Cyber Crime is spreading like wildfire across the globe. The most popular forms of Cyber Crime are auctions, credit cards, lotteries and contests, work-at-home plans, and the Nigerian money offer. Eighty-nine percent of Cybercrimes occurred through online auctions. Unsecured websites are easy targets for some looking for credit card information. Visa recently reported that even though only two percent of its business is made up of online transactions much of its customers are being wrongly charged. The rise of unemployment has forced many people to find other ways to establish an income.
Many respond to the work-from-home plans in hopes to earn more money. Many send in their start-up fee and receive a box filled with useless materials. The Nigerian money offer is the fastest-growing con. Victims receive an email from someone in Africa who claims to have amassed a fortune and wants to transfer it to your bank account for safekeeping. This scam has generated billions of dollars. So many people have fallen victim to it that the Secret Service has issued warnings about the scam proclaiming that many people have been robbed and killed after traveling to Nigeria to collect their money.
Cyber Crime affects the entire economy. On average Cyber Crime costs the average American Five-hundred and twenty-one dollars. According to the Computer Security Institute between the five hundred and three organizations surveyed they reported a four-hundred and fifty-six million dollar loss over the past year due to attacks on their computers and networks.
The law enforcement admits there is little they can do for many of the complaints. Local law enforcement can not pursue criminals because criminals are often not even in the same state. Also, the lack of technology of local law enforcement affects the pursuit of cybercriminals. The FBI turns down many of the complaints that flood the cybercrime squads. In order for the FBI to pursue a cybercriminal, there must be a minimum of “$5000 damage or an attack on a so-called federal interest computer.” (Garfinkel, 67-70) Law enforcement is making strides in order to tame the flames of cybercrime. New laws are being created to give law enforcement more power. Local law enforcement is creating task forces to deal with cybercrime.
In order for law enforcement to deal with the problem of Cyber Crime, there are many steps it must take. It must first be better prepared to enforce Cyber Crime laws. The branches of law enforcement must communicate better when dealing with Cyber Crime. Law enforcement must realize what resources are needed to combat Cyber Crime and gather them together.
Law enforcement has realized that it lacks the capabilities to prosecute online fraud offenders. It asks the citizens to take better steps to protect themselves so they do not needlessly fall victim to internet predators. Internet users should delete the cookies (record information about shopping cart contents, login information, address information, e-mail addresses, and such so you don’t have to re-enter it each time you visit the site) from your web browser in order to prevent someone from stealing your information.
Law enforcement must realize that “criminals are getting smarter” and they must adapt to the changes. Law enforcement must become better organized in order to deal with the issue of Cyber Crime. They must realize that the problem will not just go away and it is a growing epidemic. Computer users must be careful about who they give their sensitive information. Many of the crimes could have been prevented if the victims had taken more time to protect themselves. Computer users and law enforcement must work to gather to help make the internet a safer place.
Because the wide world of technology has developed at such an astounding pace, there are many problems for victims as well as investigators of cybercrime and computer-related crimes. First, we must familiarize ourselves with the definitions of cybercrime and computer-related crime. For this paper, we will define cybercrime as the use of a computer as a tool to commit a crime or as a crime committed where a computer is a target. We will define computer-related crime as a traditional crime where a computer is used to carry out, record actions, or provide evidence of a crime. The beginnings of the problem of investigating cybercrime comes in the form of reporting.
For many reasons, cybercrimes tend to go unreported or severely underreported. Another problem is that law enforcement officials (as well as parents and their children) do not have adequate training, allocation of funds, coordination with other agencies, or a proper understanding of applicable laws that pertain to cybercrime. From all angles, cybercrime is a difficult problem to tackle, and there is a definite need for law enforcement to catch up with the technology of cyberspace, which is quickly becoming a feeding ground for illegal and illicit activity.
Despite the fact that there are numerous state and federal reporting agencies, an incredible amount of businesses and regular personal computer users do not report incidents. Among businesses, specifically, ninety percent of cybercrime goes unreported while only two percent of those that are reported end in a conviction. Because businesses have so much of the population’s personal information, and their validity depends on the consumer’s ability to depend on and trust the business, the businesses find a larger risk in revealing that their computer systems are susceptible to breaching than the actual loss from a cyber attack.
Succinctly, the economic loss from consumer’s mistrust would create a financial loss more damaging than the cyber attack itself; despite the fact that United States businesses have a net loss of five billion dollars, annually, due to cyber-attacks.
As for regular home computer and internet users, they do not report incidents because they know that there is rarely a resolution and law enforcement agencies can provide little to no help (Hale, 5-6). Resulting from this epidemic, there has been a call for reformation of the laws in recent years. Some government representatives would like to see tougher laws put into place that would deter computer-related crimes.
Some are even asking for legislation that would hold computer giants accountable for software that contains security flaws, thus allowing for attacks such as viruses and worms that cause destruction. Of course, opponents of these ideas believe that civil liberties will be in jeopardy (Hansen, 1-3). Reporting is the most informative way that investigators can fight cybercrime. Without these reports, law enforcement officials will be forced to play the waiting game.
Another large area that needs attention is the training arena. In general, law enforcement officials are not computer experts. Oftentimes, the skills and experience needed to investigate a cybercrime are beyond the common knowledge of “line investigators”; therefore, agencies should have, at a minimum, one investigator that is an expert in dealing with cybercrimes and should provide training for all officers on basic knowledge for preserving digital evidence. For example, hidden files, encryption, password-protected files, swap files, and slack space are all relevant to an investigation but are not common knowledge for untrained investigators (Blitz, 89-92).
Differentiating the workload would ease a large number of headaches for investigators, as well as using the allocated funds in the most economically sound way. Although cybercrime is investigated in law enforcement circles, parents and children should become educated on what types of events could indicate a risk of becoming or being a victim of cybercrime. Parents should be aware of what their children are viewing or participating in on the internet, and be aware of what sensitive information they put on the web. Children should be educated on what type of information to never give out to someone they do not know. If these measures are taken, the general population could cut back on their risks of becoming a cybercrime statistic (Koenig, 19-22).
Another problem facing law enforcement officials investigating cybercrime is the allocation of funds that are needed, and severely lacking, to investigate such crime. To add to this problem is the interaction with other agencies; more specifically, the lack of communication and cooperation between agencies. Often times local and state agencies do not have the funds necessary to create a reliable environment, including the expensive sophisticated equipment, necessary to properly and safely investigate cybercrime. The FBI, however, has a number of technical programs that are addressing the issue of cybercrime.
Most of these organizations’ investigations are aimed at terrorism and white-collar crime; it is possible for local or state law officials to be investigating the same criminals. Therefore, there is duplication between the agencies and this means that there is duplication in the funds spent on the investigation. Because there is usually no communication between local and federal agencies, there are large amounts of funds that could have been better spent investigating other crimes that are not already being investigated by another agency. Also, within an agency, there should be specialized personnel for investigating cybercrime and a sharing of equipment and resources specific to cybercrime investigations (Koenig, 19-22).
While cybercrime has become a top priority for law enforcement officials in the new age of technology, there are many obstacles facing them. With the encouragement of reporting cybercrime, proper training of officials, adequate funding used appropriately, genuine interagency communication, and familiarity with traditional and new laws to prosecute cybercriminals the United States can reduce the problem.
However, the problem of cybercrime is just new territory for criminals and law enforcement alike. The problem will never be totally eradicated due to the speed of enhanced technology. There will always be car thieves because there are cars that thieves want, and there will always be cybercriminals because there will always be criminals who can work the technology to their advantage. If American law enforcement officials do not face the problem head-on, they will never be able to handle it.
Works Cited
Blitz, Marjie T. (2003). Traditional Problems in Computer Investigations. Computer Forensics and Cyber Crime: An Introduction, 144. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. 89-92.
Garfinkel, Simson. “The FBI’s Cyber-Crime Crackdown.” Technology Review. 2002: 67-70.
Hale, Chris. (2002). Cyber Crime: Facts & Figures Concerning the Global Dilemma. Crime and Criminal Justice, vol. 18, no.65, pp.5-6.
Hansen, Brian. (2002). Electronic Frontier. CQ Researcher, vol.12, no. 14, pp.1-3.
Koenig, Dan. (2002). Investigation of Cybercrime and Technology-related Crime. The National Executive Institute Associates Leadership Bulletin. 19-22.