Cybercrime What\'s in a Name?

Cybercrime

What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet"

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) (Bartlett, 2000).

Cybercrime by Any Other Name

Similar to the contention Shakespeare proposes about the merit of the name "rose"; that even if a rose were titled by a different name - the fragrance would "smell as sweet" (Bartlett, 2000), this researcher contends that any other name for cybercrime - stinks. Computer crimes, according to Donn Parker (1998, cited by Whittaker, 2004, p. 232), differs from cyber crime, as:

in computer crime, the perpetrator utilizes particular knowledge about computer technologies;

in cybercrime, the crime is committed utilizing the Internet or, in order to proceed, requires explicit knowledge about networked cyberspace. (Whittaker, 2004, p. 232)

Cybercrime, also known as computer crime, according to Dennis (2008) constitutes "the use of a computer as an instrument to further illegal ends, such as committing fraud, trafficking in child pornography and intellectual property, stealing identities, or violating privacy. Cybercrime, especially through the Internet, has grown in importance as the computer has become central to commerce, entertainment, and government (Dennis 2008)." Cybercrime obviously differs from traditional criminal activity as the digital computer is utilized. Technology alone, albeit, proves insufficient for any possible distinction between different realms of criminal activity. Criminals do not have to use a computer to traffic in child pornography and intellectual property, commit fraud, steal an identity, or violate a person's privacy.

These crimes existed before the "cyber" prefix became omnipresent.

Cybercrime, especially involving the Internet, represents an extension of existing criminal behaviour alongside some novel illegal activities (Dennis 2008)." In his book, Cybercrime (2002), Steven Furnell explains that in computer crimes, such as fraud and misuse of personal data, where the crimes pre-date the emergence of contemporary technologies, computers contribute a supporting role. Cybercrimes consist of crimes, such as viruses or hacking, where the action involves a direct outcome of information technologies. During 2006, 3,237,500 cybercrimes or one cybercrime every ten seconds was reportedly committed in the UK alone (One Cybercrime 2007).

Categories and number of cybercrimes committed in the UK in 2006:

Online identity http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/1.gif

92,000 Online financial fraud 207,000 Online offences against the person 1,944,000 http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/1.gif misuse offences 144,500 Online sexual offences 850,000 (One Cybercrime 2007).

Researchers suspect, however, that as much as 90% of all cybercrime goes unreported. Many victims do not report cybercrime the crime due to an assumption that cybercrime does not actually qualify as criminal because it occurred online, or that law enforcement would not be able or willing to become involved (One Cybercrime 2007). Along with cyberspace's rapid development, crime online has also grown. A number of criminal activities, "such as breaking into networks or exploiting weaknesses in systems using applications designed to take advantage of such networks, could not exist before the invention of computers, Whittaker, 2004, 232-233 stresses. Others, however, such as fraud, spying or even terrorism, are simply the extension of actions that existed long before information technologies broke into the realms of cyberspace." The following figure (1) depicts one perception of cyberspace. Figure (2) following this figure portrays Internet connections.

Figure 1: One Depiction of Cyberspace (Cyberspace N.d.)

Figure 2: Internet Connections (National Strategy 2003)

The U.S.' critical infrastructures consist of private and public and institutions in areas of Food, water, energy agriculture, public health, emergency services, government, defense industrial base, information and telecommunications, transportation, banking and finance, chemicals and hazardous materials, along with postal and shipping. Cyberspace constitutes the nervous system of these segments; the control system of our country. "Cyberspace is composed of hundreds of thousands of interconnected computers, servers, routers, switches, and fiber optic cables that allow our critical infrastructures to work (Computer Crimes 2008)." Consequently, for a country's security, as well as its economy and security to function at their best, cyberspace must function in a healthy manner.

When the Internet Does and Does Not Work the Way it Should

Data sent from one computer to another across the Internet is broken into small packets of information containing addressing information as well as a portion of the total message. The packets travel across the Internet separately and are reassembled at the receiving computer. There are two primary protocols that enable these packets of data to traverse the complex networks and arrive in an understandable format. These protocols are: (1) the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) which decomposes data into packets and ensures that they are reassembled properly at the destination; and (2) the Internet Protocol (IP), which guides or routes the packets of data though the Internet. Together they are referred to as TCP/IP. IP is essential to almost all Internet activities including sending data such as e-mail. Data is transmitted based on IP addresses, which are a series of numbers. The Domain Name System (DNS) was developed to simplify the management of IP addresses. The DNS maps IP numbers to recognizable sets of letters, words or numbers. The DNS does this by establishing domains and a structured hierarchical addressing scheme (Computer Crimes 2008).

Due to the spread of cybercrime, the Internet frequently does not work the way it should. Also due to the increase of cybercrime, the modern lexicon now includes several new definitions for words such as "Troj an Horse," "worm," and "identity theft" (Katyal cited by Jones, 2007). The name "Cyber," a commonly used, contemporary prefix evolves from the Greek word for navigator (Pangaro 2007). In this sense, the answer for this study's research question: Could cybercrime exist without computers?, evokes a definite, "yes." On the other hand, the research question, as noted by information included in the following list of various contemporary cybercrime components, could also net a "no" answer. In a number of countries, some cybercrimes could not be committed without the use of a computer, while others do not require a computer:

Israel

In the first six months of this year [2007], Israel had the most malicious activity per internet user. In 2005, investigators revealed that a "Trojan Horse" program had infiltrated some 60 companies, which became Israel's biggest corporate espionage scandal. A swathe of companies came under investigation for allegedly stealing information from rivals.

United States

Online fraud has overtaken viruses as the greatest source of financial loss in the U.S. According to California-based security firm Symantec, in the first s ix months of this year the U.S. accounted for 61 per cent of worldwide denial of service (DoS) attacks, which attempt to make computer resources unavailable to their intended users.

Panama

In these countries - as well as Turkey, Malaysia and Singapore - the Russian Business Network is alleged to operate servers. The locations are disparate presumably in order to spread the risk of being permanently shut down by one country's police force.

United Kingdom

Around 3 million internet crimes were committed in the UK last year. One of the most common is identity theft. In 2004, two people were arrested over an internet crime ring, the Shadow Crew, that allegedly planned to defraud consumers and financial institutions out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Nigeria

Online fraud is a burgeoning business in this nation. one trick is to lure potential victims into a scam via an unsolicited email. The unwitting recipients are promised a large commission on a multi-billion-dollar fortune. They are persuaded to open an online account, to which they contribute funds, never to be seen again.

Russia

The shadowy Russian Business Network was reportedly launched by young computer science graduates, and was registered as an internet site last year. After a period of legitimate activity, it has since been linked by security firms to child pornography, corporate blackmail, spam attacks and online identity theft across the globe

China

Bots are software applications that run automated tasks over the internet. China has 29 per cent of the world's bot-infected computers, with Beijing hosting the majority of these. Bots are often benign but can be used for various nefarious tasks, such as harvesting email addresses from address books to help distribute spam.

Estonia

Last year, Russian web users launched a "cyber-war" on the Estonian government, infecting 1 million computers with "bots." This overwhelmed the country's networks by requesting more information than they were designed to cope with. The effect was equivalent to 5,000 clicks per second and many websites were forced to shut down.

Canada

In 2004, U.S. Secret Service agents arrested members of the Shadow Crew in Canada, who were using the website to orchestrate document forgery and drugs operations. In Vancouver, one of their number was just 17; he saw online underworld activities as a "rebellion against authority" according to reports (Cybercrime: Uncovered 2008).

Piazza (2006) posits that the cybercriminals committing the massive number of cybercrimes are increasingly becoming specialists and loiter in dark corners of the Internet, as well as in chat rooms and on message boards.

Through "social engineering, Piazza (2006) explains one particular cybercrime not necessarily completed online, known as "phone services," are used by hackers when they take over some financial accounts. In this scenario, "if a bad guy wants to take over an account, he'll have someone else speak in a different language in a different location, and that's all they do. Their expertise is calling financial institutions for social engineering" (Piazza 2006). According to Piazza (2006), cybercrime consists of any crime a person commits by using a computer or computer technology. He classifies various types of cybercrime into four primary categories, which include:

unauthorized access to computer programs and files, unauthorized disruption, theft of identity, and carrying out of traditional offenses, such as distribution of child pornography, using a computer (Piazza 2006).

Ditzion, Geddes and Rhodes (2003) contend that due to the myriad of diverse computer related offenses, nothing less than the definition by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) would suffice. The DOJ generally defines computer crime as "any violations of criminal law that involve a knowledge of computer technology for their perpetration, investigation, or prosecution." (Ditzion, Geddes & Rhodes, 2003)

The term "computer crime" not only includes traditional crimes committed using a computer, but also numerous technology-specific criminal behaviors technologies and the exponential expansion of the Internet have spawned. The Internet has also spawned numerous "cyberthreats," which can basically be defined as "using computer technology to engage in activity that undermines a society's ability to maintain internal or external order" (Brenner, 2007). As cyberspace spawns opportunities for individuals and groups to remotely commission attacks, they usually maintain their anonymity. More often than not, cybercriminals are not apprehended and remain unidentified (Brenner 2007)

No International Borders

Kumar (2002) notes cybercrime has spawned deep roots into cyberspace and that sophisticated cybercriminals and terrorists associated with drug trafficking, terrorist outfits regularly employ the Internet for anti-social, anti-national and criminal activities. He warns that "The criminals can move on a highway at the speed of light on which there are no traffic signals, no constables, without international border with no custom or immigration authorities to call the criminal to halt. Terrorist groups deftly utilize the Internet to pass on information to execute various terrorist acts, which, because they utilize computers, present serious negative impact on human life. "The cyber-terrorists have even acquired the capability to penetrate computer systems using 'logic bombs' (coded devices that can be remotely detonated), electro magnetic pulses and high-emission radio frequency guns, which blow a devastating electronic wind through a computer system. The hackers have gone to the extent of distributing free hacking software -- Rootkit, for instance -- to enable an intruder to get root access to a network and then control as though they were the system's administrators (Kumar 2002)."

The Cybercrime Scope Depending on the scope of the crime, Internet-related crimes, no matter what the name, like crimes committed offline, should be reported to appropriate law enforcement investigative authorities at the local, state, federal, or international levels. Primary federal law enforcement agencies that investigate domestic Internet crimes include: the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States Secret Service, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). The following Table (1) identifies a number of cybercrimes and the appropriate law enforcement agency for reporting the crime.