In today’s society of technology, everything is online. The ability to buy, sell, and share has never been easier. Banking accounts and personal information is now stored by computer programs instead of pen and paper. However, it has also never been easier for criminals to get access to these accounts and private information. Crimes that occur online are known as cyber crimes and are becoming more and more common in today’s criminal world.
Cyber crimes are crimes that either are aimed to bypass a computer (hacking) or they try to gain or exploit information from other people by stealing. Some examples of cyber crime is Identity theft, fraud, piracy, hacking, or attacks at other networks. They are against national laws and can often be punishable by the justice system. These are punishable by law because they do not only steal money and valuable information from people, they also take a sense of security that a person once had.
Hacking is often defined as the trespassing into a network or computer. A person who takes place in this activity is called a hacker. A hacker can change a system or security features to accomplish a task that un-originates from the main purpose of the system. Hacking can sometimes be legal. For instance, when cracking a cheat code to a video game, that is not illegal as long as no rights or property is being infringed upon. Also, anyone can be a hacker. It takes no special skill to know how to bypass a system because anyone has the ability to do it. However, it becomes illegal when someone begins to invade a businesses private accounts and private information. It only becomes illegal when you hack into an account to take private information that does not belong to you. Depending on how serious the offense it could lead to jail time.
127 our experts are availableright now
Identity theft is one of the leading crimes in today’s world. It has affected up to 7% of Americans is rapidly increasing. How do we know what identity theft is? Identity theft is the stealing of personal information for one’s personal gain. Often times, someone’s wallet or or credit card information will be stolen. A thief will then take this new information and make purchases on your behalf. It is important to always manage your accounts and be aware of security on important things such as money. In order to protect online accounts, make different passwords for each account, so that it will be protected better. Also it would be wise to hire a credit card monitor or tell your bank to notify you when an unusual transaction has occurred. Stealing is a federal offense. Identity theft is a form of stealing and it can be punished severely by the United States Justice system.
References
- US-CERT: Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency
- Department of Justice – Cyber Crime
- Cyber Crimes Unit
- National Cyber Security Centre (UK)
- Canadian Centre for Cyber Security: Cybersecurity Guidance
- NIST Cybersecurity Framework (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
- Interpol – Cybercrime
