CYBERCRIME
PREPARED BY:
ALVEZ, MARY LOUISE E.
What is
Cybercrime?
• Cybercrime is a growing threat, with the number of attacks and
their costs both rising swiftly.
• The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines cybercrime as “criminal
activity committed using a computer, especially to illegally
access, transmit or manipulate data.”
• At its root, cybercrime is any illegal activity using a computer,
either as the attacker’s weapon or target. That covers a wide
variety of types of crime, from phishing emails and identity theft
that affect individuals, to ransomware and denial of service (DoS)
attacks targeting businesses and organizations.
Categories of Cybercrime
The list of cybercrimes is long and varied, but cybercrime falls into
three main categories:
• Individual: This category includes a variety of cybercrimes
carried out against a single person, including cyberstalking,
identity theft and child pornography.
• Government: This category of cybercrime often involves state-
sponsored attackers and cyberterrorists in targeting another
country’s secrets and critical infrastructure. Attacks include
disseminating misinformation and propaganda, as well as outright
digital sabotage affecting critical
instructor system.
• Property: As more business activity continues
to move online, stealing data and intellectual
property is one of the most profitable and
common types of cybercrime. This can include
phishing attacks that scam credit card numbers
and personal information, sophisticated spear
phishing that uses impersonation to request
funds, or ransomware attacks that seek to steal
an organization’s files and extort a payment in
exchange for returning them.
What is Cybercrime
law?
• Cybercrime law identifies standards of acceptable
behaviour for information and communication
technology (ICT) users; establishes socio-legal sanctions
for cybercrime; protects ICT users, in general, and
mitigates and/or prevents harm to people, data,
systems, services, and infrastructure, in particular;
protects human rights; enables the investigation and
prosecution of crimes committed online (outside of
traditional real-world settings); and facilitates
cooperation between countries on cybercrime matters
(UNODC, 2013, p. 52).
Substantive law
An illegal act needs to be clearly described in and
prohibited by law. Pursuant to the moral principle of
nullum crimen sine lege (Latin for “no crime without law”)
a person cannot be punished for an act that was not
proscribed by law at the time the person committed the
act (UNODC, 2013, p. 53).
Substantive law defines the rights and responsibilities of
legal subjects, which include persons, organizations, and
states. Sources of substantive law include statutes and
ordinances enacted by city, state, and federal legislatures
( statutory law), federal and state constitutions, and court
Procedural
law
Procedural law demarcates the processes and procedures
to be followed to apply substantive law and the rules to
enable the enforcement of substantive law. An important
part of procedural law is criminal procedure, which
includes comprehensive rules and guidelines on the
manner in which suspected, accused, and convicted
persons are to be handled and processed by the criminal
justice system and its agents (Maras, forthcoming, 2020;
for general information about criminal procedure, see
LaFave et al., 2015; for information about international
criminal procedure, see Boas, et al., 2011).
Preventive law
Preventive law focuses on regulation and risk
mitigation. In the context of cybercrime, preventive
legislation seeks to either prevent cybercrime or, at
the very least, mitigate the damage resulting from
the commission of a cybercrime (UNODC, 2013, 55).
Most Common Computer and
Internet Cyber Crimes
With the ubiquity of smartphones and social media
reporting our every move, it’s no surprise that cyber-crime
is on the rise. From theft to fraud to solicitation, here are
eight common Internet crimes that are impacting today.
1. Phishing
Phishing is when criminals send fraudulent emails
pretending to be from legitimate businesses, in an attempt
to collect sensitive, personal information. Often, any links in
the email will redirect to a website owned by the scammer,
so always be careful about what information you give out
2. Harassment
Cyberstalkers use electronic communication, such as email, social media,
or websites to stalk and harass people. Forms of online harassment
include slander, libel, false accusations, threats, or any other behavior
that demeans or embarrasses someone. Sentences for cyberstalking can
include jail time and hefty fines.
3. Ransomware
Cyber criminals can install malicious software on your system that will
essentially hold your important information hostage until you meet their
demands. A common ransomware attack will shut down a victim’s
computer or encrypt their files, agreeing to release them only if the victim
pays a ransom. All too often, however, the files are never recovered.
4. Prostitution
Many escorts will advertise their services in online classifieds, social
media forums, or their own personal websites, making it easy and discreet
for people to find them. But since prostitution is illegal in the vast majority
5. Child Pornography & Solicitation
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received over 10 million reports of
suspected child sexual exploitation in the last year alone. Perpetrators will use the Internet to
gain access to sexually explicit images of children, and sometimes even arrange for a face-to-
face meeting.
6. Intellectual Property Theft
More commonly known as piracy, the Internet abounds with books, music, movies, and more
that have been illegally obtained and made available for free download. Despite what some
people say, piracy is not a victimless crime. Not only do artists and creators lose out, but
many illegal downloads also contain hidden malware that can destroy your computer.
7. Account Hacking
We all know how important it is to guard our passwords – think about the damage someone
could do if they gained access to your email account containing all your most personal
information. If someone logs into your email, social media, or computer without authorization,
they could potentially face jail time.
8. Drug Trafficking
With the rise of cryptocurrency, the online drug trade has increased significantly over the past
few years. Illegal drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, meth, ecstasy, and heroin are all just a
few clicks away – and according to research by the Rand Corporation, over 35% of worldwide
Although the list of cybercrimes keeps growing, defenders can
match the industriousness of the bad guys by preventing
cybercrime through services implemented at scale. Services such
as email protection, business continuity and data archiving, as
well as employee training, will enable organizations to maintain
operations and recover from attacks while minimizing their
effects.
THANK YOU!!
