Crime Solicitors

Given the seemingly unstoppable growth of the internet, there are ever more opportunities for using it for criminal purposes for personal gain. This is basically what Cyber crime is, illegal activity on the internet. There are numerous security risks that come with connecting up to a network and anyone with an internet connection, a decent PC and the right sort of knowledge has all they require for launching a career in software piracy, email espionage, credit card fraud and a whole raft of other illegal activities. Cyber crime is on the rise and fast becoming yet another unpleasant fact of daily life.

There are essentially three categories of cyber crime, against persons, property and governments.

Against persons

This category of cyber crime involves such things as the transmission of child pornography and harassment of any individual using computer technology. One of the most notorious types of cyber crime, these days, is the dissemination of pornographic material and other obscene matter. Of particular concern here is the younger generation, which is growing up with access to this type of material literally at their fingertips. While there are daily cases of minors becoming involved with dangerous individuals lurking in chat rooms, malicious viruses are also included in this category. The Melissa virus, for example, appeared in 1999 and rapidly spread through networks in Europe and the USA, causing over 80 million dollars worth of damage around the globe.

Cyber harassment is now a recognised form of cyber crime and can be racial, religious or sexual in nature.

Against property

Cyber crime against property includes such things as the transmission of harmful computer programs and computer vandalism. Corporate cyber-spy technology, for example, could be used to steal a technical database from a rival company or to hack into private files containing blueprints for new products.

Against governments

Cyber terrorism also comes under the category of cyber crime and involves terrorist groups using the internet in a variety of ways to target governments they have a grievance against. For example, it can be used as a means to terrorise a particular country’s citizens. Terrorists are also heavily involved in moving funds around using the internet and for internal communications.

Hacking is a particular type of cyber crime that has attained a high level of prominence recently as a result of the News of the World phone hacking scandal. This involved celebrities’ voicemail messages being targeted by unscrupulous journalists. However, unauthorised access takes many forms; for example, it is a crime to use personal computer skills to gain unauthorised access to any computer network. Hackers are often not concerned primarily with obtaining information to which they are not entitled, but also release malware to infect systems and cause often irreparable damage. Software piracy is another type of crime that makes use of the latest technology to profit illegally. Cyber criminals are sometimes known as ‘crackers’ and many of them are still in their teens, according to current research into cyber crime, its causes and remedies.

For more information about cyber crime and legislation concerned with it, contact Duncan Lewis and other crime solicitors.