Fighting Cyber-crimes - Report Example

Cybercrime Introduction With the increase in the widespread use of the internet, cybercrime rose massively from the year 2005 draining billions of dollars. In order to fight against it, technical, ethical and juridical challenges in efficiently reducing the crime started being identified. Fighting cybercrime has become an international engagement as this crime is not limited to a specific region. That is why the technical, organizational and legal understanding and cooperation among countries has become an important issue. However; this international cooperation has been facing many difficulties; the most important being the sharing and accessing of related information. This is because: 1. Every country has their own and separate legal, technical and organizational issues. 2. All information is stored in free-text format. 3. Information keeps changing dynamically. Thus, it has become a biggest international challenge. So how are they fighting against cybercrime? This is the topic of discussion in this task. What is Cybercrime? Cybercrime is any illegal activity that is conducted through the use of computers, the internet and computer network. There are many kinds of cybercrimes that exist: internet fraud, computer hacking, spreading of malicious code or viruses, cyber piracy and many more. And new types of cybercrime keep on being introduced. (Yang, 2008, p. 32). There are many reasons why people commit cybercrime; some of which are as follows: 1. Intellectual: when hackers gain illegal access to information on a secured website or crack passwords. 2. Emotional: when hackers take revenge from any employee of a company by giving threats through the use of emails. 3. Financial: when hackers gain money through internet fraud. 4. Accessibility: when people download pirated software from the internet. Hence, cybercrime is not an accidental approach; it is an intentional act to gain some or the other kind of benefit on the part of the person committing it. (Cross and Shinder, 2008, p. 29). Some Examples of Cybercrimes Bob Smith who was a residence of Oklahoma, observed that his credit card had been used by some criminal who did fraudulent purchases. Two accounts had been opened with his information in two different banks. The criminal further applied for a loan in Dallas to buy a car and he changed the address of Bob to some address in Dallas which was a fake address. This was an example of use of internet fraud which is a cybercrime. (Cross and Shinder, 2008, p. 4). On 8 March, 2008, some data thieves broke into computers of chain of supermarkets Sweetbay and Hannaford Brothers, and stole around 4.2 billion credit card and debit card numbers. A person’s email account password was hacked and his account was misused for sending malicious code to the contacts in the person’s address book. As the people receiving the malicious code think that it is coming from their friend, they open it and execute the attachments which infect their computer with the malicious code. (Nagpal, 2008, p. 133). Fighting Against Cybercrime The police should not be the only one involved in fighting against cybercrime. Legislators should also perform their part by making appropriate laws. Furthermore, the IT community and the society themselves should report the incidents of cybercrimes to the higher authorities as well as they should take measures to prevent themselves from becoming victim to these crimes. To fight against cybercrime, the following steps are being taken: 1. Educating the IT Professionals: As they already understand computer security, IT professionals are further made aware of computer crimes in which they are educated about the law which states what things come under computer crime and what things do not. The IT professionals are also being included in the law making in which they share their expertise. Furthermore, they are being involved with the police in the investigation of any computer crime scene so that they can give technical help and advice through their expertise. 2. Education and Involving the Community: The community is usually the victims of cybercrimes; hence they are being made aware and educated of the ways that they can protect their data and themselves online. They are taught about different types of cybercrimes, how to recognize that they are about to become a victim of cybercrimes and how to deal with the situation if they get attacked by a cybercriminal. 3. Creating Peer Pressure: Cybercriminals are not appreciated and admired; rather their crimes are being made as an act of shame by creating peer pressure on them. This also prevents other people from getting engaged in the committing of cybercrime. 4. Using Technology: Many technological ways have been developed in order to fight cybercrimes. The network and information security industry have developed many hardware and software which are capable of detecting network intrusions, viruses, or any other malicious code. While building the latest operating systems, the vendors are taking the security area at a high level of consideration. Authentication devices and firewall software are security software that prevent cybercriminals from attacking the secured network in any way. Furthermore, auditing and monitoring packages help the IT community and professionals to collect the information regarding the activities being performed on the computer network and thus detect any suspicious activity. (Cross and Shinder, 2008, p. 33-36). 5. Legal Frameworks: Laws and procedures are being used to fight against cybercriminals. Domestic authorities are empowered with cybercrime investigative abilities. They are responsible for the preservation of stored data, real time collection of traffic data, partial disclosure of traffic data and the like. International cooperation is being encouraged during the investigation of cybercriminals and their prosecution. If any country does not have the investigative ability to solve a certain cybercrime case, that country can ask another country for help. (Lovet, 2009, p. 68). New Cybercrime Ways It is better to be proactive rather than reactive when fighting against cybercrimes, as they say, precaution is better than cure. However; as technology is advancing, new places and new procedures of committing cybercrime are being introduced in the cybercrime world. As before just computers existed, but now the invention of mobile phones, personal digital assistance (PDAs) and other devices are also being used to commit cybercrimes. Hence, the collaboration of law professionals and IT professionals is the best way to stop these criminals. Protection from Cybercrime Individuals can protect themselves from becoming victims of cybercrime by putting as less information over the internet as they can. Computer networks should be protected by firewalls. Anti- viruses should be installed into the systems. Monitoring of the systems should be done on a regular basis. People should be made aware of making passwords that are strong in strength not weak so that no cybercriminal is able to crack it. Websites should be made highly secured. Furthermore, cybercriminals should be highly punished so that others hesitate in committing cybercrime. The principles and practices of information security should be applied. That is, highly sensitive data should be kept in an encrypted form through the use of difficult cryptology related algorithms that could not be broken by any hacker. Conclusion There is no magical formula that would completely destroy the world of cybercrime. The creation of a super-natural anti-cybercrime force or the re-engineering of internet protocols seems just good enough to be imagined only. However, it can be reduced to a high extent and prevented and people and computer networks can be protected from becoming victims of this crime. Implementation of law with the amalgamation of IT professionals with the law enforcement forces would be the first practical and effective step in reducing crime. Only the making of law is not enough, the people should be educated regarding the laws so that they are aware of the crimes and resulting punishments they can face if they tend to become a cybercriminal. References Cross, Michael. Shinder, Debra Littlejohn. (2008). Scene of the Cybercrime. Burlington: Syngress Publishing, Inc. Lovet, Guillaume. (2009). Fighting Cybercrime: Technical, Juridical and Ethical Challenges. Nagpal, Rohas. (2008). Real World Cybercrime Cases. Cybercrime and Digital Evidence- Indian Perspective. Yang, Christopher C. 2008. Intelligence and Security Informatics. Germany: Springer Verlag Read More