Effects of Cybercrime - Essay Example

Effects of Cybercrime Effects of Cybercrime Introduction According to Brenner, Cybercrime, commonly known as e-crime/computer crime, is a criminal act whereby computer or computer networks serves as a target, location, means or as the source of the activity. Its scope covers all the criminal activities revolving around the computer. Such malicious activities include identity theft, web site defacement, financial fraud, and cyber bullying. In an organization, computer crimes involve hacking customer databases as well as stealing of intellectual property. Usually, computer users think that they can protect themselves, their personal computers and their accounts by using antivirus software or anti-spyware, but this is not always the case. E-crimes are very sophisticated and target consumers, public and private institutions (Wall). Computer crimes range from outside parties hacking the computer networks and phish in malicious programs that give users a deceitful sense of security, instigating them to disclose vital information. Some of the effects of cybercrimes are: Loss of intellectual property The greatest effect of cybercrime is the loss of intellectual property as well as confidential information of the business. However, it is not easy to determine the exactly the extent of the losses. Partially, cybercrime is not a zero-game because the stolen information is not fully gone. Infiltrators steal only the company plans including the customer lists and the working strategies (Westby). Amazingly, the company may not be aware that it is no longer in control of the information flow and they are controlled outside their infrastructure. The spies take control of the company’s network and access the information that runs the institution. More often, such infiltrators are the company’s competitors who wish to make similar products and compete equally. Even though they cannot produce exactly the same product, the idea is leaked out. The spies having the intellectual information can compete in the market, and the victim company may be grounded in its operations. This is because the competitor may produce cheap products that attract many customers in the market (Brenner). Loss of confidential business information Every business entity strives to be unique in its operation. This implies that every organization has to conceal its vital information to be peculiar and be attractive to the customers. Such vital information may be stored in the computers and network framework of the organization. Although it may take some time for stolen IP to appear in the competing product, there is no deferment in monetizing abducted vital business information. For instance, theft of sensitive business negotiation deals, oil exploration data or stock trading information may be quickly used by the acquirer and the damage may be huge. Such vital information once lost may be regrettably forgotten because deals are sealed without delays. It is very difficult to measure such category of loss because the victim may not know exactly why the negotiation was canceled; contracts were lost, or were underbid (Wall). On the other hand, hackers may manipulate the automated trading systems or stock prices putting out false impression about the organization in the market. Even though the effect may be short-lived, the spy may execute a planned trade in advance. In the cases where the hacker manipulates the stock, the crime will resemble an insider trading which is very difficult to notice. Such vital information may be used to make other trades in other exchanges, thus making enforcement efforts complicated. Loss of income/revenue Brenner and Kshetri argued that most computer fraudsters target financial sites where they can access money. Although it is not easy to directly access them, they use other programs that divulge the users to give. This leads them to obtain sensitive financial information that can be used to access the sites. They then withdraw the money unnoticed, leaving the accounts empty. There is no doubt that most operations worldwide have been digitized to make transactions faster and convenient. Financial transactions are done online with transfers done electronically. These electronic transfers involve a lot of money that if carelessly handled leads to big losses. The organization may, therefore, lose a lot of money especially when they are in-operational, or they are compromised. Waste of time and resources Time is money for any organization and every minute counts. No organization wants their precious time to be used in incidences like cybercrimes. Cybercrimes bring the operations into a standstill, especially if the most sensitive information or areas have been affected. There is no need to proceed in the operation if it ruins the performance. It involves the efforts of the managers and the IT personnel to ensure that the organization infrastructure is under control. Such precious time is wasted which could have been used to increase production. On the other hand, it involves hiring other personnel and use of other resources to bring the menace under control. Instead of investing in other productive work, much of these resources are used to handle security breaches and other related cybercrime problems (Westby). On the other hand, users have to use a lot of passwords to access the information which could otherwise be accessed easily. For instance, it may take a single user ten minutes to access information that could be accessed in two minutes. If ten users were to access the site, it translates to over one hour lost in the process. Even if it is the second that is wasted, it counts a lot for the productivity of the organization. Damaged reputations Organizations derive their pleasure in the good name they have. Good name attracts customers and other investors. However, when reputation of an organization is questionable, potential customers shy away, and the existing may seek other alternatives. When an organizational system is hacked, its reputation is soiled, and customers lose confidence in it. For instance, when customer records are tampered or illegally accessed as a result of cybercrimes, the reputation of the organization is at stake. Customers talk ill the company making the entire company look like a house of thieves. It is even worst when customers’ financial information is intercepted by the hackers. They begin investing elsewhere where they feel they are safe (Kshetri). Piracy Piracy cybercrime has affected the music, software, and entertainment industries. These industries invest a lot of resources in their products only to fall in the hands of the pirates. There are several fraud claims of piracy of original files and documents due to cybercrimes. Infiltrators hack other people’s inventions and reproduce them before the owners know to capture the available markets. Before the owners reach the market with their ‘new’ products, they are already available. This results in losses to the owners, especially if they have invested heavily. It may not be easy to estimate the losses, but it ranges from hundreds of millions to hundreds of billions of dollars annually (Wall). Very strict laws have been lobbied to curb this copyrights and intellectual theft of property. Cost of protection Organizations that wish to protect themselves from cybercrimes should pull out their wallets to accomplish this. A lot of costs are incurred in identifying the risks, creating new and safer operating system procedures as well as purchasing protective software and hardware devices. For businesses with sensitive or complicated operations, it involves hiring highly competent professionals and consultants to implement a customized solution. This is not only expensive, but also tedious to monitor frequently to ensure that up-to-date and free from cyber-attacks. These costs are usually passed to the final consumer through escalated prices of goods and services. In general, the entire production costs increases, making the customers shy away from the company. This will in turn cut down the profit margin and limit the company from competing fairly with others on the same level (Brenner & Wall). Work cited Brenner, Susan W. Cybercrime: Criminal Threats from Cyberspace. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Kshetri, Nir. Cybercrime and Cybersecurity in the Global South. ND: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Wall, David. Cybercrime: The Transformation of Crime in the Information Age. India, ND: Polity, 2007. Westby, Jody R. International Guide to Combating Cybercrime. New York: American Bar Association, 2003. Read More