Internet Crime
The internet also presents new and, in some cases, highly complex opportunities to commit crimes in
Northern Ireland from anywhere in the world. The criminal use of the Internet is known as e-crime or cybercrime. It can be subdivided into two categories:-
- Crimes which target computer networks or devices directly. E.g. the theft of data from an organisation’s computers with the purpose of obtaining a commercial advantage.
- Crimes facilitated by computers where the primary target is not the computer or network but the individual or organisation using it e.g. the delivery of an email which defrauds the user into acting in such a way as to render them the victim of a crime; or, the distribution of child pornography.
(Many offences span both categories and many offences span multiple crime types and both categories).
There are a number of different types of cybercrime:
Phishing is the term used to describe attempts to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details through electronic communication claiming to be from a trusted sender. Phishing is typically carried out by email, instant messaging or mobile telephone texts.
Scareware is computer software which uses the fear of cybercrime to convince the purchaser to buy (usually online) anti cybercrime computer software. As best these products are substandard and don’t provide the levels of security advertised. As worst after installation they provide cybercriminals with full access to the victim’s computer.
Spam is the term used to describe the sending of unsolicited emails in large quantities to indiscriminately selected recipients. It is estimated that spam email makes up some 80% -85% of all email in the world. Spammers take advantage of the fact the practice has been criminalised in some jurisdictions and frequently outsource parts of their operations to countries were spamming is not illegal.
Spyware is software that is installed on a computer without the knowledge of the owner in order to collect information about the user.
Trojan is software which allows cybercriminals to control various capabilities on the victim’s computer including saving files on the computer and/or stealing information from the computer.
A Virus is a programme that can replicate itself and infect a computer by attaching itself of a computer programme without the permission or knowledge of the owner. A virus will usually result in damage or corruption of some nature of the date stored on the computer.
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