By Laban Moturi, Blogger and Writer. From writersbase.org writing company
The World has come close and closer with the usage of the internet. With the growth of this, many evils have been observed, touched and experienced.
Hence, there’s a need for measures to curb it, but before then, it’s important to have knowledge of the crimes that exist, the history of this, types of cybercrimes, modern society crimes and the various categories of cybercrimes.
It is worthwhile noting from the beginning that different governments with their law enforcement agencies have tried to tackle this mess but with less success.
Forms of cyber crimes
Hacking. This is a form of crime whereby a person’s sensitive or personal information is accessed by the use of some software and tempered with. Hacking in the United States is considered misconduct and punishable.
Theft. A form of crime whereby copyrights are violated and downloads are done on music, games, movies, and software. Some of the websites are under lookout by the FBI because of peer sharing website. The justice systems are addressing this issue of cybercrimes, and much is dome to prevent illegal downloading.
Malicious software. An internet-based program or software that causes disruptions to the internet network. This software helps to access the person’s sensitive data or information by damaging the present software system.
Child lobbying and abuse. A form of cybercrime whereby in the chat rooms the minors are captured and are used for pornography. Though the FBI has tried to lower this, it has not gained much success.
Identity theft. Our banking services and cash transaction has improved with the use of the internet. However, in cybercrimes, criminals have accessed people’s bank accounts, debit cards, social security, credit card, and other sensitive information. These criminals siphon peoples’ money out of their account and or buy goods using their credit history. In this, the credit history of the victim is spoiled. This is a great financial loss to the client.
Cyberstalking. This is online harassment whereby a victim is in the subject to a fusillade of online emails and messages. In other words, stalking in the context of cybercrimes it means stealing. The criminals use the internet to steal from a person. They use it online, if the desired objective fails, offline is used. This act has proved to make the client more miserable than ever in the world of cybercrimes.
The causes of cyber crimes
Prosperity in the business world is realized whenever the investments return rate is high. As the people take advantage of this so is in cybercrimes. The criminals take advantage of such situations; they access data and other sensitive information and cause havoc. It’s hard to take note of them as they come. Actually, through this, cybercrime has been on the increase worldwide in the recent past.
The history of cyber crimes
With the onset of the computer and network dated back as late as the 1990s, hacking wasn’t bad; it was intended at getting more information concerning the systems. As well, it was a fair competition aimed at getting the best hacker. This affected many networks both in the military and commercial organizations with time as a result of hacking.
Previously, hacking was not regarded such serious, but as the malicious software became ubiquitous, the hacked networks became very low. With much time, the hackers gained experience and skills in this field, and with this, they benefited by victimizing and exploiting others.
Modern society cybercrimes
In our current society, cybercriminals aren’t compelled by expertise or ego as before. Instead, they are driven by their understanding to quickly gain benefits. This expertise is used in deceiving, stealing and exploiting other people.
They earn easy money without necessarily doing an honest day’s work.
Today, cyber crimes have become a threat worldwide. Unlike formally when crimes, like stealing, robbing, and mugging, were done singlehandedly, cyber crimes are done even from a remote location or anywhere in the world far from the very scene.
Fun enough, these criminals don’t fear the law enforcement agencies in the respective countries they commit them.
The systems that make it possible for the online transactions and e-commerce to flourish is the very same that the cybercriminals exploit.
Cybercrimes categories
There are three categories of cybercrimes, and in these categories, they use different methods that vary from a criminal to the other.
a. Individual
b. Property
c. Government
Individual category
In this type, cybercrimes such as pornography distribution, cyberstalking grooming and trafficking. The law enforcement agencies have taken this crime seriously and are mobilizing forces to curb and deal with these perpetrators.
The property category
The cybercrimes use malicious software in damaging hardware and software. In this, they steal a victim’s bank details and siphon all the money, and make several online purchases using a credit card.
They also disrupt programs to different organization’s websites.
Government category
It is also called cyber terrorism. It is not a common type of crime like the two above. This type causes havoc and panic among the civilian population if it is successful used.
The criminals hack military websites, government websites, and or circulate propaganda. The fact is that these criminals are terrorists or unfriendly governments to other nations.
Tackling of cyber crimes
Several companies have come up to tackle this problem, and clearly looking at them, they offer the following universal solutions.
1. Education and training should be offered
The training to done everybody whether privately or as a corporate. All should be aware of the common hacking tactics like phishing, packet sniffing, social engineering, and the like just to name but a few.
This type of prevention will help you go a long way protected against these cybercrimes.
2. Securing computers, networking, and digital assets
It’s worth considering how up-to-date is a software that is housed with your network. This is important because the hackers attack the software to gain access to the system’s sensitive data and other relevant information. Updating your software to a network-connected machine should be your priority.
As well, have business class software fully installed and updated on all your servers and workstations. This detects, removes and protects the machine and networks from malware.
Scan website or the web application for malware. Just like personal computers, website applications are equally susceptible to the attacks of malware if not checked regularly.
Ensure that there’s a reliable and secure backup to the sensitive data. This helps in recovering your data from the time before the fateful act.
About the Author
I’m Laban Moturi, a blogger and writer. I’m from writersbase.org online writing company. I have done writing for the last 2 years. I do blog posts, guest posts, research, resource newsletters, and any other content writing materials.
You can reach me through contacting directly to my email [email protected], through my skype id laban119, or through the website email. Thanks
