The Essence of Cybercrime - Essay Example

Cybercrime The world has undergone various transformations technologically. In the current era of globalization and the digital era, the world operates as a global village. The level of technology distinguishes developed to developing countries. A country’s development in science and technology enriches its own potential. However, great advances in science and technology in developed countries is as a result of a well established information system. Therefore, the rate of science and technology in a country is very important to any economy. On the other hand, improved information system comes with demerits. The most feared setback in computer technology is cyber crime (Ross 2010). Cybercrime is a criminal activity that is done through the use of computers and the internet as a tool to target a victim. This illegal activity involves downloading illegal music files to the theft of millions of dollars from online banking systems. It also involves non-monetary crimes such as distributing and creating viruses on other computers or even the posting of confidential business information and data on the internet. On the other hand, cyber crime is classified into three different groups (Kiesbye 2012). Cyber crime against individual This type of cyber crime occurs when the criminal is targeting one person’s property through various ways such as spamming, cyber stalking, harassment through emails and email spoofing. Cyber crime against an organization This occurs among the government and a business entity through the use of unauthorized access over the computer system without knowing the owner. It is also meant to send programs with the aim of crashing the computer system virus trafficking software. Cyber crime against the society This type of crime basically affects the people of the society especially a young child such as pornography, polluting, forgery and the youth through indecent exposure. Cybercrime has developed to become one of the fastest growing areas of crime. An increasing number of criminals have been exploiting the convenience, speed and anonymity that the modern technologies offer so as to commit a diverse range of criminal activities. Moreover, the world’s nature of internet usage has given criminals an opportunity to commit any criminal activity any place around the globe. This has made it important for each and every country to adapt domestic offline to detect and cover crimes committed out in cyberspace. In recent years, cybercrime has evolved. In the past it was committed by small groups or by individuals. Nowadays, there has been an emerging trend where traditional organized crime syndicates and criminal minded technology experts working in hand in combining their resources and expertise (Stefoff 2009). There are two types of cybercrime. They are cybertheft and cybervandalism. Cybertheft is the activity of using the internet to steal property or interference with another person’s enjoyment of resources through computers for making illegal activities. It can further be explained as the act of stealing of personal information/ data or the theft of financial information. It further includes the hacking of others people’s email accounts and bank accounts and stealing all the important documents. For instance, it includes hacking into bank accounts and creating debit and credit entries from one account to another which interferes with the copyright as well as posting confidential information over the internet (Hile 2010). On the other hand, cyber vandalism refers to the damage of information infrastructure for one’s pleasure. It is also increasing in the current level of computer technology. It possesses as a great threat that is meant to destroy the information system targeting certain individuals, corporations and business entities. Cyber vandalism includes website defacement and the denial of service attacks. Another example is the attack on social media pages. Cybervandalism is contrary to cybertheft. This is because cybertheft may be motivated by a desire for monetary items while cybervandalism is motivated by the desire to prove that a challenge say feat can be achieved. Cyber vandals do not deny their presence, but they leave a mark to show their expertise (Ross 2010). Cybercrime possesses as a significant challenge to traditional law enforcement. The level of technology continues to grow every now and then. Hence, cyber criminals grow together with the current level of technology. This implies that if traditional law enforcers have not upgraded their information system to the current level of computer system, it becomes a challenge for them to tackle the crime. In addition, modern people have treasured education. This has resulted into an increasing number of computer professionals faced with unemployment. They end up engaging in cybercrime as the cheapest way to earn money. This translates that if traditional law enforcers do not seek training to know the current evolution of computer technology, then they cannot handle the rate of cybercrime. Another reason why cybercrime posseses as a threat to traditional law enforcement, is because it can be carried anywhere in the world, hence tracing criminals can be a daunting task to traditional law enforcers (Stefoff 2009). The traditional law enforcement agencies should ensure that they grow with the growing level of technology. This can help them learn tactics that cyber criminals use in committing cybercrimes. They should install the modern computer information systems designed to decrypt data. This can prove beneficial because it can help trace the encrypted IP address used by the criminals. They can thus be able to locate their location and indict them. Another way is for these agencies to ensure that their staff is trained accordingly with the growth of technology. Highly trained staff translates to efficiency and accuracy in their work and the result. It would thus improve their ability to fight cyber crimes. Traditional law agencies can also conduct civic education to people advising them on the best measures to prevent cyber crimes such as protecting their privacy, passwords and use of antivirus to stop spam and viruses (Kiesbye 2012). The rate of cybercrime has integrated into theft of identity. Identity theft has increased tremendously as a white collar crime on a global basis. It has become like a highly infectious disease spread through technological development. Identity theft refers to identity fraud where criminals use someone else’s identity for their own illegal purposes Hile 2010). The common way that people’s identity are stolen is through credit card theft. Criminals then use the credit cards to steal money from the victim’s bank accounts. They even tend to establish accounts with utility companies as well as renting apartments using other people’s identity. Another way of identity theft is the stealing of social security numbers (SSN) for one’s benefit. However, identity theft can be avoided. People can ensure that their credit cards are secure and that they do not disclose their bank account pin number. Another way is safeguarding their SSN and making sure they log out of a computer after using social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Above all, identity theft can be avoided by ensuring high level of confidentiality (Kiesbye 2012). In the united states, the federal bureau of investigation (FBI) listed numerous most wanted cybercriminals. I will only discuss two of them. Alexsey Belan is one of the most wanted cybercriminal. He is wanted because he allegedly intruded in the network of three e-commerce companies and stole all their databases and later negotiated their sale on the internet in Nevada and California. Another one is Farhan Ul Arshad who was involved in an international telecommunication scheme that stole from unwarely individuals, companies and government entilties both in the US and abroad (Cyber’s Most Wanted 2014). This act reveals that cybercrime is real and should not be taken for granted because millions of dollars have been lost through the act. It is upon all business entities, individuals and government to ensure that they protect their databases with very secure and sophisticates software. They should also ensure that the identity of a person as well as background information about that particular person is known before engaging in a business transaction. These measures will ensure that such cyber crimes cannot happen again. In conclusion, cyber crime is among the fastest growing crimes of the 21st century worldwide. It is increasing as a result of technological advancement, use of computers and the internet. It has even integrated into theft of identity. The issue should be thoroughly addressed by all security agencies globally to ensure that criminals are apprehended and put to justice. It is also upon individuals and corporations to safeguard their data and maintain high level confidentiality so as to avoid being victims of cybercrime. Work Cited Ross, Jeffrey Ian. Cybercrime. New York: Chelsea House, 2010. Print. Hile, Kevin. Cybercrime. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Lucent Books, 2010. Print. Stefoff, Rebecca. Cybercrime. Tarrytown, N.Y.: Marshall Cs Benchmark, 2009. Print. Kiesbye, Stefan. Identity theft. Detroit: Gn Press, 2012. Print. Anonymous. "Cyber’s Most Wanted." FBI, 2014. Web. 3 Apr 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber Read More