There four major categories of digital computer crimes. These are classified as crimes against the individual, crimes against the property of an individual, crime against the society and crimes against the government (Dalla and Geeta, 2013). Typically, cyber crimes consist of hacking and gaining illegal access to information from another person’s system.
Digital crime against the individual is when a person is targeted by another person or persons and their personal data s approached by hacking or gaining access to email and password information. Commonly, these crimes consist of illegal activities such as drug trafficking that can target one person who can become the source by which a person can make illegal drug transfer deals by encrypting their email. It consists of arranging meetings at places for the deals and the price and settlement. Another example is harassment and blackmail. Using racist, discriminatory, blasphemous, hate speech and slanderous or obscene material against another person are illegal (Dalla and Geeta, 2013).
Crime against an individual’s property is when a hacker tries to access someone’s assets and property which can be retrieved by online means. This includes gaining access to electronic accounts, illegal transfer of balance from one’s account and using credit card numbers for retrieving the money. The other is to gain access to a person’s personal pictures, videos and using them for propaganda and insult (Dalla and Geeta, 2013).
There are then crimes against the society which include those that can affect a large number of people as a whole. For example, cyber bullying affects a lot of people on social media. Cyber stalking is dangerous as people keep note of another person’s whereabouts and personal life. It also encompasses harassment and sexual exploitation of men, women and children (Dalla and Geeta, 2013).
Fourthly, crimes against the government are those that affect the government whereby the data and information that a government holds private is extorted and revealed. Examples include hacking into official websites and revealing or exploiting secret information. A newer attempt is cyber warfare and terrorism against the government of a place. Computer-based attacks are made by terrorists and third parties who coerce with governments and force them to follow their agenda (Dalla and Geeta, 2013). The most common types of digital crimes include phishing, hacking, child pornography, hate speech and terrorism, identity theft, grooming and presence of malicious software. Phishing includes sending fake emails to another person, either for teasing them or making fun of them or geting their personal information by their use of the internet (Government.nl, 2016). Hate speech and terrorism are when websites and pages are made on social media which specifically target a race or religion or a person and they use that platform to ignite hatred against them and use it as means of propaganda. Inciting terrorism and terr+orist activities on the net is also common today as people can make websites and endorse them and gather audiences through videos and messages online. Identity theft is using another person’s picture or personal information and using it for social security, credit card number and other means to draw off money. Distributing child pornography is another crime that is illegally carried out by makers of child porn on the internet. Also, grooming which invites children for sexual encounters on the internet is an offensive cyber crime (Sites, 2016).
Today however the category of digital computer crimes that is jeopardizing everyone is the crime against society. It is one that occurs on a large scale and affects a lot of people. Moreover, it is able to encompass other categories like the crime against the individual and the crime against society. People are cyber bullied to the extent of committing suicide or doing the most bizarre things which are demanded by the hacker or cyber criminal. Females are stalked continuously, and this does not happen in one region or country rather it happens worldwide (Sites , 2016). Therefore, it affects society because people are unable to trust the social media and applications they use and many disregards them for their lack of reliability and security. Hackers make threats to people when they want an unreasonable thing from them and hold their demands in lieu of blackmail. This happens to a lot of people on the internet presently.
There have been efforts made by law enforcement agencies to handle the situation. They have done so by tapping phones and used electronic devices to detect professional criminals. The federal government has issued the keystroke software, which is a controversial piece of technology (Dalla and Geeta, 2013).The purpose of this is to monitor and check every single key struck by an online user and every search and access made by the user is recorded and controlled by the software for efficient monitoring. This is helpful in securing electronic messages made by a user to another user and deciphering the code. The government ensures this is useful in tracking the encryption codes made by the user for encrypted messages (Dalla and Geeta, 2013).Echelon is also a powerful system made for monitoring and finding out voice communication anywhere in the world. Carnivore, another software is used to find out how data travels between different channels and what is being conveyed. Also, the USA Patriot Act gives the government the permission to figure out where any kind of illegal or terrorist activity is taking place against a government. The 1996 Espionage Act delivered by the Congress makes it a federal offense to use someone’s information and trade their secret for personal gains (Dalla and Geeta, 2013).
An additional way cyber crimes can be combated is by educating the people on keeping their information private and helping them with software that can allow them to get rid of hackers and malicious software.
Works Cited
Dalla, Harpreet Singh, and Geeta. (2013). “Cyber Crime – A Threat to Persons, Property,
Government and Societies.” International Journal of Advances Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering.” Retrieved from http://www.ijarcsse.com/docs/papers/Volume_3/5_May2013/V3I5-0374.pdf
DHS. Gov. (2016). “Combating cyber crime.” Retrieved from
https://www.dhs.gov/topic/combating-cyber-crime
Government.nl. (2016). “Forms of cybercrime.” Retrieved from
https://www.government.nl/topics/cybercrime/contents/forms-of-cybercrime
Sites. (2016). “Main Types of Cybercrime.” Retrieved from
https://sites.google.com/site/callingoffcybercrime/types-of-cyber-crime
