1.0 Introduction
In our modern society where technology is evolving, the people who are exposed to computers each day are also increasing. Using computers have become part of our daily lives to the extent that the world would not function as it would now without the use of computers. With that, criminals are moving on to using computers for their criminal activities and thus computer crimes are born.
Every now and then we will hear news of companies getting hacked, government websites being defaced, customers’ information being leaked out and other various computer crimes all over the world.
This report aims to introduce the various types of computer crimes and what impact does computer crimes bring to the society. The report will also talk about how such computer crimes are prevailing in Singapore and how investigations are being carried out.
2.0 Background
2.1 Introduction to computer crime
Ever since the use of computers have been prevailing throughout the world, the number of computer crimes around the world has been further increased significantly. Computer crimes refer to any criminal activities that involve using computers for criminal activities or targeting other computers.
Computers have become cheaper, powerful and much more easier to be used over the years, which attract even more people to use them and even businesses, government companies and the military started relying more on computers over the years. With the lack of law or security with computers and networks in the past, it welcomes computer criminals to join in the flow and use computers for their illegal activities.
In the past, computer crimes such as hacking were done to gain more information about computer systems or hackers competing against each other...
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...re are foreign countries that are facing the same situation as Singapore as well. The countries with the highest concentration of cybercrimes are Russia – 85%, China – 77%, and South Africa – 73% (Norton, 1 October 2013). Cybercrimes that occur at other area of the world also follows a similar trend to Singapore where majority of the crimes carried out are scams or frauds. Data has shown that 83% of financial costs come from frauds, theft, repairs and loss, which frauds contributes 38% to these crimes (Norton, 1 October 2013). There are also cases where software is written to steal information from banks stealthily. An example of such case is the “PiceBOT” case which occurred in Latin America, which was a malware that attacked 9 Latin America countries stealing financial and banking information from the users of internet (Americas Society/Council of the Americas).
Lately,there are many examples about how Computer Misuse Act preventing crime and facilitating a prosecution. Lewis Stephen Martin,21 years old, launched DOS attacks on the websites of Kent Police and universities of Oxford and Cambridge between 29 January and 2 February 2012. The police website and Cambridge University was offline more than an hour and Oxford University was offline aproximately 30 minuts. Giulty plea of unauthorised modification,unautorised access and obtained information without autorization. Sentenced to two years of imprisonment ( Computer Misuse Act 1990, s 1 : Unauthorised accesss, s 3 : Unauthorised modification; s 3A : Making, supplying or obtaining articles for use in offence under section 1 or 3 ).
When it comes to cyber crimes we can’t put a face to the crimes being committed, it’s easier to find ways to prevent hackers from gaining access to important data than searching and putting them in handcuffs. Traditional police theories will not work for cyber crimes, so cyber police theories need to be developed.
The documentary Rise of the Hackers, focuses on the rising criminal use of hacking and how it is effecting multiple areas of technology. The documentary describes simple and complicated situations concerning hacking, but there still questions that must be answered when it comes to hacking and crime. The main question is in trying to determine why a person would choose to commit computer hacking. There are various theories already present within the criminal justice system that may explain at a micro-level and macro-level. These theories would explain why offenders would commit the crimes, but it may not answer the full scope of the question. The Routine Activities Theory would help to explain why offenders offend, why victims are victimized,
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.
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.
Every day millions in some cases billions of dollars are made by businesses from income brought in by online sale of products and services. As businesses continually develop and expand their client base with online products and services so does the desire by criminals to exploit vulnerabilities in their e-commerce setup. The mass worldwide internet usage growth within the last 20 years has been “an approximate 16 million users in 1995 to an estimated 2,937 million in March of 2014” As the importance of e-commerce increases so does the need to protect the technological infrastructure that will carry out online transactions for each business regardless of its size. I will attempt to highlight and review the history of a few cyber crimes to show the progression of the crimes within the last 30-40 years. I also plan to review how the economy and consumers are impacted by cyber crimes. Finally I will make an effort to contribute with information gathering on how to lower the risk of a cyber attack from and individual user to a large scale business.
The biggest case 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”). When browsing the internet, people will often stumble upon free trial websites. Some of these websites are real, but many are fake. Real examples can include ones like Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime. The fake websites, such as one offering to great of a deal to imagine are often attempts of fraud, to gain access to credit card information.
Millions of people around the world use computers and the internet every day. We all use it in school, work even at home, computers have made us life easier, it has brought so many benefits to the society but it has also brought some problems and cybercrimes is one of them. “The times have really changed,” said Greg Garcia, the department’s assistant secretary for cyber security and communications. “We’re seeing now phishing, farming, botnets … war dialing and domain server spoofing. And we’re seeing coordinated cyber-attacks against nation states.” (Fowler 5) Cybercrime is one of the most prevalent and most popular rising crimes being committed today. This is criminal activity done using computers and the Internet. There are millions victims around the world everyday who face these problems. Most people become victims of these at one time or another, but there are ways to avoid or deal with cybercrime by protecting yourself appropriately. I also was one of those victims who faced a similar problem. This unfortunate truth forces me to understand that computers and the Internet have made our lives easier in many ways. However, it is unfortunate that people also use these technologies to take advantage of others through identity theft, hacking attempts, and malicious use of software.
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).
Cybercrime is a global issue plaguing the world. The dictionary defines cybercrime as “crime conducted via the Internet or some other computer network”(Merriam-Webster). The definition remains very broad because the word “cyber” is defined as “relating to the culture of computers, information technology, and virtual reality.” Due to the growing number of people gaining access to the internet, rapid development of technology, and the globalization of the world, more of the world population is becoming susceptible to involvement in cybercrime – whether it be as a victim or a criminal. Cybercrime involves different levels of the world on both the victim and criminal side, from an individual citizen, to small groups, businesses, and the government, to the countries of the world.
Computer crime or Cyber Crime is defined as any type of crime that involves or regards a computer or computer network. Cyber Crime mainly means that the computer may be used as a tool in the commission of the crime or the computer may be the main target of the criminal’s crime. The rapid growth of technology and gadgets as well as the further de...
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.
Cybercrimes are on the rise now. People information are constantly getting hacked. Target computers were recently hacked and over a thousand people credit card information was stolen. Every day we
Cybercrime refers to all forms of crime conducted through a computer or a mobile device using computer networks. It is thus the use of a computer with the aim of intercepting and manipulating content, disrupting communication, stealing or generally destroying others’ information or hardware through a network. Although cybercrime is a worldwide problem and affects both small and big companies, small companies are affected more from the dangers of cybercrime. The rapid advancement in technology is causing tremendous problems to businesses in terms of more sophisticated cyber-attacks. This project is interesting and beneficial because it enlightens one on the dangers of cybercrime, thus preparing individuals to know how to prevent attacks while online, how to reduce the effects of a cyber-attack and how to prevent future