Introduction
Internet crime (or cybercrime) comprises illegal actions carried out by people who are using information technologies for criminal purposes. Examples of cybercrime include spam, hacking, and stealing of credit card numbers, as well as the spread of illegal information while preparing to perpetrate acts of terrorism or even to wage war. With this in mind, the paper analyzes some approaches to preventing Internet crime that might be conducted by law enforcement and e-business professionals.
Law Enforcement Preventative Measures
The first way to prevent cybercrime is for law enforcement personnel to cooperate with Internet service providers. The role of law enforcement is to guarantee the privacy of citizens’ personal information. For example, in order to deal with phishing, it is necessary for law enforcement agencies to “contact the actual business that supposedly sent the email to verify if the email is genuine” (Internet Crime Complaint Center, n.d., para. 13).
In addition, it is crucial to avoid links in an e-mail, as one may find himself on a fraudulent website as a result. It is better to type the website address manually in the address bar of the browser or use a bookmark that was previously configured as a “favorite” for ease and convenience of access. As one possible solution, the government might develop and implement appropriate laws that would prohibit embedding live links directly in an e-mail.
E-business Methods of Safeguarding from Cyber Crime
Credit card fraud remains one of the most widespread cybercrimes in the world. According to Dinesh and Adhiya (2015), authentication systems, such as image click point authentication, for example, can secure customers’ personal information, including passwords or login information that might be illegally collected to steal from customers’ accounts. Moreover, anti-virus (or anti-DDoS) systems can be beneficial in preventing Internet crime as they ensure protection against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
An anti-virus program should be able to rapidly recognize attacks and thwart them both through the DDoS monitoring system and by using a special protective infrastructure. Therefore, the abovementioned measures are essential to prevent identity theft.
In addition, e-business professionals should encrypt all data. In order to secure information, the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate protects data from cybercriminals and hackers, making the data unreadable to everyone except the intended recipient (Mali, 2015). In particular, the SSL certificate is a unique digital signature for a website, necessary to any e-business in order to secure the connection between client and server, and especially important during the transmission of confidential information and financial transactions. Such a precaution might considerably increase the loyalty of customers.
Conclusion
In summary, it is of great importance to establish appropriate laws and apply e-business methods to prevent Internet crime. Such measures as laws prohibiting direct links in the e-mail, or authentication and anti-virus systems, might be beneficial to secure citizens from cybercrime.
References
Dinesh, T. L., & Adhiya, K. P. (2015). Credit Card Fraud Detection Using Hmm and Image Click Point Authentication. International Journal of Advanced Studies in Computers, Science and Engineering, 4(3), 1-7.
Internet Crime Complaint Center. (n.d.). Internet Crime Prevention Tips. Web.
Mali, J. (2015). Best ways to protect Ecommerce site from cyber criminals. Web.