Scribd
Upload
210 views2 pages

1e Abriefhistoryofcybercrime

Cyber crime has existed for decades and has its roots in disgruntled employees damaging computers to get back at supervisors. As personal computers and internet access became more widespread, cyber criminals shifted their focus to targeting individual home users through phishing scams, cyber stalking, computer viruses, and identity theft. Cyber crime has since grown substantially as more people go online, enabling new forms of cyber stalking, harassment, drug trafficking, cyberterrorism, and cyber warfare to emerge. Law enforcement has formed specialized divisions to address cyber crime, but given its historical growth, cyber crime will likely continue increasing until more effective prevention and response strategies are developed.

Uploaded by

Marielle Caralipio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
210 views2 pages

1e Abriefhistoryofcybercrime

Cyber crime has existed for decades and has its roots in disgruntled employees damaging computers to get back at supervisors. As personal computers and internet access became more widespread, cyber criminals shifted their focus to targeting individual home users through phishing scams, cyber stalking, computer viruses, and identity theft. Cyber crime has since grown substantially as more people go online, enabling new forms of cyber stalking, harassment, drug trafficking, cyberterrorism, and cyber warfare to emerge. Law enforcement has formed specialized divisions to address cyber crime, but given its historical growth, cyber crime will likely continue increasing until more effective prevention and response strategies are developed.

Uploaded by

Marielle Caralipio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

A Brief History of Cyber Crime

written by: R. Elizabeth C. Kitchen • edited by: M.S. Smith • updated: 5/25/2010

Are you familiar with how cyber crime grew into the threat it is today?

Cyber crime is simply defined as crimes that are directly related to computers and using computers.
Understanding cyber crime history and the types of cyber crime will make fully understanding it and its
effects much easier. Many people assume that cyber crime is relatively new, but it isn't and once you
find out how long it has actually been going on you are sure to be surprised.

Types of Cyber Crime

There are two main categories of cyber crime. The first type targets computer devices or computer
networks directly. The second type targets independent computer devices or computer networks, but
are facilitated by computer devices or computer networks. Some examples of the first type include
denial-of-service attacks, malware, and computer viruses. Examples of the second type include cyber
stalking, phishing scams, identity theft and fraud, and information warfare.

Spam is a crime in which bulk email is sent out unsolicited for commercial purposes. Laws prohibiting
spam have been in place in some form for quite some time, but specific laws making spam illegal (anti-
spam laws) are quite new.

Computer fraud revolves around facts being dishonestly misrepresented to cause or prevent someone
from doing something in which less experience loss. Those committing computer fraud may change
computer input without being authorized, delete or change stored data, misusing or changing software
packages or existing system tools, writing or changing code, or destroy, steal, change, or suppress
output to conceal unauthorized transactions
Harassment has extended to the internet world. Sometimes internet harassment is acute, but it can also
develop into chronic problems, such as cyber stalking, cyber bullying, online predatory behavior, hate
crimes, and real-world stalking. With real-world stalking, the stalker may take his harassment and
stalking off of the internet and out into the real world to intimidate his victim. The stalker may begin
harassing or stalking their victim by following them in chat rooms, sending emails, commenting on the
victims blogs or websites, or through online forums.

Drug trafficking has been a problem for dozens of years, but the internet has made it easier. Those
trafficking drugs can use the internet to sell their products through encrypted emails. They may use
private chat rooms and forums to swap recipes and find new buyers.

Cyberterrorism has become a major concern amongst federal officials. Cyberterrorists will work to
advance his social or political objectives by coercing or intimidating an organization or government. They
do this by sending a computer-based attack against a network, computers, and the information they
store.

Cyber warfare is warfare conducted through cyber space through the use of the Internet and computers.

Cyber Crime History

Cyber crime began with disgruntled employees causing physical damage to the computers they worked
with to get back at their superiors. As the ability to have personal computers at home became more
accessible and popular, cyber criminals began to focus their efforts on home users. The most common
cyber crimes during this time were phishing scams, cyber stalking, computer viruses, and identity theft.

As the years went on and more and more households bought home computers with Internet access,
cyber crime became bigger and much harder to control. Cyber stalking and harassment also became far
more popular. Middle school and high school kids began to take advantage of the Internet to taunt their
classmates and adults would stalk and harass those they also stalked in real life via the internet.

Police departments and federal law enforcement have created special divisions specifically to deal with
cyber crime. However, by judging the history of cyber crime, it is clear that it is not going to stop
anytime soon and it seems like it will just continue to grow until new methods of fighting it are
introduced.

You might also like