Computer Crime Issues - Report Example

Cyber Crimes Introduction: Today the use of modern technology like computers and internet is at its peak. This new technological era is also termed as information age. The word information age refers to the availability of knowledge about different things. The information age created knowledge based society in which these technologies like internet and computers are very much involved. This Internet technology is basically aimed to connect different computer networks. The use of internet spread at a very fast pace during the last decade. A survey shows the number of internet subscribers 2002 were almost 9% of the world population whereas after a decade in 2012 this ratio has been reached up to 33% of the total world population. In 2002 an individual consumed nearly 45 minutes per day while surfing on the internet but in 2012 it has been 4 hrs in a day. All of these facts and figures show the progress of internet users. Despite all of its advantages and befits, it is a bitter fact that there are black sheep in this area also. There are people who are using their techniques for evil purposes. Such kind of activities is called as cyber crimes. Cyber Crimes: The increasing use of internet is making this vast world a small connected area where anyone can easily approach other persons. The increased use of internet is also a source of such problems like cyber crimes. Any criminal and illegal activity dealing with computers and internet is included in the list of cyber crimes. Any individual’s identity can be stolen within 3 seconds. This is the peak of a cyber crime. Types of Cyber Crimes: Usually there are two main types of cyber crimes i.e. cyber theft and cyber vandalism. Cyber theft is usually described as the stealing of any financial or personal information using internet and computers. The second type of cyber crime is cyber vandalism which can be described as any activity which is committed against electronic information. It may include defacement of any website and denial of services etc. attacks on social media pages is also included in the category of cyber vandalism. There are many other activities which are included in the category of cyber crimes like identity theft, hacking, cyber stalking, hate crimes, internet fraud, network intrusion, dissemination of computer viruses and malwares and credit card account theft etc. Some critics are also of the opinion that even files’ sharing without prior permission is also a cyber crime. Cyber Crime - A Challenge to Law Enforcement Agencies: It is now a challenging situation to handle these cyber crimes for the law enforcement agencies. The basic reason behind this failure is that the methods used by the cyber criminals and the technology keep on changing so quickly that it becomes difficult to take effective measure for the law enforcement agencies. This is why most of the institutions are trying to maintain their personal internet securities by themselves. Now the law enforcing agencies are also forced by their failures to rethink their basic skills and expertise so that they can meet up the cyber crime challenge. The increasing ratio of cyber crimes is now an alarming situation for the security concerns (Mac Gibbon 1). Identity Theft: Identity theft is the severe case of cyber crime. This may include the hacking of personal information like credit card number, national identity card number and driver license number, address and bank account details etc. These types of information can be used readily in many fields. The cyber criminal may use these pieces of information in order to use the property of the victim through different techniques. In other words the cyber identity theft is also termed as hijacking. Identity theft can be done in two ways. In first case the criminal may use the victim’s account itself by taking over it. While in the second case the criminal may use the victim’s personal information and open up a new account (Rouse 1). Protective Measures against Identity Theft: Identity theft is all about stealing the personal information. In order to avoid this one must keep their important numbers safe and protected. The wallet should be safe so that credit cards may not be stolen. Mailboxes should be protected against spam mails. Always try to report any suspicious activity immediately. Most wanted Criminals: Cyber criminals are also on the hit list of FBI. On the official website of FBI they have given a list of those cyber criminals which are involved in suspicious activities of severe nature. The list includes these names also; Alexsey Belan and Carlos Enrique. The detail of these two cyber criminals is given here; 1. Alexsey Belan: He is a computer network engineer and software programmer by profession. Alexesy Belan was assumed to interrupt the networks of three famous companies of US. After hacking these websites he stole the user information. After that he misused that information. Arrest warrants are issued against him. Even FBI has also announced prize money for the person who will provide any information about Alexsey Belan. 2. Carlos Enrique: Carlos Enrique is required for his involvement in the creation of a malware computer program. According to this malicious program a greeting card is being sent to the people. The virus file may get installed on the systems where this card is opened. This malicious program collects internet history of the people and thus this information can be used for other negative purposes. He is involved in the hosting and creation of that malware program. The arrest warrant is issued against him. Even FBI has also announced prize money for anyone who will give any information about Carlos Enrique. Protective Measures: Considering above two cases it is necessary to take preventive measures personally. No one should open any unknown dialogue box popping in the web browser. It is usually evident that these cyber criminals have a collaborative network where they can integrate with each other. Unlike the real world, these cyber criminals are not fighting on the gaining of supremacy and control over the whole network. Rather they work together and also help each other in their activities. Their techniques and methods are changing at a very fast pace and thus making the protective measures of law enforcing agencies totally failure. Now every single computer is liable to manage its own security. On the other side the safe side is to use the cross domain solutions. The solution permits businesses to utilize the potentials of both, hardware and software, along with the facility to disseminate information manually and automatically. In addition the information dissemination and access is way easier among the security levels classified. Such a system ensures a flawless and working system for disseminating and accessing information within the bounds of a particular security class without being leaked out or misused by any other person who is external to the specified security class. As a result, a secured and highly trustworthy network is created for the group working in the department or particular classification. Conclusion: The risk of internet security is one of the biggest threats for the institutions and even individuals also. They have to manage the protective measures on their own behalf because in certain cases the law enforcement agencies are not that much effective to size these kind of cyber crimes. There can be certain steps which can be taken personally in order to avoid any unpleasant activity in the cyber world. Reference List: MacGibbon, Alastair ‘Computer Crime is on the Rise’. PC and Technology Authority. 4 Dec 2013. Web 14th March, 2014. Rouse, Margaret ‘Identity Theft’. Search security. May 2009. Web 14th March, 2014. Read More