An Emerging Area in Criminology - Essay Example

Running Head: Cybercrimes Cybercrime: An Emerging Area in Criminology of Human society has been experiencing crimes in some form or the other since its advent. Crime has thus become a economic and social phenomenon. Since everything has both positive and negative aspects so is the case with internet. With the expansion of its use a new area of crimes is emerging known as “Cybercrimes” where computer is used as main tool. This paper intends to elucidate meaning and scope of cybercrimes, their current extent and variety in the world. Their development because of e-commerce, internet, specifically, the broadband internet is explained. An estimation of losses to businesses and individuals is also provided and in the end prevention and remedial suggestions are also given. Cybercrime: An Emerging Area in Criminology Crime and Criminology A crime is an act that is considered harmful to society and is forbidden by law. Criminology is the scientific study of crime, criminals, and the criminal justice system. Criminologists are professionals who try to discover why people become criminals, when and where various types of crimes occur, and how crime can be prevented. Crime has been a part of society ever since people began to live together in groups. However, at different times and in a wide variety of societies, people have had different ideas about crime. Thus an act that is considered a crime in one society or country may be legal in another. For example, in the United States people are free to practice any religion they choose, whereas in some other countries it may be a crime to practice certain religions. Some laws prohibit behavior that endangers people or property, while others outlaw behavior that is viewed as morally wrong. Values and morals change over time and so do beliefs about what behaviors should be considered crimes. Despite such differences, however, certain acts are considered crimes in most modern societies. (Dow & Gist, 2007) In order to study it further crime is further divided into a number of types and categories but this paper intends to study an emerging area in the field of crimes and criminology, that is, “Cybercrimes”. Cybercrime: Introduction As stated by Strossen (2000) the term "cybercrime" refers to any crime accomplished through the use of computer technology. As computers and computer networks have grown more popular, information stored on them has become more accessible and is easily erased, copied, moved, or falsified. This has caused an increase in the use of computers for white-collar crime. Computers are objects of crime when they or their contents are damaged or made unavailable, as when a computer is stolen or its hard drive is damaged. As subjects of crime, computers provide the electronic environment in which frauds are perpetrated through entry of false data and in which computer viruses self-propagating harmful programs are inadvertently introduced into a system through contaminated files or programs. Computers are instruments of crime when they are used to plan and execute complex crimes such as embezzlement or identity theft. (Fafinski, 2008) Variety and Extent Computers have been used as a tool in most kinds of crime including fraud, theft, larceny, burglary, sabotage, espionage, conspiracy, illegal gambling, distribution of pornography, extortion, forgery, bootlegging, and terrorist acts since the first cases were reported in the 1950s. Low-level computer crimes were initially committed largely by trusted users with the requisite skill, knowledge, authority, motive, and resources. Malicious hackers, a category that has extended beyond high-tech juvenile delinquents to include members of organized crime and terrorist groups, engage in computer intrusions, vandalism, and the production of "attack" software for other, less skilled hackers, bad behavior of some users toward others including obscenity, stalking, identity theft, and threats of harm has become a matter of increasing concern. Although it dates back to the late 1970s, the sending of unsolicited bulk e-mail messages “spamming” raised new issues in the 1990s and led to criminal prosecutions in the early 2000s. Traditional criminals are converting their paper-based and manual crime methods to equivalent and new electronic techniques. The crimes are often successful because, unlike human victims, computers are predictable and repeat themselves perfectly. Much computer crime consists of entering false data into computers, which is easier to do than writing a program to change data already in the computer. (Gennaro & Holmes, 2006) E-Commerce/ Internet The growth of Internet use and e-commerce has added to the opportunities for crime. They eliminate the need for perpetrators to be at the sites of their crimes and allow criminal acts to be performed instantaneously against multiple potential victims. In a "phishing" scam, a spoofed (forged) e-mail message may lead thousands of unwitting consumers to provide credit-card information and account passwords to criminals rather than the intended bank or credit-card Company. An Internet user may be induced to install a spyware program that monitors Web sites viewed and reports back to a remote host, or tricked into installing a program that causes the modem to dial a phone number in a distant country, resulting in exorbitant long-distance charges. A virus received via e-mail or downloaded from a Web page may enable a hacker to gain control of a computer and use it to send bulk e-mails without its owners knowledge. Cooperation has grown between virus writers, spammers, and members of organized crime. The majority of spam messages are now believed to be sent from hijacked computers, without their owners awareness, and in quantities small enough to evade detection. (Ward, 2000) Broadband Internet The spread of broadband Internet access has increased the ease with which perfect digital copies of computer files and programs may be shared over the Internet. At any time, millions of users worldwide are connected to decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks, engaged primarily in illegal trading of music, movies, and computer software. P2P programs have grown more sophisticated. For example, BitTorrent transfers portions of a requested file from multiple users computers. As a result, file-transfer efficiency is increased with greater sharing. (Ward, 2000) Losses Caused by Cybercrimes As elucidated by CSI the computer security institute of USA, losses to businesses from computer crimes are difficult to quantify. Victims often resist reporting suspected cases because they may lose more from embarrassment, damaged reputation, litigation, and other consequential losses than from the acts themselves. Evidence suggests that the number of cases rises each year, because of businesses increasing reliance on computers. Crimes involving insurance, banking, product inventories, and securities have resulted in losses of tens of millions to billions of dollars. One study put the cost to banks and credit-card companies for "phishing" attacks at $1.2 billion for 2003 in the United States alone. In the wake of terrorist attacks against the United States, the federal government has spent billions of dollars to protect against the use of computer networks in further attacks. The cost of computer crime to consumers is also difficult to quantify. Millions of people avoid participating in e-commerce for fear that their credit-card and other personal information may become accessible to criminals. In 2005 a data broker with vast consumer information files unwittingly divulged data on 145,000 people to criminals posing as business owners. Consumers and businesses alike must expend more resources to fight viruses and to protect against operating system security flaws. (CIS, 2002) Prevention and Remedies Technological security Tools According to Piazza (2004) technological security in automated systems is limited because new vulnerabilities are introduced into increasingly complex computer systems at a faster rate than security practitioners can rectify. On the positive side, however, new methods of authenticating user identities with digital signatures, placing computer firewalls between insecure networks and vulnerable host computers, using cryptography to scramble confidential information and using automated intrusion-detection systems are improving computer security. In addition to these tools, implemented at businesses and government agencies, there are several others now being used by such U.S. government agencies as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency. In 2001 these organizations were given greater access to data transmissions of suspected criminals, especially suspected terrorists, through tools such as Carnivore, a system that allowed government agents to intercept e-mail and other data transmissions at a suspects Internet Service Provider (ISP). The agencies were also allowed to install a device called Magic Lantern on a terrorist suspects computer, which was designed to record every keystroke useful in reading encrypted messages or learning passwords. (By 2005, Carnivore and Magic Lantern had been superseded by commercial programs.) (White, 2009) Law Enforcement Many countries and states have strong computer-crime statutes and increasingly effective law enforcement and prosecution with more-severe penalties. In October 2001, for example, the United States added hacking to the list of crimes considered terrorist acts. The international escalation of computer crime threatens the social and commercial infrastructures of entire countries and is leading to large-scale information warfare. On Oct. 21, 2002, a brief, well-coordinated denial-of-service attack caused seven of the Internets top-level domain-name servers to crash and brought two more to the verge of failing. Because domain-name information is cached on other network computers, the incident caused no visible disruption. Experts varied in their estimates of the severity of the attack and the likelihood that a similar attack, or one on the Internets several dozen core routers, could cause complete failure. Law-enforcement officials have raised the prospect of an electronic attack combined with a traditional attack. Such threats require changes in laws and social policy in countries worldwide. In 2002 the administration of U.S. president George W. Bush appointed a special advisor for cyberspace security. (Coakley, 2009) Entertainment-industry groups have responded to the informal piracy of music, movies, and computer software over file-sharing networks by suing ISPs, makers of file-sharing programs, and individuals who make copyrighted materials available online. Their hope is to change the casual attitude toward this form of piracy that has emerged among many consumers. References C. S. I. (2002). Cyber crime bleeds U.S. corporations, survey shows; financial losses from attacks climb for third year in a row. Computer Security Institute (CSI). Retrieved June 4, 2009 from: http://www.gocsi.com/press/20020407.jhtml;jsessionid=KNRLWQRUTHJJEQSNDLPSKHSCJUNN2JVN?_requestid=388372 Coakley, M. (2009). Privacy Protection, Safety and Security: A State Law Enforcement Perspective, Computer and Internet Lawyer. Vol. 26, Issue 4; p. 1 (9 pages) Dow, G, S. & Gist, N. P. (2007) Society and Its Problems: An Introduction to the Principles of Sociology, Thomas Y. Crowell company, p. 493 Fafinski, S. (2008). Computer Misuse: The Implications of the Police and Justice Act 2006, The Journal of Criminal Law, Feb2008, Vol. 72 Issue 1, p53-66, 14p Gennaro, F. V. & Holmes, R. M. (2006). Criminology: Theory, Research, and Policy, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, ISBN 0763730017, 9780763730017, p. 419 Piazza, P. (2004). Cybercrime-Fighting Tools Still Lacking, Security Management. Arlington, Vol. 48, Issue 5; p. 40 (1 page) Strossen, N. (2000). Cybercrimes v. Cyber liberties, International Review of Law, Computers & Technology Vol. 14 Issue 1, p11-24, 14p Ward, M. (2000). Hacking Risk for Broadband Internet, BBC News Online, Friday, 25 August, 2000, 19:21 GMT 20:21 UK, Retrieved, June 3, 2009 from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/895910.stm White, G. (2009).Strategic, Tactical, and Operational Management Security Model, The Journal of Computer Information Systems, Stillwater: Vol. 49, Issue 3; p. 71 (5 pages) Read More