What Are the Global Trends in Crime - Research Paper Example

Global Trends in Crime Introduction The current global trends in crime are largely based on the current digital and the widely available electronic technologies which have infiltrated almost all aspects of our lives. These technologies have transformed theft, fraud, and stalking to the more sophisticated crimes of internet scamming, phishing, cyberstalking, cyber bullying, hacking, identity theft, credit card fraud and other crimes generally labeled under internet or cyber crimes. These crimes have more or less infiltrated all corners of the globe, making the apprehension and prosecution process difficult and complicated to carry out. This paper shall discuss the current global trends in crimes, paying particular attention to the infiltration and increased rates of internet crimes and the remedies which have been set forth by the different governments of the world. This paper is being carried out with the hope of establishing a clear and comprehensive discussion of the subject matter and its impact on the governments and the general population. Discussion With the advent of information and communication advancements, the geographical borders of countries have become virtually penetrable (Rosenau, 1995). The porosity of our borders as well as the anonymity of transactions in the internet has created opportunities for criminals and violent groups, as well as for terrorist groups to expand their operations in the international scene. Government-supported cyber-terrorism groups in some regions and hackers have strengthened their skills further in the digital world (Comite Europe’en Des Assurance, 2004). With the coordinated processes between organized crimes and the digital world, the general security of the global landscape has been made vulnerable (Williams, 2001). The Federal Bureau of Investigation sets forth that cyber criminals have launched attacks on many Fortune 500 corporations. In fact, based on reports by the International Data Corporation, about 39% of Fortune 500 companies have been attacked in the digital world via security breaches. Hackers have also been known to attack the Pentagon, the White House, and NATO (Lunev, 2001). Attacks on Microsoft have also led to the theft of their secret source codes; and credit card numbers from various banks have also been accessed illegally by these hackers. About 20 years ago, terrorist activities had to be carried out with much bloodshed and physical contact among combatants, and now, the digital world has made it possible to achieve the same ends of terrorism without the necessity of physical contact among combatants (Verton, 2002). Consequently, terrorism has become an even more dangerous practice and the FBI and other law enforcement authorities have recognized the dangers it poses to the general population. Through the rapid digitization of businesses and other political and social establishments, thieves and other criminals have also gone digital with the manner of their commission of crimes (Carblanc and Moers, 2003). These organizations and corporations have been prompted by these attacks to worry and protect the security of their digital networks. But these crimes seem to evolve as the digital technologies are also evolving. Some of these crimes shall be discussed in this paper. Cyber crimes or cyber attacks are simply defined as crimes which are carried out with the use of a computer network (Kshetri, 2005). In general, cyber crimes include critical infrastructure attack, fraud, online money laundering, criminal uses of Internet communications, identity fraud, use of computers to carry out traditional crimes and cyber extortions (Kshetri, 2005). Other cyber crimes include cyber-stalking and cyber bullying. Other cyber crimes are traditional crimes which are carried out with the use of computer networks. Some of these crimes shall be discussed below. One of the current concerns in the world of crime is the fact that it has become even more difficult to estimate the damage caused by cyber attacks in the global level (Kshetri, 2005). Many web attacks are often unreported, so the statistics gathered on the crime can be underestimated. In considering data from various sources though, it can be deduced that significant financial losses have been suffered as a result of cyber attacks. In Europe, they estimate that the yearly cost of fixing the damage wrought by cyber attacks is at 12 billion dollars. In the US, damage to consumers and businesses for acts credited to cyber attacks have been estimated at $14 billion: $10 billion for spam; $2 billion for fraud on online merchants; and $2 billion for fraudulent emails and sites tricking customers to reveal personal information (Swartz, 2004). One of the most alarming of these crimes is that of credit card fraud. Reports of the FBI reveal that about 30 million card numbers have been stolen via computer security breaches in the years 1999 to 2003. These crimes represent up to billions of dollars in damages to various corporations and to credit card users. Current trends in crime point out that cyber attackers have infiltrated almost all corners of the globe. These attackers are known to be hackers, some being fellow employees, organized crime groups, customers, competitors, political unrest groups, and terrorists (Havely, 2001). Most of their attacks are global in coverage with foreign governments and corporations being the main sources of attacks in the US and in other developed nations (Deloitte, et.al., 2002). The US is considered the main source of web attacks; however, in recent years, its share of cyber crimes has been reduced significantly. The attacks from the US have gone down from 58% in 2003 to 37% in 2004 (Symantec, 2004). The country of origination of cyber attacks are often difficult to pinpoint. Many of these crimes also come from countries but are initiated by various attacking units in different territories. In 1999, two members of Phonemasters in the US were convicted for launching attacks on various telecommunication networks. This attack caused the downloading of Sprint calling card numbers which were later sold to Canada and Switzerland intermediaries, finally ending up with an organized crime group in Italy (Williams, 2001). A hacker who tapped into DirecTV and EchoStar signals in Florida revealed that he was actually also recruited by Afghanistan for his hacking services (Lieberman, 2003). ShadowCrew, a global clearinghouse for stolen credit cards has been known to perpetuate their activities in as many as 20 countries around the world, including Bulgaria, Canada, Poland, Sweden, and the US (Grow and Bush, 2005). Australian cyber criminals have also coordinated links with Russian and Malaysian crime organizations in order to transfer the money they have stolen from overseas banks (Foreign Policy, 2005). Through this network, these groups do not even have to see each other or transact personally with each other to perpetuate their crime. Planned web attacks do not involve networks of large organizations only. These attacks only account for about 10% of total attacks in the business world. The bigger attacks are actually launched against smaller businesses (Symantec, 2004). These attacks however cover various businesses at a significant rate, enough to cause a significant amount of financial damage to these businesses. The fact that they do not have the technical capability to protect themselves against these attacks clearly exacerbates the issue. Phishing is one of the most common types of cyber crimes. “Phishing attacks are attempts by third parties to solicit confidential information from an individual, group, or organization” (Grobler, 2010, p. 1). These are usually carried out by mimicking particular or well known brands with the end goal of obtaining financial gain. Phishers carry out their crime by tricking users into revealing their personal data and other information which would help phishers carry out fraudulent acts. Current trends in phishing confirm an increase in these activities. About 50% of spam activities are actually phishing attacks being carried out by cyber criminals (Carrick, 2009). Based on data from the APWG or the Anti-Phishing Working Group, the number of unique phishing websites increased to about 50,000 in June 2009; this is the largest increase since April of 2007, the highest total since records started to be kept. Based on the X-force report, however, phishing activities decreased in the first half of 2009 because of changes in financial outcomes (Grobler, 2010). In 2008, phishing registered at an average of 0.5% of the overall spam volume. This decreased to 0.1% in 2009. Countries with the most phishing URLs include: the US, Romania, China, South Korea, the UK, Canada, Russia, Japan, Singapore, and Poland. The APWG further reported that unique phishing websites increased to about 49,000 (Grobler, 2010). Main areas of attacks are in North America, Canada, and China. Africa is excluded because of their slow internet access. The digital world has also ushered in a stronger Russian mafia. Because of the nature of the internet, the reach and operational efficacy of organizations have now been enhanced (Porter, 2001). What the years of digital technology would tell us with much certainty is the fact that some corporations are more compatible with the internet and as a result, would likely benefit from the increased coverage and efficacy created by the cyber world. More particularly, the work style of the mafia seems to be very compatible with the digital technologies. The mafia is a profit focused organization which primary is selling private protection (Kshetri, 2005). Legal and illegal businesses in Russia were often required to settle disputes and enforce contracts by paying for it through the Mafia; they were in effect paying the mafia to keep their businesses safe (Kshetri, 2005). With the introduction of digital technology, organizations recognized the potential of the internet in their finances. As a result, the fragile property rights, weak governments, and weak law enforcers, as well as inefficient cyber laws have made it possible for the Russian mafia to be more enterprising in its activities. Case in point is the fact that although hacking is considered a crime under Russian laws, prosecution of these crimes in its territories are very much rare (Lorek, 2001). The Russian mafias now have digitized scenarios of bombings, murders, kidnappings, and even hijackings. They plan their attacks with a sharp focus on the target, while considering time and amount to be extorted. For the most part, they demand less than what is to be spent for the repair of broken down sites (Walker, 2004). Various businesses opt to agree with the hackers’ demands rather than risk attacks and the loss of customers in a major attack. The FBI established that many extortions cases have been paid off. In one of the Russian extortion cases, the online sports books BETWWTS opted to pay Russian extortionists thousands of dollars just to get them off of their back (Walker, 2004). Internet gambling sites, e-commerce firms, and other financial institutions are the usual targets of the Russian mafia. Hackers who were said to attack the internet betting site before the American Super Bowl in 2004 were actually not even based in the US, but were from Russia (Online Casino News, 2004). Internet gambling sites are often marked as targets because of their time-controlled services. In 2003 and 2004, the FBI was able to establish that hackers from the Russian mafia launched a DOS attack on Worldpay System impacting on various online casinos at that time. The VIP Management Services website was also targeted in September 2003 and suffered repeated attacks since then (Walker, 2004). They were threatened in 2004 to pay $30,000 or risk being attacked (Online Casino News, 2004). A Russian hacker in 2000 was able to steal 300,000 credit card numbers from CD Universe and sold them to a website; this after the US retailer declined to pay the $100,000 ransom (CNN, 2000). The FBI also reported in 2001 than about 40 businesses in the US were threatened by the Russian mafia and as a consequence, thousands of credit card numbers have been stolen (Gomes and Bridis, 2001). These businesses were threatened via email demanding up to $100,000 for the return of hacked numbers. Many more corporations have been issued threats however many of these threats have not been reported to authorities. Russia has a very much educated citizenry with programming skills and hacking activities highly accepted and commonplace activities (Grobler, 2010). Because of limited economic opportunities in Russia, computer savvy individuals have taken on work in the digital world. Some students and new graduates point out that hacking is one of the few jobs left in Russia (Walker, 2004). Specialized schools even offer hacking lessons to interested students. In effect, these hackers carry out complicated attacks with limited and inexpensive software. With these lessons and opportunities, Russians are actually considered the best hackers in the world (Lemos, 2001). Even as Russia has signed agreements with the US to investigate various crimes, internet crimes are not among them (Lemos, 2001). With this scenario, there is a need for more stringent measures to be implemented by Russia with the end goal of reducing and even eliminating these crimes. Cyber stalking and cyber bullying have also emerged as major crimes in the current digitized world. This crime still has elements of the traditional stalking where a victim is watched, followed, threatened, and even killed (Maxwell, 2010). In the digital setting, it is now carried out even without physical contact with the victim. The stalking may be carried out through email messages, text messages, phone calls, hacking, and other activities carried out through the internet and the computers (Maxwell, 2010). In the advent of social networking, cyber bullying has risen as a major issue. In this crime, individuals are bullied through the sites with postings of compromising pictures. Postings on networking sites which seek to demoralize, degrade, and demean a person are also popular forms of bullying (Maxwell, 2010). Through these postings, individuals become subjects of ridicule and mocking from other people. For teenagers and others who are emotionally vulnerable, such bullying activities may lead to suicide and other forms of emotional trauma. Gaps in internet laws became very much obvious in May of 2000 when a computer virus called the ‘I Love You’ bug caused billions of damage around the world (Brenner, 2007). It was sent to various businesses and emails around the world and destroyed thousands of files in a matter of minutes. In infected about 270,000 computers in its first few hours of transmission (Brenner, 2007). It caused the shutdown of corporations and businesses, including Ford Motors and Dow Chemical Company. After an investigation was carried out, it was revealed that the virus came from the Philippines and was spread by a computer science student named Onel de Guzman. However, even as the perpetrator was already tracked down, the Philippines did not have computer crime laws at that time (Brenner, 2007). At that time, the Philippines had no laws which made his actions criminal and without the ability to charge the perpetrator for his actions, he could only be charged for the nearest equivalent laws available at that time which was theft and credit card fraud. These charges were later dropped because his actions did not strictly fall under the definition of theft and/or credit card fraud (Brenner, 2007). This incident prompted the Philippines to establish cyber crime laws; however since the law could not apply retroactively, de Guzman’s crime went unpunished. The above incident features the various issues and trends in cyber crimes in relation to laws and the implementation of relevant provisions. Lack of laws specifically applicable to cyber crimes is a major issue in the resolution of these cyber crimes (Brenner, 2007). Another issue being faced by governments is the fact that there are limited international agreements on cybercrimes. This issue is made worse by the fact that it is difficult to particularly identify which country has jurisdiction in the prosecution of these crimes (Brenner, 2007). It is also difficult for prosecutors to determine how many offenses have been committed, against whom, and the amount of damage coming from said offenses. Various changes have already been adopted by different countries in relation to their cyber laws with the end goal of prosecuting cyber criminals and preventing the extensive practice of cyber crimes. However, it still cannot be overlooked that the nature of cybercrimes are lodged in their anonymity (Brenner, 2007). Only with available technology and expertise can activities be traced back to a single computer and even then to the actual perpetrator. The measures in place which seek to protect users from cyber attacks and intrusions are the very measures which are also protecting perpetrators (Brenner, 2007). This issue is very much a problem in the case of child pornography via the internet and cyber stalking wherein the perpetrators are difficult to identify and apprehend because they are protected by their service providers. The current trends in cyber crimes have grown to be more alarming with each year and with the advancements in digital technology being gained. For one cyber attacks and security breaches have increased in frequency as well as sophistication, with the discovery of these crimes usually done at the end of the fact (Deloitte, 2005). These cyber criminals are also targeting the corporations with malware and anonymization capability in order to circumvent the security controls. What essentially makes the process of apprehending these criminals difficult is the fact that the current technologies of law enforcement officials are obsolete and are essentially incapable of countering activities of sophisticated and highly capable cyber criminals. There are also no known deterrents for cyber crimes, many studies either over-estimate or under-estimate the scope and the impact of these crimes (Deloitte, 2005). In considering future indicators of crime, there seems to be a major cause for alarm as far as cyber crimes are concerned because trends seem to indicate that these cyber crimes would become even more severe, more complicated, and more difficult to detect and prosecute (Deloitte, 2005). There is a strong and hidden economy which has grown from stolen information via hacking and phishing activities. “Malware authors and other cybercriminals for hire provide skills, capabilities, products, and outsourced services to cyber criminals” (Deloitte, 2005, p. 6). These services include data acquisition, access to systems, and identity theft, among others. The current security model is mainly reactive, meaning, they only arise as a result of new crimes and new methods of committing crimes. They are not proactive or even preventive. In effect, much damage is often incurred by victims first before any remedy is implemented for these criminals. Various incidents have been reported in relation to the inadequacy of current measures to prevent and address cyber crimes. These incidents include one where a major online service provider, about half a million credit card accounts were put at risk by malware; this was only discovered about four months after the fact (Deloitte, 2005). Malware on an online booking system exposed about eight million to risk; malware on cash register terminals at a restaurant also compromised credit card accounts of various customers. These incidents are just some of the many issues being currently faced by our authorities in relation to the cyber crimes and their current trends. If these authorities do not make solid efforts towards addressing these issues, these problems will continue to grow and reach irreversible points. Conclusion The above discussion depicts the current global trends in crimes. These trends express the strong and solid growth of cyber crimes and its related criminal activities. The common cyber crimes involve phishing, credit card frauds, online scams, hacking, cyber stalking, cyber bullying, and child pornography. For the most part, these crimes are already traditionally crimes, however, they have been redressed through the internet with computers and online technology being used to perpetuate these crimes. Due to the anonymous nature of the internet, it has been difficult to apprehend and prosecute cyber criminals. Security protocols set forth by service providers to protect their users are the very same protocols which protect the criminals. In effect, the offenders remain anonymous. It is also difficult to define the parameters upon which internet crimes are defined; these parameters are supposed to assist the authorities in the prosecution of offenders. Various countries have already made adjustments in their laws in order to ensure that these crimes do not go unpunished, however the capability of their law enforcement officials are still too weak to ensure apprehension of cyber criminals. Cyber criminals possess the capability to carry out their sophisticated crimes, whereas the law enforcers hardly possess the technology and capability to identify and apprehend criminals. These trends indicate that more improvements in digital technology would be seen in the years to come. 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