Computer crimes have been increasing in the recent past as technology advances. Computer crimes require a specialist familiar in computer techniques to organize information and investigate to sue perpetrators.
Computer crimes have been increasing in the recent past as technology advances. Computer crimes require a specialist familiar in computer techniques to organize information and investigate to sue perpetrators.
Therefore, a computer crime is an illegal act that affects other people. This discussion delineates on four categories of computer crimes and their mitigation.
The four categories of computer crimes include harassment, swindling or fraud, computer virus, and impersonation. These are cybercrimes perpetrated through a network. Computer viruses are one of the common and dangerous crimes in the present period (Hyman, 2013). Viruses and other computer threats are quickly spread from one computer to another. The viruses are transferred through different software and multiply rapidly causing damages to the computer contents. The viruses also cause malfunctioning of the computer, which causes inconveniences to the users. Examples of these viruses include Trojan and Worms among others.
Another category of computer crimes is impersonation. A person conceals his or her identity when committing a crime (Hussainat, 2013). This is a relatively dangerous crime and one of the difficult to detect if committed. This kind of crime is mostly committed through the use personal identification of another person illegally until it becomes complex to identify the personality of the offender. On the internet, it is difficult to identify the character on the other side, which makes it hard to curb such behaviors. Some of the options available to reduce escalation of such crimes are through use of security, passwords, and signatures among many other strategies.
Harassment is yet another category of computer crimes that is rampant in this time and age. Criminals use e-mail whereby they prosecute innocent people by sending threatening and intimidating letters. They do his by concealing or hiding their identity through communication (Hussainat, 2013). Sometimes, they use derogatory statements and direct obscenities focusing at specific individuals on basis of gender, religion, race, sexual orientation, and nationality among others. Examples of these crimes include cyber bullying, hate crime, cyber stalking, and online predators among many others (Eisenberg, 2013).
Fraud is yet another category of computer crimes. This kind of crime involves misrepresentation of facts aims at influencing an individual to do or refrain from doing something that causes loss (McQuade, 2009). Fraud is committed on computer in various ways such as by altering information in unauthorized way. False data is entered in a computer or using wrong processes. Other techniques include concealing of unauthorized transactions, deleting stored data, misusing or altering system tools or software among many others. Other kinds of fraud facilitated using computer systems include bank frauds, exhortation, identity theft, and theft of classified information among others.
Out of these crimes, fraud and harassments present greatest overall threat. This is because these kinds of crimes are sophisticated and not easy to detect. For instance, harassments, such as cyber stalking and hate, are highly committed through social platforms because people are able to hide their identities and personalities. Frauds are also a threat because they are done by specialists and not easy to detect.
Due to the increasing rates of crimes committed through computer, various governments have come up with different measures to curb the challenges. The U.S. Government through the court systems and law enforcement agencies has the responsibilities of helping reduce computer crimes. Some of the ways to reduce such crimes is to set laws that will see offenders and perpetrators face stiffer penalties. The government should also come up with programs that will help to detect such crimes (Hussainat, 2013). Other solutions include providing computer certificates to computer users to ensure that those who commit crimes are traced and charged. They should also create awareness about the appropriate measures that individuals and corporates should put into consideration to reduce cases of computer crimes.
In conclusion, computer crimes present one of the current challenges of technology. Various stakeholders such as governments should come up with suitable measures to reduce these crimes. People should also take the initiative of ensuring that they use computer in a better manner to reduce these crimes.
References
Eisenberg, L. (2013). Computer crimes, American Criminal Law Review, 50: 681
Hussainat, M. (2013). Computer Crimes in the Jordanian Society: Ajloun/Empirical Study, Asian Social Science, 9(9):85-93.
Hyman, P. (2013). Cybercrime: It’s Serious, But Exactly How Serious? Communications of the ACM, 56(3):18-20.
McQuade, S. (ed) (2009). Th
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