Categories of Computer Crimes free essay sample

Computer crimes are criminal activities that involve using a computer and a network to gain unauthorized access with the intent of deleting, altering, or damaging computer data. Due to them being extremely versatile, establishing criminal and noncriminal behavior when in use can be very difficult at times. â€Å"According to the U. S. Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics, by 2000 more than 300 million users around the globe accessed the World Wide Web. Of those, at least 1 million were engaged in illegal Internet activities (computer crime or cyber-crime). Cyber-crimes include Internet-related forgery, embezzlement, fraud, vandalism, and the disposal of stolen goods. The potential threat to the overall development of e-commerce was serious—so much that online security expenditures were expected to double to $30 billion in 2004† (Computer Crime – Definitions). The four most common categories of computer crimes are infrastructure attacks, technological facilitation, information attacks, and promotion. Due to cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure companies being on the rise, I believe this presents the greatest threat at the present time. We will write a custom essay sample on Categories of Computer Crimes or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It allows damage to be done to services, facilities, and organizational structures needed for society to operate. The most well know event that caused pure devastation was the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. In order to prevent more incidents happening, all non-military planes were grounded and there was a great amount of response from law enforcement and medical rescue. This has gone beyond just a government problem; there is a need for private organizations to get involved as well. The FBI needs to continue working closely with other agencies and most importantly, the owners operators of infrastructures. More outreach, informative websites, and training needs to be implemented as well. â€Å"Information technology has played a great role in the emergence of networked terrorist groups, such as al Qaeda and Jemmah Islamiyiah† (Taylor, Fritsch, Liederbach, Holt, 2011, p. 27). Although this made their chances of being discovered greater, communicating through the internet is an easy and effective way to facilitate an attack. There are many tools widely available that are harmful and do not require a high degree of technical skill. Any attempt to steal, or gain unauthorized access to make use of it, is known as an information attack. Although less destructive, it can still result in major damages or loss. In the technology field, this has added a lot of pressure to computer programmers in order to create more effective safeguards. It is important that users always update virus protection to keep their data safe from viruses. Hackers will try to get a hold of personal data such as a social security number, or even financial information. For terrorists, the internet is widely used for propaganda and recruitment purposes. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in USA, September 11, 2001, as the U. S. -led retaliation was building up, various news media was reporting the â€Å"propaganda battle†, on both sides, even using those words. (For example, in UK, there was the Channel 4 news that mentioned it at least once on October 8, 2001 in their 7pm broadcast, while Sky News said similar things on October 9, 2001 in their 10:30pm broadcast)† (Shah, 2007). Bin Laden used propaganda to instill hatred and to convince his views to the Muslim world, while western propaganda wanted to retaliate by correcting those misleading statements. Every day, technology plays an increasing role in the criminal justice by offering new opportunities and challenges. It advances the world along with the criminal justice system, making crimes harder to perpetrate. This union will continue to challenge us as to how information is turned into knowledge, which uses this knowledge and what the purposes are. In conclusion, there has been a lot of contribution to increased crime, and the difficulty in detecting and solving crime. I hope that society will recognize the seriousness of computer crime and demand more sever punishments for such criminals.