ABSTRACT
Billions of dollars in losses have already been discovered. Billions more have gone undetected. Trillions will be stolen, most without detection, by the emerging master criminal of the twenty-first century--the computer crime offender. Worst of all, anyone who is computer literate can become a computer criminal. He or she is everyman, everywoman, or even every child. CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
To first understand computer crime one must understand first what crime is. According to Diana Kendall, "crime is a behavior that violates criminal law and is punishable with fines, jail or other sanctions" (Kendall 1999; 161). Yet since computer technology is so new it has really no laws to govern it. A law is formal norms that are
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They have formed their own subcultures and hold many different beliefs about the information that is stored in personal computers. Said best by J. Thomas McEwen in the article Computer Ethics many hackers believe that "computerized data [is] free and should be accessible to anyone (McEwen 1991; 8-11). A subculture is a group a group of people who share a different set of beliefs that differ significantly from the larger society (Kendall; 604). Besides forming subcultures, many hackers have learned their behavior from other hackers. Besides the fact that many hackers learn, their ways from other hackers many after arrested are formally labeled as a hacker and a deviant, those who violate cultural norms and beliefs (Kendall; 598) The labeling theory suggests that deviants are those have been labeled as such by others (Kendall; 166). As written by David Pitch ford in the London magazine, Focus, one hacker after being arrested was not deterred, he instead became a more active and in "92 became cyberspaces first megastar Pitchford; pages 10-13)." It was only after his second arrest that he stopped offences.
Besides the interactions, perspective on computer crime is the conflict theory. "The conflict theory states that people in power maintain their advantage by using the law to protect their own interest." (Kendall; 168). Under the conflict perspective, hackers and other computer criminals are seen as deviant because many hackers break into
Ex: Hacking is a digital crime, whether it be for status quo, pleasure or criminal intent, all aspects of hacking is considered a digital crime. Most hackers, hack for status quo or pleasure, and feel as if they are not committing a crime as no harm is done. While some computer and of digital communication intrusion is caught, there are much that goes un-noticed, and unpunished. Leaving Hackers in the mindset that their criminal acts are acceptable and correct, as their needs are satisfied, and their criminal acts go unpunished.
The creation go of the Internet has helped spawn new forms of criminals and crimes, and has always helped make older criminal schemes easier to execute, identity theft, child pornography, copyright violations, hacking and you could go on and on. In a 2003 survey conducted by the CSI with the participation of the San Francisco Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Computer Intrusion Squad, of the 530 respondents made up of U.S. corporations, government agencies, financial institutions, medical institutions and universities, 56% reported unauthorized use of their computer systems (2003 CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey).
As part of human nature we seek to define and explain the unknown. When it comes to crime, we develop theories to explain why criminals do what they do. Theories like Social Structure theories, Social process theories, and social conflict theories. Each theory has its own developed ideas on what makes people tick, what causes bad thoughts, bad actions and bad people. This paper will discuss the theories listed above and the logic behind them that explain criminal behavior.
Within the last century, crime has gone from things like car crime, people trafficking, and terrorism, to cyber-crime, elder abuse, and organ trafficking. Crime is steadily becoming more and more electronic-oriented. “In the 1990s, a new era was ushered in, in which Internet technology reigned supreme” (Jaishankar, 2010). Although people are learning new ways to commit crime via electronics, crime rates have dropped since the beginning of the 21st century.
This paper discusses the liberties, ideologies, and effects of hacktivism. Hacktivism, is the combination of hacking and activism, and is where a hacker creates a technology-centered disturbance with a political or social motive. Unlawful hackers typically cause cyber damage for amusement, or monetary gain. While traditional hackers are perceived as criminals, hacktivists are a transgressive group. Cyberterrorism is the most extreme version of hacking, where the goal is to cause permanent damage. There are benefits to hacktivism such as, anyone can log on and share their opinion, regardless of their location or position. However, some forms of hacktivism may be closer to cyberterrorism, where there may be a malicious intent. Controversy
Hacktivism is the act of hacking, or breaking into a computer system, for a politically or socially motivated purpose. This term has been around since the 1980s, but never has it been more prevalent than now. It seems that not a week can go by without one of these online incidents appearing on the news. With technology advancing, it raises the following question: Are hacktivists beneficial or detrimental to society? After a careful analysis of the pros and cons, one side of this question becomes increasing favorable. Hacktivism is a good thing for society.
At our citizens’ homes, they are in danger because about 61 million Americans computers connect to WiFi. There is not enough security found looking into the vast majority of citizens’ home computers. In result, this aggravates them as a simple target to a majority of data robbery and classified documents being destroyed (Smith ¶5). This shows we as citizens need to be more aware of what is going on in our computer systems because we can be affected immensely. Additionally, the individuals that hack for scholarly incitement are not always fundamentally criminals. We have our white hats (ethical hackers) in our corner to protect our nation, so our vulnerabilities can be kept locked (Rutherford ¶13). Our ethical hackers are resources that come in handy, and our problem is having few people go into this job area and it complicates the issue more. Gregg, CEO, and founder of Superior Solutions Inc. states; mobile devices can be used to track prominent figures in our world for assassination or kidnapping, in order to gain a financial outcome (¶10). In fact, terrorist are becoming more cultivated in educating themselves on computer crime techniques (Matias ¶2). Since cyber-terrorist are becoming more equipped with computers it is difficult to keep up with their skills, and it is affecting our nation's prominent figures putting them in danger which the result is putting our nation in jeopardy. If we as citizens become more dependent on technology, the less safe we are, and our boundaries become broken (Weed ¶19). Our boundaries are broken because we have no safety net to bring back all of our classified documents/personal information about ourselves; which, in turn, may ruin a citizen’s life. When we have employees travel to a place, a numerous amount of them are ignorant to foreign hackers (Weed ¶2). We as citizens are putting ourselves in a naive mindset, and we cannot do this because we are setting ourselves up for destruction. Our nation should understand that; “Protecting the nation’s computer infrastructure from terrorists and saboteurs is one such challenge and it deserves nothing less” (Loy ¶12). If we open our eyes, we can see what is going on around the world, and stop it from destroying us.
As the world becomes more and more reliant on computers the computer hacking industry is greatly rising. With people such as Kevin Mitnick, who is known as a "computer terrorist" (Kjochaiche 1), computerized information isn't safe any more. Kevin is known as "the most high-profiled computer criminal and responsible for more havoc in the computer world today."(1) He considered this a fun and easy task. He got caught and thrown into prison, but once he got out nothing changed. Kevin stated that as long as the technology is there it just calls to people to break into it. Computer hackers usually start off young, thinking that it is nothing but a little harmless fun. But as they get older, they realize it has turned into
The Internet has made the world a littler spot, making it less demanding to get data, work together, and stay in contact. Be that as it may, as more business and individual cooperations move into the digital space, boundless measures of individual data is being gathered, put away, and broke down.
The integration of computer utilization in every aspect of economic activities has increased the vulnerability of people to criminal activities; whereas, a computer is employed as instruments of crime such as murder, child pornography, hacking, virus distribution or fraud. Presently, computers are the newest criminality instrument utilized today; as such, individuals who comprehend in what manner to employ them can access doors that only a small number of people are even aware exist (Rosoff, Pontell &Tillman, 2013).
Computer crime which can be also referred to as a cybercrime, e – crime or a hi-tech crime. Computer crime can be termed as an event which is dome by a computer user who is sometimes referred to as a hacker. The hacker is mainly involved in some sort of activity which can be termed as an illogical activity by means of which browsing or stealing the information of the private company or individual are obtained with the intention of personal benefits which can be obtained from the prospective of the hacker (Ezeano et al., 2017). In some cases, it can be seen that the group of people or individual may be malicious and destroy or to be precise corrupt the computer and the files which are stored in the system. There is different type of crimes which are performed on a variety of platform which impact a varied sectors and a varied audience. The main way to conduct the crime is the use of a network and a computer system. In some cases, it has been noted that the use of computers has been used to commit the crime, and on other cases it is seen that the main target of the attack is the computer of the user (Mazurczyk, Holt & Szczypiorski, 2016).
Computers have been used for most kinds of crime, including fraud, theft, larceny, embezzlement, burglary, sabotage, espionage, murder, and forgery, since the first cases were reported in 1958. One study of 1,500 computer crimes established that most of them were committed by trusted computer users within businesses; persons with the requisite skills, knowledge, access, and resources. With the arrival of personal computers to manipulate information and access computers by telephone, increasing numbers of crimes--electronic trespassing, copyrighted-information piracy, vandalism--have been committed by computer hobbyists, known as "hackers," who display a high level of technical expertise. For many years, the term hacker defined
Cybercrime is the use of computers and technology for criminal activities. Crimes that are committed in the virtual realm encompass a wide category. Thanks to the easy availability and increasing dependence on technology, cybercrimes are a fast-growing criminal undertaking that is limitless in its potential. With the fast-pace advancements in technology, cybercriminals are evolving their methods faster than law enforcement can advance theirs making it difficult to incriminate them. In addition, the lack of a physical barrier, as well as the lack of an individual or corporation knowing they are victims, makes it difficult to trace the criminals because no barrier is preventing attacks from occurring, or isolating it to a local area, and because attacks do not cause physical or mental harm. However, with research and resources, law enforcement has identified a common medium a cybercriminal uses to commit crimes: crimeware, commonly known as computer viruses.
These technologies related crimes are described by one word, which is cyber crime. According to Dan Koenig, cyber crime is a criminal offense that has been created or made possible by the advent of computer technology, or a traditional crime which has been transformed by the use of a computer.
a thrill to figure out how to break into a computer. Most people never have any