Cybercrime and Its Effects on Society - Research Paper Example

What is Cyber Crime? Before getting into the discussion regarding cyber crimes and their effects on society, let us get a better understanding of what cyber crime actually is. Cyber crime refers to the category of crimes, which involves use of computer systems. Cyber crimes are those crimes or illegal activities, which make use of internet, computer system, or a computer network to commit crimes. Cyber crimes are of various types, which range from normal crimes to hazardous crimes. Some of the most hazardous cyber crimes include use of other person’s credit card, hacking private information of a company, making unauthorized changes to a company’s website after accessing it, and deleting personal record of a person. Cyber Crime, a Big Problem for Society Cyber crimes prove to be very disastrous for a person or a company because they can lead to various harmful effects such as deletion of important records, unauthorized access to private information, and misuse of private information. Tatum (2010) asserts, “While many forms of cyber crime revolve around the appropriation of proprietary information for unauthorized use, other examples are focused more on an invasion of privacy”. Privacy is one of the most valuable things, which gets affected due to cyber crimes. Hackers can retrieve private information from the personal computers of the people after hacking the passwords. Hackers not only access the information but also alter or delete that information from the databases, which turn out to be very disastrous for any person. Responsibility of the Governments Governments of almost all countries have implemented regulatory mechanisms to control cyber crimes. It is because cyber crimes have become one of the major threats to the security and privacy of every citizen who makes use of internet. Although computer professionals have developed mechanisms to prevent cyber crimes, the rate of cyber crimes is still increasing with every passing day. This reason behind this is that hackers are becoming more and more intelligent and skilled due to the advancements in information technology. It is the responsibility of the governments to implement strict laws against cyber crimes in order to stop hackers from committing any sort of cyber crime. Scams Associated with the Cyber Crime Walker (n.d.) states, “As Internet usage continues to rise throughout the world, the threat of cyber crime also grows”. There are various scams associated with the cyber world. These scams include junk emails, misrepresentation of facts, offensive content, harassment, cyber laundering, theft of telecommunication services, and electronic funds transfer fraud. Let us discuss these scams in detail in order to get a better understanding of cyber crimes. Junk Emails Unsolicited electronic communication is one of the biggest internet frauds that the people face. Junk emails are sent to the internet users in which they are make the people aware about the prize money, which they have won in some lottery. Users are asked to send some money as the processing fee for the prize delivery. Some people get deceived and send the required money to the sender of the email. The deceiver, after getting the money, suddenly disappears from the scene and the fraud is exposed. Profile of the Cyber Criminal The type of cyber criminals who commit such crimes include those people who want to earn money through negative ways or those who want to earn easy money. Such people are not successful in their practical lives and want to earn through deceiving other people. Law Enforcement Initiatives The law enforcement initiatives for such crimes include setting up a department, which should inquire the authenticity of the companies, which announce prize awards. The receptors of junk emails should send their cases to that department in order to check the authenticity of email. Penalties for Committing Crime If any email is found scam, the department should take appropriate action against the sender of the email by sending the case to the cyber crime investigation cell. Bhardwaj (2009) states, “A person found guilty of cyber crime shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine or with both”. Misrepresentation of Facts Another scam related to cyber crimes is misrepresentation of facts. Some people make use of false documents to get certain benefits. Those false or fake documents are obtained through computers and are used for illegal purposes. Some of the those documents whose fake copies are being widely used by the people include driving licenses, passports, educational documents, property papers, and many other documents. Governments should take proper steps to stop people from using fake documents. Profile of the Cyber Criminal The type of cyber criminals who commit such crimes include those people who want to dodge government and private organizations by submitting fake documents. There aims include getting employment by providing wrong documents to the employers, entering the premises of some other country using fake passport, and many other aims, which cannot be fulfilled otherwise. Law Enforcement Initiatives The law enforcement initiatives for such crimes include formation of organizations, which should have the authority to check and validate the authenticity of documents of people. Penalties for Committing Crime If a person is found misrepresenting the facts, the penalties for such a person include restricting him from entering the premises of other countries and sending the case to the local courts. Offensive Content Another major scam related to cyber crimes is display of offensive content. There are many websites, which show extremely offensive content to the users. Such content includes pornographic material, adult movies, nude body shows, and many other types of sexual content. These types of sexual contents not only sexually exploit the underage children but also result in increasing the rate of sex related crimes in a society. It is the responsibility of the government of every country to prohibit the display of sexual content, particularly pornography, over the internet. Profile of the Cyber Criminal The type of cyber criminals who commit such crimes include those people who want to spread vulgarity and offensiveness in the society. Such people have various psychological problems, which make them perform such acts. Some people also want to earn money this way. Some companies pay such people a good amount if the users visit their web pages frequently. Therefore, they create such web pages, which are able to attract the young adults in order to earn some money. Law Enforcement Initiatives The law enforcement initiatives for such crimes include putting up a complete ban on all such sites, which contain sexual or pornographic content. Penalties for Committing Crime If anyone is found spreading sexual content over the internet, the law enforcement agencies should stop his web pages from coming over the internet and should file a case against him regarding violation of law. Cyber Laundering Cyber laundering is another type of cyber crime, which means electronic transfer of illegal money. Some people use electronic funds transfer in order to transfer their illegal money to some other person or to their bank accounts. In electronic funds transfer, source of money that is to be sent is not mentioned which makes it easy for the people to transfer their money. Cyber laundering has been one of the most important issues for all countries since the advent of the internet. People send their money to hidden destinations using electronic funds transfer, which is totally illegal. Governments need to take appropriate steps to stop illegal transfer of money through internet. Another issue related to electronic transfer of money is that of interception of credit card numbers electronically. Some people are skilled in tracing the credit card numbers of other people. They not only intercept the credit card numbers electronically but also make physical copies of the cards. Looking at the seriousness of this issue, many countries have developed such mechanisms, which are able to trace the illegal use of credit cards. However, cyber crime investigation departments still need to develop efficient mechanisms in order to eradicate the unauthorized use of credit cards. Profile of the Cyber Criminal The type of cyber criminals who commit such crimes includes those people who make illegal money and cannot reveal the source of income to anyone. That is why they make use of electronic funds transfer system because in this way their source of income and the destination of sending the money remain hidden. Some people intercept the credit card numbers of other people. Such people do not want to do anything on their own and rely on the money of other people. Law Enforcement Initiatives The law enforcement initiatives for such crimes include setting up proper rules and regulations for the use of credit cards and electronic funds transfer. Governments should make it necessary for the sender of the funds to mention the source of income and the destination while sending the money through electronic fund transfer. Penalties for Committing Crime Penalties for such crimes include seizing the accounts of the people who do money laundering and sending the cases to the courts for further investigations. Summing it up, cyber crime is one of the most critical problems that are being faced by almost every country. Different governments have made different rules and regulations in order to eradicate cyber crimes. However, a proper regulatory system is still needed which should be able to put an end to all sorts of cyber crimes. References Bhardwaj, M. (2009). Cyber Crime. Retrieved Nov. 25, 2010, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Cyber-Crime&id=3479824 Harris, B. (2010). What is Cyber Crime?. Retrieved Nov. 25, 2010, from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-cybercrime.htm Walker, J. (n.d.). Different Types of Cyber Crimes. Retrieved Nov. 25, 2010, from http://www.ehow.com/facts_4970264_different-types-cyber-crime.html Read More