Resolving Issues Related to Cybercrime - Research Paper Example

Introduction Cyber crime is a reference to a criminal activity that is carried out using the internet and the computers. Cybercrime takes the form of defrauding bank accounts that are online and the illegal downloading of music files. Moreover, the creation and distribution of viruses on computers and exposure of confidential information pertaining businesses amount to cyber crime. Criminals use identity theft in order to steal information from other internet users. This form of cyber crime entails luring unsuspecting users into fake websites whereby they enter confidential information (Ştefan p.116). Cyber crimes have brought massive loss of funds and relevant authorities should formulate measures in order to address the situation. Discussion Description of cyber crime Consumers and businessmen have continued to face the problem of cyber crime as the legitimate uses of the internet have become more sophisticated and diversified. The crime that started in the late 1990’s as a form of social engineering whereby criminals would steal passwords for consumers account with the intent of getting free connectivity has acquired significant growth and expansion into a profitable industry with the new forms of crime. These forms are monetary theft, identity theft, extortion, money laundering and industrial espionage among other crimes (Ionescu, Mirea and Blajan p.375). The criminals who undertake various forms of cyber crimes operate from almost anywhere whereby they target businesses and people in all countries. There are many challenges that are posed by the volume and the scale of cybercrimes. Moreover, the technical complexity in identification of the cyber criminals makes it hard for the criminals to be brought to justice. The increase in the number of internet users and the nature in which most businesses are conducted online has enabled cyber criminals to increase their opportunities. Furthermore, law agencies have not formulated comprehensive mechanisms of addressing the issue of cyber crimes and the traditional type of policing that exists in many countries is incapable of apprehending the cyber criminals (Ionescu, Mirea and Blajan p.375). There are major types of cyber crimes. Vandalism of services concerned with telecommunication is one of the many forms of cyber crimes. This form has become a major industry whereby criminals are able to access circuits, make their calls and sell airtime to third parties. Moreover, the criminals have been able to access the telecommunication systems through impersonation of the technicians. This is achieved using software on the internet or obtaining the access code belonging to an employee fraudulently. Sophisticated offenders have been able to evade detection (Brenner p.40). Criminal conspiracies in communication are another form of cyber crime. The activities of criminals rely on information systems for record keeping and communications in the same way that public and private sectors rely on the information systems for their business functions. Criminals are using telecommunication equipment to facilitate gambling, drug trafficking, prostitution and weapons trade among other activities. Encryption technology is being used by these criminals and has made criminal communications become out of the reach of law enforcers. Furthermore, criminals are using computer networks to produce and distribute pornographic materials. The crime of pornography, especially child pornography has become of great concern since pornographic materials can be imported to other countries without restrictions. This crime has a high degree of organization (Brenner p.31). Telecommunications piracy is another form of cybercrime whereby through digital technology, reproduction and dissemination of sound, graphics, print and other forms of multimedia has been enhanced. Criminals have failed to resist the temptation of reproducing copyrighted material for sale and personal use at a lower price. Henceforth, the owners of the copyrighted materials have been at a great loss given that every year losses amounting to tens of billions of shillings are sustained by their industries because of infringement of copyright issues. The Association of Software Publishers has indicated that software amounting to 7.4 billion dollars have been lost to cyber criminals during the early 90’s with half of that amount being pilfered from the internet. Furthermore, the cost of piracy to the American industry was more than 10 billion dollars in 1996 with industries such as the film industry, the music industry and book publishing industries suffering huge losses. On the same note, popular movies are freely available on the internet even before their official releases (Wall p.99). Distribution of offensive materials is another offense that is synonymous to cyber crimes. Objectionable content exists in great quantities in the internet and takes the form of racist propaganda, graphic materials, and instructions reserved for the operation of explosive materials. The internet has also been used as an avenue for threatening, harassing and undertaking intrusive communications, which range from the old forms of obscene telephone calls to contemporary manifestations such as cyber-stalking, in which criminals are sending messages to unwilling recipients (Wall p.99). Extortion has also been enhanced by technological advancements in computer networks. The United States and Britain have witnessed electronic attacks on their financial institutions over the recent years. Particularly in England, financial institutions paid loads of money to cyber criminals who wanted to annihilate their computer systems. There are incidents where senior executives paid millions of sterling pounds after being convinced that the criminals had the capacity of destroying the computer systems used by the institutions (Wall p.100). The crime of tax evasion and money laundering is another form of cyber crime. The transfer of electronic funds has enhanced the concealment and proliferation of criminal proceeds. The emergence of new technologies has assisted in hiding the origin of wealth that is ill gotten. Taxation authorities are being faced by the problem whereby it is becoming increasingly hard to detect income that is derived legitimately. Financial institutions are not the only bodies with the capacity of transferring electronic funds. The recent trend whereby informal banking has developed and the supervision by the central bank is being by-passed has led to the growth of cyber crimes. Incase cyber crimes are not addressed by the relevant authorities, the situation is likely to worsen since traditional banks that have thrived in Asian communities are going to enjoy using telecommunications in their illegal undertakings. Moreover, through the innovation of technologies in electronic commerce, it is easier to envisage how the countermeasures that have existed with the view of addressing tax evasion and money laundering will become obsolete (Wall p.101). The internet has provided a fertile ground for the proliferation of extortion, terrorism and electronic vandalism. This has come because of overdependence on telecommunication and data processing systems. Cyber criminals have been able to interfere with the aforementioned systems subsequently causing significant damage to these systems. Moreover, electronic intruders have been able to cause inconvenience and massive harm to these systems (Ionescu, Mirea and Blajan p.375). Criminals have been able to hack the web pages of commercial and government organizations. Moreover, these criminals have been able to invest in disruptions of the infrastructure concerned with information technology. Countries like Sri Lanka have witnessed the disruption of their computer systems. German hackers were also able to compromise the service providers in America during which they disabled some of the servers in South Florida. In this particular incidence, the criminals were able to obtain confidential information and details of credit cards belonging to various subscribers. The recent incident of extortion was in Eastern Europe where an extortionist was able to obtain credit details of customers of a company that was based in North America (Brenner p.32). Investment and sales fraud is another form of cybercrime. This crime has been enhanced by the prevalence of electronic commerce whereby cyber criminals have been able to apply digital technology to their fraudulent endeavors. There has been proliferation in the use of telecommunication devices for illegal investment overtures, bogus charitable solicitations and fraudulent sales. Criminals are now enjoying a cyberspace that abounds with varieties of opportunities to invest in crime. Moreover, criminals are now enjoying access to millions of victims around the globe while incurring a minimal cost. Criminals are using pyramid schemes and investment solicitations to amass funds from unsuspecting internet users. These crimes are being undertaken from private areas such as the living room or a basement office in which criminals are producing homepages that are highly sophisticated and better than the websites of established companies (Brenner p.32). Cyber criminals are engaging in intercepting telecommunications illegally. Due to the recent innovations and developments in telecommunications, criminals have been given an opportunity for electronic eavesdropping. This ranges from illegal surveillance of private lives of individuals to industrial and political espionage. Moreover, the technological developments in telecommunications have led to the emergence of new vulnerabilities whereby the criminals have intercepted electromagnetic signals, which are emitted by computers. The escalation of these crimes has been furthered by the fact that there are no laws, which prevent the monitoring of radiation from computers. Hackers in America have been able to access the national security and law enforcement data and have taken part in the severe disruption of communication systems belonging to the police (Ionescu, Mirea and Blajan p.375). Cyber criminals have engaged in fraud regarding the transfer of electronic funds. The risk of interception and diversion of electronic transactions has increased due to the increase in systems of transferring electronic funds. Cyber criminals have succeeded in this crime by intercepting credit card numbers belonging to customers of financial institutions, financially and physically. Hackers from Russia have been able to access computers of several banks after which they have transferred funds from main accounts to other accounts usually opened by their accomplices (Brenner p.33). Recommendations In order to prevent the various forms of cyber crimes, there is the need for the relevant authorities to focus beyond the penal procedures, criminal law and law enforcement. This focus should incorporate requirements that are necessary for securing the functions of businesses that optimize on the internet. This will be necessary in order to foster individual privacy and business confidence as well as promoting and protecting individuals who have innovative and wealth creating potentials. Authorities should also formulate mechanisms that warn and responds to cyber attacks early enough to avoid loss of funds. A global culture of cyber security is necessary for the prevention of cyber crimes. This culture is important as it can address the needs of all countries particularly developing countries, which have emerging and technology structures that are highly vulnerable (Great Britain: Home Office p.9). In order to combat cyber crime it is also necessary for countries to develop international cooperation. This cooperation can be achieved through the engagement of the United Nations, whose system and universal character puts it in a position that can enable it to assume a leading role in activities that ensure the protection and proper functioning of the cyberspace. Moreover, the general assembly of the United Nations can call for mechanisms that ensure that the cyberspace is protected from abuse and exploitation from the terrorists or cybercriminals. Furthermore, the system of the United Nations should advance global approaches that are instrumental in ensuring that cyber crime is combated. In addition, the United Nations can formulate policies capable of mitigating and averting the negative ramifications of cybercrime on the telecommunications infrastructure, e-commerce, sustainable development, privacy protection and trade (Great Britain: Home Office p.9). All nations should update their criminal laws with the intent of addressing particular forms of cyber crimes. The traditional forms of cyber crime that are perpetrated using the new technologies should be addressed by abolishing or clarifying inadequate provisions. These include provisions that are incapable of addressing theft or destruction of intangibles. States should also engage in the creation of statutes to address new crimes, which include the unauthorized access to computer networks. Procedural laws are also necessary as they enable communications to be traced (Blakeley p.13). The governments, relevant organizations and the private sectors should work together in order to raise awareness on the dangers of cyber crimes. The aforementioned bodies have the responsibility of ensuring that appropriate countermeasures are introduced with the aim of enhancing the capability of law enforcers, judges and prosecutors. The bodies should also ensure that judicial administrations and institutions that are concerned with legal studies are able to include a curriculum on cyber crime in their learning schedules (Blakeley p.13). In order to prevent the various forms of cybercrimes, the relevant bodies in various countries should formulate a cyber crime policy that is evidence-based capable of being subjected to relentless evaluation with the view of ensuring that the policy is effective and efficient. Henceforth, coordination efforts, carried out at an international level should formulate funding mechanisms capable of facilitating research that is vital for curbing forms of cyber crimes that are emerging on an unprecedented scale. This research should be coordinated internationally with the results being widely available (Home Office p.6). Resolving issues related to cybercrime Issues that are related to cyber crimes can be resolved by identification by agencies of access points for networks. Agencies should also ensure that the network’s safeguards and systems for various organizations are operational and adequate. These systems are access points for wireless networks and the devices used in these networks. To succeed in ensuring that the networks are safe, the agencies should secure interfaces for public networks that are controlled by either agencies or non-agencies. They should also standardize authentication mechanisms that are in place for equipments and users. In addition, the agencies should control the access by users, of information resources (Home Office p.6). There are measures that are necessary for defending organizations against attacks by insiders on networks of agencies. This entails controlling access rights to files, which also maximizes integrity of files and enforces the separation of duties. Access to online files should also be granted only for the purpose of job duties. Segregation of networks, which serve different organizations is important and should be enhanced by limiting the access to the segregated networks by using firewalls and routers. Attacks by insiders can also be prevented through programming of access badges so that insiders are allowed entry into places of duty that they have been assigned. Moreover, inside attacks can be ameliorated through the enforcement of separation of programming duties whereby trapdoors, Trojan codes, covert channels and software hooks are eliminated. The monitoring of activities of the insiders can help in ensuring that the users are performing only the designated tasks (Home Office p.7). Organizations can be defended against attacks emanating from cyber criminals. This can be achieved through the formulation of authentication mechanisms, which should be required so that access can be granted to network agencies. The levels of authorization should be reviewed on a regular basis in order to prevent information disclosure via unauthorized access. Penetration tests and vulnerability assessments are ways that can help in minimizing chances of cyber crime. Agencies concerned with the prevention of cyber crime should have the responsibilities of securing hosts, which could be potential targets. Moreover, these agencies should engage in denying inbound traffic in order to limit the odds of network attacks, periodically scanning for Trojan horses, deployment of authentication mechanisms whenever a need arises, designing and implementing networks for continuous availability and the development of specific plans that are necessary for responding to attacks (Great Britain: Home Office p.9). Organizations can defend themselves from hackers by limiting the potential exploits that are within their networks. The system administrators of these organizations have the responsibility of scanning networks for spyware and providing training that is necessary for security awareness to their personnel. Moreover, the system administrators should engage in the appropriate deployment of systems that detect and prevent intrusion (Great Britain: Home Office p.10). Conclusion In summary, there has been an increase in various forms of Cybercrime due to the increase in number of internet users. Cyber crime emerged in the 1990’s as a simple criminal activity whereby criminals were stealing password from unsuspecting customers. Currently, the crime has taken many forms such as identity theft, vandalism of services, investment and sales fraud among other forms. This essay has articulated various forms of cyber crimes and the countries in which the crimes have been undertaken. In order to combat cyber crime, international cooperation is necessary. Authentication mechanisms are also instrumental in preventing various forms of cyber crime. Works Cited Blakeley, Craig J. "Combating Cyber Crime: The legal (& Practical) challenges." n.d. 14 June 2012. Brenner, Susan W. Cybercrime: Criminal Threats from Cyberspace. Oxford: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Great Britain: Home Office. Cyber Crime Strategy. Norwich: The Stationery Office, 2010. Home Office. "Cyber Crime Strategy." March 2010. 14 June 2012. Ionescu, Luminita, Viorica Mirea And Adrian Blajan. "Fraud, Corruption and Cyber Crime in a Global Digital Network." Economics, Management, and Financial Markets 6.2 (2011): 373–380. Ştefan, Ileana. "Cyber Crime." Juridical Current 14.3 (2011): 115-120. Wall, David. Cybercrime: The Transformation of Crime in the Information Age. Cambridge : Polity, 2007. Read More