The Suitability of Cybercrime Laws to Meet New Realities of the Internet - Essay Example

The suitability of cybercrime laws to meet new realities of the Internet and computer crimes The internet has become a very dynamic platform, where changes occur with each passing day. Most often, technological inventions and advancements occur, changing the way the internet was operating previously. Thus, it has become very difficult to predict what changes will happen on the internet in the future. Similarly, the changing nature of the crimes that target computers, computer devices and the communication technology networks is uncertain (Guillaume 27). In this respect, there are various cybercrime laws that have been enacted to address the risks posed by cyber crimes and computer systems attacks. However, owing to the dynamic nature of the internet crimes targeting the computers and the information technology systems, the enacted cyber crime laws have fallen short of meeting the realities of the Internet and computer crimes (Guillaume 42). Thus such laws are associated with some aspects of strengths and weaknesses relating to curbing the computer and information technology attacks and crimes. In this respect, adapting existing laws to reflect the new realities of the Internet sometimes works and sometimes does not. Thus, this discussion seeks to analyze one of the existing cybercrime laws, to give an example of where it can be applied reasonably, and another example of where the law needs to be modified. Example of where the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 can be applied reasonably The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 - S.773 is one of the laws that have been established to reduce the risks that the computers and the communication technology networks within the USA are exposed to. According to section 2 of this law, titled findings, the failure of the USA to protect its cyber space is one of the urgent national security problems that are facing the country (Cybersecurity n.p.). In this respect, the law recommends various measures that should be taken to ensure that the government takes adequate measure to control the security threat. The measures are aimed at making the USA cyber space more secure and protected against the cyber security threats. One of such major recommendation that has been provided by the law is that, the president of the USA has the mandate to declare "cyber-emergency" (Kaplan n.p.). This provision is meant to enable the president of the USA to shut down any, or all internet traffic, under a situation where it is determined that there is a cyber attack threat that has the potential to affect the USA adversely. Such situations include cyber attacks that target the country’s major information infrastructure and installations, as well as the Internet, computer systems, and telecommunications networks (Cybersecurity n.p.). Further, the law provided that the government should publish all the major areas of weaknesses that the cyber criminals are likely to target. This way, both the public and the private sectors can take caution and address these areas of weaknesses, to ensure that their systems remains safeguarded against the malicious attacks of the cyber criminals (Lorber n.p.). In this respect, the provision of the law requiring that the president should declare "cyber-emergency", and take the necessary measures towards disabling the internet traffic that exposes the vital installations to security threats, can be reasonably implemented. The essence of the implementation of this provision is to allow for emergency measures to be taken, towards thwarting an attempt to attack vital national installations by the cyber criminals and the internet hackers. This is because; such attacks can be too costly for the country (Fox News n.p.). Further, such a provision is makes it possible to eliminate the delays that might be caused by the relevant legal procedures that should be followed to thwart such an attempt. Such lengthy and bureaucratic procedures may result in addressing the problem when it is too late, and the damage has already been done. In making this provision within this law, section 2 of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 - S.773 related to findings on cyber security attacks, indicated that any attack that succeeds to affect a major financial provider would affect the whole economy. The findings also provided that a successful attack on vital physical infrastructure, such as an attack on the national power grid or the national refineries, would bring the economy of the country to a halt, even for weeks (Cybersecurity n.p.). Therefore, the implementation of the provision that allow the president to declare an emergency on such perceived attacks is reasonably applicable. The action can be able to address the situation before it can plunge the country into a disarray, arising from deeper economic and security disaster Example of where the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 needs to be modified Nevertheless, there is a necessity to make some modification to the provision of this law. Specifically, the provision requiring that the government should publish the areas of weakness in both the private and the public sector that are highly vulnerable to attacks, needs to be modified. That provision may pose a major cyber security threat, where such areas are not addressed adequately. There is a noble intention associated with this provision. The provision seeks to ensure that the major areas of weaknesses are addressed well in advance, so that the computer systems, the communication networks and the vital infrastructures remain guarded in advance against the malicious attacks (Kaplan n.p.). However, while such a noble intention exists, the weakness with this provision is that; it may work to the advantage of the cyber criminals and the system attackers. This is because, the attackers will be notified on the areas of weaknesses related to both the private and public systems that are vital in the country (Lorber n.p.). This way, they will plan attacks that will exploit the weaknesses of the institutions, and thus cause higher damage to the institutions, than it would have happened if such weaknesses were not published (Fox News n.p.). Therefore, it is necessary for the law to be modified, so that the provision is eliminated, and thus the major weakness associated with this law is addressed. This will make the law effective in addressing the urgent cyber security threats that can affect and damage the country in a major way. It will also ensure that the cyber criminals are not given the opportunity to launch more attacks. Works Cited “Cybersecurity Act of 2009 - S.773”. Web. 31 March, 2014. From http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c111:1:./temp/~c111vLB6gx:e3115: Fox News. “Senate Bill Would Give President Emergency Control of Internet.” Fox News. Web. 31 March, 2014. From http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/28/senate-president-emergency-control-internet/ Guillaume, Fortinet. “Fighting Cybercrime: Technical, Juridical and Ethical Challenges.” Virus Bulletin Conference, 2009 . print. Kaplan, Jeremy. “New Cybersecurity Act Eliminates Internet Kill Switch.” Fox News, March 18, 2010. Web. 31 March, 2014. From http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2010/03/18/obama-no-longer-internet-president/ Lorber, Janie. “House Passes Cybersecurity Bill.” The New York Times, February 4, 2010. Web. 31 March, 2014. From http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/house-passes-cybersecurity-bill/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 Read More