Computer Crimes
Computer crimes are a major issue in the world today. They are taken place in people’s home, office, and in lots of places. A person should be very cautious about the type of personal information that they enter on there someone else’s computer as well as there own. These things could come back to haunt you in the future.
Criminal activity where a computer or network is the source, target, place or tool of a crime is what we call computer crime. Some other terms for computer crime are cybercime, e-crime, hi-tech crime, and electronic crime. None of these categories are exclusive and many activities can be characterized as falling in one or more category. Even though it states that the computer crime is when something takes place when the computer or network is a necessary part of the crime, there are some terms that are used to include traditional crimes. Some of the traditional crimes are fraud, theft, blackmail, forgery, and embezzlement when the computers or networks are used to facilitate the illicit activity.
There are a lot of different criminal activities that can be considered computer crime. Some examples of these activities are misuse of devices, forgery (theft id), electronic fraud, illegal access (unauthorized access), Trojan horses, cyberterrorism, email abuse/harassment, and data interference (unauthorized damaging, deletion, deterioration, alteration or suppression of computer data) are just a few. Forgery is a computer crime that can be perpetrated using the hardware components of the computer without the usage of the internet. For example, using Microsoft Word to type my signature when I did not actually right it and neither did you but it is still a computer crime that you committed. A Trojan...
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...laint center, dubbed IC3, compiles its figures by drawing on the flood of complaints pouring into U.S. law enforcement and regulatory agencies.
Results show that the most reported crime was Internet auction fraud which ranked 45 percent of all complaings. Another big percentage of complaints was non delivery of merchandise or payment which had a big 19 percent.
Computer crimes are definitely on the rise. They are something that everyone who owns or even works on a computer should be careful of. There are a lot of crooked people out here in this world and everyone should take caution. You should also take caution when entering personal information on any computer.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_crime
http://www.fsu.edu/~crimdo/TA/hao/computercrime2.htm
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/badguys/070416/top_10_internet_crimes_of_2006.htm
Cybercrimes and Cyber Protection in Canada Whenever a new technological advancements are made, laws and agencies must be implemented and amendments must be crafted to protect its users. As personal computers became available to Canada’s population, information became more accessible than ever before, and personal information such as a person’s address was easier to obtain. The computer and new technological advancements led to a new branch of criminality; cybercrimes. Cybercrimes are computer-related crimes defined by the Council of Europe (2001) as offences against the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of computer data and systems as well as computer-related and content-related offences.
Computers have become a big part of our lives. They are being used more and more and the Internet has brought with it a big amount of computer criminals. In 1988, Victoria created the first Australian computer crime laws.
The use of computers in homes, schools, offices, and other places has increased in the past few years due to technological developments. As computers have become important components of modern communication, their increased use has also led to the emergence of computer crimes. Computer crimes basically involve the use of a computer system to carry out an illegal activity. In attempts to lessen the frequency and impact of computer crimes, law enforcement agencies use computer forensic to investigate these offenses. Actually, computer crimes are governed by specific laws and dealt with through conducting a computer forensic investigation (Easttom & Taylor, 2011, p.337). Notably, a computer forensic investigation is usually carried out through the use of computer forensic tools, which help in collection of evidence based on the specific offense.
Any crime that involves the use of a computer and a network is usually referred to as cybercrime. Along with the benefits of the electronic and data processing machines, computers, comes the dangers of them. They could be used the tool of the crime or it could be the victim/ targeted. One of the most common cybercrime committed is computer fraud, which is defined according to encyclopedia as “any technique aimed at manipulating information within a computer system for the purpose of illicit, usually financial, gain”. In the case of the RBS WorldPlay, the computer fraud committed led to ATM and payment card fraud.
Computer crime is defined as, “Criminal activity directly related to the use of computers, specifically illegal trespass into the computer system or database of another, manipulation or theft of stored or on-line data, or sabotage of equipment and data.”(1). This includes both crimes using computers and crimes against computers.
There are different types of computer crimes that many people become victims of every day. Computer crime is any crime that involves a computer and a network. The computer may have been used in the commission of a crime, or it may be the target ("Computer Crime: Chapter 2: What Are the Crimes? ", n.d.) - " Crimes such as data diddling, pump and dump, social engineering and spoofing are computer crimes. Even though these crimes are difficult due to privacy issues, the new technology has made investigations and prosecutions well organized and effective.
“If you use a computer, you’re vulnerable to malware. And if you’re vulnerable to malware, you’re enabling crime on a mass scale (Pot, 2010).” Malware is usually in the form of viruses, Trojan worms, and other software that can be stored on a computer undetected. Identity theft is another way computing devices are used in crimes today. Identity theft is basically when someone gains access to your personal information and uses it to their benefit. “This could range from a black-hat hacker stealing your online banking account login and password to getting access to your social security number and using it to pretend to be you (Pot, 2010).” “In America alone there are almost 9 million victims of identity theft every year (Pot, 2010).” Malware and identity theft can affect a company's data and information. Hackers can access bank accounts and steal thousands of dollars, get business documents and used them for their own personal gain, or even use the information as
You often perceive the term “Cyber Crime” bandied about these days, as it’s a bigger exposure now than never before due to the total figure of joined people and devices. But what is accurately? In an outer layer, it is simply a crime that has use of computer or imitation aspect to it.
Computer Forensics now aid in solving crimes We now live in a digital age where the computer permeates almost every aspect of our lives. Almost all transactions and records of our activities are now recorded electronically. Unfortunately, the digital era has also ushered in an age of digital crime. Computer forensics involves searching computers for evidence of crime and also for evidence in traditional crimes. Some examples of cybercrime include hacking, releasing viruses and various internet scams such as phishing or spoofing of real web sites.
Computers are used to store data and used to collect crime analysis. The type of technology used to collect accurate crime analysis would be computers and other types of databases and programs. The reason that computers are so important is because computers are the only tool that can handle all of the information that has to be collected, processed, stored and made
Every day, citizens are constantly losing money and being victimized due to these fraudulent activities. Cyber crime, including fraud, identity theft, stalking, and hacking, is a growing problem that can be prevented by taking the proper precautions. The biggest cases of cyber crimes are cases of fraud. Online fraud comes in many forms. It ranges from viruses that attack computers with the goal of retrieving personal information, to email schemes that lure victims into wiring money to fraudulent sources” (What is “online fraud”).
The Internet is a connection of computers across the world through a network. Its origin dates back to the 1960s when the U.S Military used it for research, but it became more available to the public from the late 1980s. The World Wide Web was created in 1989 and browsers began appearing in the early 1990s. Over the last 24 years, the Internet has enabled people to shop, play, do research, communicate and conduct business online. It has also become cheaper and faster in performing different tasks. As much as the Internet has done immeasurable good to society, it has also dominated people’s lives and brought with it an array of cybercrimes. According to Nicholas Carr in his book The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way we Think, Read and Remember (Carr, 2010). He debates on whether the Internet has done more harm than good. People use the Internet daily to exchange accurate information and constantly personal data such as credit cards, passwords and Social Security numbers are travelling through the network from one computer to another. With security measures put in place on the Internet, personal information remains confidential. But unfortunately, criminals have adapted to innovations in technology, and today, more people are increasingly becoming victims of cybercrime. The Internet has had profound effects on the public, both positive and negative. In this paper we will examine how access to personal information has led to an increase in online and offline crimes. The essay will particularly focus on ecommerce and hacking.
These types of crimes have become a matter of importance for the consumers as well the business firms because it involves large eviction of the amount in terms of money. In these types of crimes, computer and Internet are the primary factor (Spinello, 2000). A high percentage of population is using computers in the Australia, United States as well as other developed nations. These people are much more connected with the world by the use of internet. They are using the computer for fun, business, e-commerce, e-marketing, etc.; thus, it has become an essential part of life and daily routine (Wall, 2008).
The advantages of technology and the internet have led more criminals to use cyberspace to commit crimes. The threat of cybercrime is increasing as globalization continues to spread across the world. While the impact of globalization has led to amazing, new discoveries throughout the world, Internet connectivity has also made cybercrime easier. America and the rest of the world have become more reliant on technology and use it in more aspects of their lives, technology-users make themselves more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Globalization and the growing use of computers in the world have given people a motive to learn more about computing and become more knowledgeable as programmers. As these people learn more, there is a risk that they will use their new intelligence to commit cybercrimes.
Just as traditional criminal activities, cybercrime can take many forms and occur virtually anytime and anywhere. Criminals committing cybercrime use very different methods, depending on their abilities and goals. This should not surprise anyone after all cybercrime is merely an activity "criminal" to the ingredient that adds a computer or an electronic network for its commission.