious type of email fraud that has become rampant in the last few years. Phishing is a form of stealing that is carried on by fraudulently soliciting financial or personal information from the potential victims. Phishing is more devious then the regular email frauds in the sense that the perpetrators of such crimes try to wriggle out confidential information from their victims by posing as reputed, authentic and credible corporate firms and organizations. Over the years, phishers have become very sophisticated in the sense that they primarily tend to target the high profile and affluent individuals and institutions (M2 Presswire, 2004). As per the estimates extended by 2004 Email Authentication Summit held in Washington, D.C., a regular phishing fraud could account for losses ranging from $ 100,000 to $ 200,000 (M2 Presswire, 2004). The phishers usually tend to imitate world renowned and prestigious companies like Amazon, Citibank, PayPal, eBay, etc. the reason being that such enterprises are well known multinational concerns having access to the confidential information pertaining to a large set of customers scattered world wide (M2, Presswire). Besides, the emails bearing the logo of such institutions are more likely to catch a response. Identity Theft As per the definition extended by Illinois law, an identity theft is considered to have occurred when, “A person commits the offense of financial identity theft when he or she knowingly uses and personal identifying information or personal identification document of another person to fraudulently obtain credit, money, goods, services, or other property in the name of the other person (Ramage, 2002).” Any such personal information may include credit card numbers, Social Security Number, employee identification document, etc. therefore the identity thieves can practically resort to a wide range of gimmicks to steal such information using the internet or digital technology (Ramage, 2002). As per the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Center, identity theft is a computer crime that is roughly expanding at the rate of 50 percent per year (Ramage, 2002). The contemporary identity thieves have a huge array of tools at their disposal, which may vary from intercepting the target’s mail to hacking. In fact, identity thieves are exceptionally techno-savvy in the sense that they are usually the first to identify the rogue possibilities inherent in the latest digital and cyber technology. Thus, internet is the most promising hunting ground for a majority of the identity thieves. In the year 2003 alone, the US based corporate bodies lost $ 47 billion to identity thefts (Ramage, 2002). The losses incurred by the individual citizens amounted to $ 5 billion (Ramage, 2002). The latest statutory guidelines promulgated in the US make it mandatory for the corporate concerns to take necessary steps to safeguard their customers against any questionable access to their personal information. In fact, the corporate institutions around the world are investing millions of dollars in replacing obsolete computer infrastructure by purchasing more reliable and safer software and hardware to avoid identity thefts. Hacking A hacker is usually an individual, occasionally endowed with anti-social tendencies, who specialize in the usage of digital hardware and concocting of malicious software that could be used to gain unauthorized access to a host network by hoodwinking its security setup (Beaver & McClure, 2004). The hackers often use their technical expertise to perpetrate illegal activities against the targeted computer systems and networks. Hackers use an array of ploys to commit computer crimes, which may vary from exploiting common negligence on the part of computer users to breaking through the loopholes existing in the security systems of the host networks. A hacker can use one’s unauthorized access to host networks to carry on a variety of criminal activities like stealing the personal or confidential information, copying, corrupting or deleting the vital files or folders or simply damaging or destroying the host network (Beaver & McClure, 2004). In the post 9/11 scenario, when the world is facing the onerous responsibility of combating international terrorism, hacking happens to be the most diabolical and dangerous computer crime. There is no dearth of media reports declaring the breach of computer networks of vital security and financial institutions by hackers. Hacking is a complex and ever evolving crime that requires the dedicated efforts of computer experts to fight this menace. Malware Malware are the malicious software that are many a times designed by the individuals or groups with criminal intents to carry on their illegal activities (Skoudis & Zeltser, 2003). Various types of malware are viruses, worm, Trojans and spyware. A computer virus is malicious software that acts like a biological virus in the sense that it can generate copies of itself by using some host program in the effected computer (Skoudis & Zeltser, 2003). This is the way these malware manage to proliferate the host networks. The final impact of a computer virus may vary from an innocuous blinking of some funny message on the monitor to a complete and irredeemable crash of the host computers or networks. A worm is a malware that takes advantage of the gaps existing in the host networks to perpetuate and to carry on unauthorized activities (Skoudis & Zeltser, 2003). A Trojan is a malware that often comes in the guise of a friendly program or application, but eventually wrecks havoc on the host networks (Skoudis & Zeltser, 2003). Spyware tend to be the most potent threat to the current computer networks. These are the software that install oneself clandestinely in the host computers or networks. Spyware in tandem with related technologies like keylogger software can be used by computer criminals to gain unauthorized access to and control of the host networks. Cyber Stalking As per some reliable estimates, more then 150,000 US citizens have to face some sort of stalking every year. Cyber stalking has added a new and pervasive dimension to this old crime, as it uses the latest computer technologies to harass the hapless victims. As per the National Center for Victims of Crime, an acceptable definition of cyber stalking would be, “threatening behavior or unwanted advances directed at another using the internet and other forms of online and computer communications (Miller, 2006).” A cyber stalker like an offline stalker tries to exert control over one’s victim to scare or intimidate one, by using internet and other related computer technologies (Miller, 2006). The various versions of cyber stalking are threatening or obscene emails or text messages, spamming, flaming, sending malware, posting of improper or vulgar messages on the message boards, hacking, identity theft, etc (Miller, 2006).” Child Pornography Child pornography pertains to the visual representations of children that happen to be obscene, vulgar and unethical (Geiser, 1979). As per the US law, the production, consumption and distribution of child pornography is a grave crime. Various research papers and studies over the years have confirmed that there exists a close correlation between the consumption of child pornography in a society and the rate of child abuse (Geiser, 1979). The growing use of and access to internet has added a disturbing dimension to this crime. Objectionable portrayals of children through images and video clippings can be readily spread over the internet with ease and speed. Internet has manifold increased the risk of children being exposed to child pornography. A growing trend towards the transmission of child pornography over the internet has made this world less safe for the children. The federal and state governments are fast resorting to the appropriate legal and technological measures to counter the menace of child pornography on the internet. Computer crime is an aspect of crime that has multiple dimensions and ramifications. Therefore, any approach to curb this disease from becoming an epidemic needs to be broad based and holistic. Not only the state should come out with an appropriate legal framework to deal with computer crimes, but people should also vie for an ethical and legal climate in the virtual space. It is understood that qualified and informed computer professionals will constitute the first line of defense against computer crimes. References ……………………………………………………………………………… Beaver, Kevin & McClure, Stuart. Hacking for Dummies. New York: For Dummies, 2004. Geiser, Robert L. Hidden Victims: The Sexual Abuse of Children. Berkley: University of California Press, 1979. Internet Fraud, Scam and Crime Statistics- 2009. Consumer Fraud Reporting. Retrieved June 25, 2009, from: http://www.consumerfraudreporting.com /internet_scam_statistics.htm Miller, Christa. “Cyber harassment: its forms and perpetrators”. Law Enforcement Technology. Cygnus Business Media. 2006. Retrieved June 26, 2009, from HighBeam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1- 146161299.html “Phishing Scams: Vircon guru campaign”. M2 Presswire. M2 Communications Ltd. 2004. Retrieved June 30, 2009 from HighBeam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-125495968.html Prosise, Chris & Mandia, Kevin. Incident Response: Investigating Computer Crime. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2001. Ramage, Daniel. “Identity theft a growing problem in area”. Lake Zurich Courier (IL). 2002. Retrieved June 29, 2009, from HighBeam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1N1-1110F04C9CAE5A0 Skoudis, Ed & Zeltser, Lenny. Malware: Fighting Malicious Code. New York: Prentice Hall, 2003. Top Ten Countries. Consumer Fraud Reporting. Retrieved June 25, 2009, From: http://www.consumerfraudreporting.com/internet_scam_statistics .htm Top Ten States. Consumer Fraud Reporting. Retrieved June 25, 2009, from: http://www.consumerfraudreporting.com/internet_scam_statistics.htm Read More