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Cyber crime poses serious risks on the society. Even as protective technologies as
evolved, never modes of cyber technologies may be misused in the years to come.
Dr Toni Makkai, Director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, in his
publications looking at the future environment in which Australians will use
information and communications technologies and how this environment will provide
opportunities for illegality and infringement of current regulatory controls.
The reports are 'Future directions in technology-enabled crime: 2007-09', the
most recent publication in the AIC's Research and public policy series, and 'The
future of technology-enabled crime in Australia', number 341 in the Trends & issues
in crime and criminal justice series. The reports identify developments that may
facilitate technology-based crime. These include:
The most likely areas in which opportunities for illegality may arise include fraud,
identity-related crime, computer viruses and malicious code, theft of information,
dissemination of objectionable material online, and risks of organized crime and
terrorism.
Children, who are most at risk, learn about computers and the Internet at an early
age. But just as you wouldn’t let children cross a busy road without some safety
rules, you shouldn’t send them onto the information superhighway without teaching
them the rules of the road. Too many dangerous people can reach children - and
adults - through the Internet. Today’s technology is a wonderful tool, but you must
know how to use it safely. Not only children are pray to cyber crime, even adults are
also in quiet large. Even with the knowledge also adults are falling in this crime
world. Both adults and children are mainly exposed to prone [sex pictures], even
though it is strictly prohibited in cyber cafe, there are two ways who give
encouragement doing things which are restricted: one is, encouraged by the owner
of the cyber cafe and by the peer group friends. On the other hand it is bad
curiosity with bad boldness which insists peoples including children to get involved
in this crime world. Above all, these major and serious problem is faced in internet,
mostly children are playing major role as a pray to criminals and children have also
themselves become criminal not only outside, even in their own house and schools.
Children are spending their valuable time with money in cyber cafe, which is an easy
availability all over their environment. E-Commerce: The increasing use of
telecommunications, particularly the development of e-commerce, is steadily
increasing the opportunities for crime in many guises, especially IT-related crime.
Globalization: Globalization does not mean globalized welfare at all. Globalized
information systems accommodate an increasing number of trans-national offences.
The network context of cyber crime makes it one of the most globalized offences of
the present and the most modernized threats of the future.
The Parliament of India has passed its first Cyber law, the Information Technology
Act, 2000 which provides the legal infrastructure for E-commerce in India. The said
Act has received the assent of the President of India and has become the law of the
land in India.
At this juncture, it is relevant for us to understand what the IT Act, 2000 offers and
its various perspectives. The object of The Information Technology Act, 2000 as
defined therein is as under:- "to provide legal recognition for transactions carried
out by means of electronic data interchange and other means of electronic
communication, commonly referred to as "electronic methods of communication and
storage of information, to facilitate electronic filing of documents with the
Government agencies and further to amend the Indian Penal Code, the Indian
Evidence Act, 1872, the Banker's Book Evidence Act, 1891 and the Reserve Bank of
India Act, 1934 and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto." Towards
that end, the said Act thereafter stipulates numerous provisions. The said Act aims
to provide for the legal framework so that legal sanctity is accorded to all electronic
records and other activities carried out by electronic means. The said Act further
states that unless otherwise agreed, an acceptance of contract may be expressed by
electronic means of communication and the same shall have legal validity and
enforceability. The said Act purports to facilitate electronic intercourse in trade and
commerce, eliminate barriers and obstacles coming in the way of electronic
commerce.
The Impact of Technology on Organised
Crime
The internet has revolutionised all our lives.From online shopping to finding
information and socialising, the rise of digital technology has made it more
convenient for us to keep in touch, organise ourselves and manage day-to-day
tasks.
Technology has also had a significant impact on organised crime, helping to
facilitate criminal activity on a number of different levels.
According to a 2013 report from the Australian Crime Commission (ACC), organised
crime costs the Australian economy $15 billion per year.
The report states that organised crime is also on the rise, and a significant reason
for this is due to the use of technology by criminals.
Organised crime has become so globally pervasive that the Australian government
has recognised it as a key threat to national security, and police are turning to more
high-tech ways of catching organised criminals, and disrupting their activities.
Here are some of the ways that the face of organised crime is changing due to the
impact of technology:
Illicit drugs, like just about everything else, can now be ordered and paid for online
and delivered directly to the recipient. This makes it easier for the drugs trade to
operate, and reduces the need for traditional drug dealers. Having transactions
completed online also makes it more difficult for police to catch people dealing and
buying illegal drugs.
Fraud is becoming more widespread, both through organised criminal gangs and
tech savvy individuals. Cyber theft and identity fraud are some of the types of fraud
that occur online, along with scams that set out to deliberately deceive people and
persuade them to provide credit card details or transfer sums of money. The
widespread use of the internet makes it easier for criminals to target potential
victims all over the world.
Online technology makes it easier for criminals to steal bank details and personal
information. Other ways of stealing from people using technology include credit card
skimming on ATMs and point of sale devices at the checkout.
Money laundering can be undertaken online and money can be sent around the
world to hide the proceeds of criminal activities, or put through online businesses to
legitimise the earnings. For example, criminals can use online gambling sites to
launder money. The increase in popularity of virtual systems of currencies such as
Bitcoin has made it more difficult for police to track and prevent money laundering.
These currencies do not fall within the scope of current anti-money laundering
legislation, and are easy for criminals to buy and sell from anywhere in the world.
The increase in organised crime has been made easier by technology on a number
of different levels, and this is having an impact on the Australian economy as a
whole, as well as on the lives of victims of cyber fraud and identity theft.
Unlike most law enforcement agencies, organised crime groups have no borders,
which means that criminals can operate in a number of different countries, while the
police who are trying to catch them can’t generally operate across jurisdictions but
must cooperate with their global counterparts.
The limitations of working with other law enforcement agencies across different
jurisdictions can make it extremely difficult for police to work effectively in
combatting international crime organisations.
The ACC considers the risk to Australia from cyber-crime and other technologically
facilitated crime to be considerable, and likely to increase in the future.
Positive and Negative Impacts of
Technology
Technology has been around ever since man picked up a rock and wanted to do
some work with it, whether it cut an animals skin open or was used to kill a member
of an opposing tribe. Today technology is used for a variety of things, mostly to help
man achieve certain goals, but sometimes it is used to cause harm to others, such
as when man killed a member of an opposing tribe. Technology in crime and in
crime solving has evolved immensely over the years; from picking the first lock to
stealing someone’s identity and from finger printing to DNA indexing, technology
has had many positive and negative impacts in this field.
Positive Impacts
There are many positive impacts of technology on criminal activity through the
use of Forensic Science. Forensic science is the use of science in the service of the
law.
The sciences include a variety of different fields such as, chemistry, engineering,
and biology. With the use technologies like fingerprinting and DNA indexing cases
are solved faster and more accurately than ever before. These technologies have
revolutionized the way we enforce law in this country and word wide.
Fingerprinting
Fingerprinting is an exact way of identifying a person according to their finger
print. Fingerprinting was established in the 19th century and has improved steadily
ever since. It was first used in India as a way to combat fraud through
impersonation, solve disputed identities in civil legal disputes, and most importantly
keeping a record of people convicted of a crime. Before, it would take a very long
time to try to match fingerprints of a convicted felon to a fingerprints found at a
crime scene. This delay was due to the amount of work involved by Forensic
Scientists in determining a positive match in fingerprints. Now in the 21st century,
Ink cards are still used to take fingerprints
from a person, but due to new technology the fingerprint images are transferred
into a computer by scanning them with a high-resolution page scanner and then
they are processed to extract the individual fingerprint patterns. By having an
Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) it makes it a lot easier for law
enforcement agencies to identify possible suspects and also make arrests according
to fingerprint evidence found in criminal cases. The future of fingerprinting involves
computer scanned fingerprints and also more advanced AFIS systems.
DNA
Forensic Scientists perform different tasks which include testing of DNA through
blood, semen, and other body fluids. Further more, they examine paint, glass, tire
impressions, flammable substances and explosives, hairs, fibers, firearms,
documents, specimens of tissue for poisons, and investigate the causes of fires,
explosions, and road accidents. Forensic Science is important on criminal activity
because analysis of forensic evidence is used in the investigation and prosecution of
civil and criminal proceedings.
Moreover, it can help determine the guilt or innocence of suspects in criminal cases.
Forensic evidence is also used in linking cases which appear similar together. For
example DNA testing can link one offender to different crimes or crime scenes.
DNA testing is an excellent tool which is possible due to advancements in
technology. It is very beneficial for law enforcement agencies because it helps them
to link suspects to crimes and crime scenes. For example, DNA testing of blood
found at a crime scene can be compared to a possible suspect’s blood, in order to
link them to a crime scene. Additionally, with Combined DNA Index System (CODIS)
which is a network that combines DNA laboratories at the local, State, and national
levels, it becomes easier to solve cases for law enforcement agencies.
CODIS
CODIS works by taking the DNA profile that’s developed from a crime scene and
matching it to DNA profiles of individuals convicted of crimes such as rape and
murder.
This system helps law enforcement agencies by taking biological evidence and
linking it to DNA profiles of convicted persons. Further more, it aids in investigations
by searching the missing persons index, which contains DNA profiles of unidentified
remains and also the DNA profiles of relatives of those who are missing. DNA testing
has a great impact on criminal activity through technology being that it solves
crimes that before were thought to be unsolvable, prevents crimes, convicts people
of crimes and free people who were wrongly convicted.
Negative Impacts
Technology can also prove to be a double edged sword when it comes to doing
good or bad. As easy as technology can be used by police officers to solve crimes, it
can also be used by criminals to commit crimes. Crimes caused by technology are
becoming increasingly popular throughout the states as well as abroad. These
popular crimes include identity theft, instant availability of weapons and so forth.
The most alarming thing about these crimes is the difficulty of tracking down the
perpetrator, with such tools as the vastness of the internet at criminal’s advantage
makes a lot of these cases almost impossible to solve.
Identity Theft
Seven to ten million of identity theft cases are reported every year. There are two
types of identity theft. Account take over and application fraud. Account takeover
occurs when a thief acquires your existing account information and purchases
merchandise by use of the actual credit card or simply the account number and the
expiration date. With the use of the internet, a thief does not require to show ID
making it rather easy to not get caught.
Application fraud occurs when a thief uses your social security number and opens
new accounts in your name. Application fraud is the hardest to learn about until it’s
too late. Many victims are not aware that an account is opened under their name
due to the billing statements being sent somewhere else. This type of identity fraud
enables thieves to take advantage of people even in other states.
Identity theft can happen to anyone. Many of the times, the victims are not
required to pay for the merchandise purchased by the thieves, but they are left with
a blemished credit history.
Information such as your social security number, your date of birth, bank account
number, routing number, and credit report are obtained by criminals in numerous
ways.
“Dumpster Diving” for example, is when a criminal searches in trash bins for
shredded credit card and loan applications or documents containing your social
security. Another way is by accessing your report fraudulently by posing as an
employer or landlord. If an identity thief has access to the internet, he can search
sources like public records and free based broker sites.
Access to Information
Weapons
The internet has also made it possible for technological gear to be obtained;
machine guns, knives, materials to build bombs, and 9mm to name a few. There is
no regulation of the internet leaving many web pages to be found that sell these
types of products to anyone willing to buy, regardless of the laws in the area. There
are agencies funded by the federal government that search for these types of sites
but their efforts fall short due to the infinite of the internet.
In Fort Worth Texas, night vision goggles and headsets like those used in recon
missions by the military are being obtained by common crooks and gang members.
There are cases where thieves are using this type of technology to rob trains
carrying merchandise such as electronics, cigarettes, and clothes. Having such
equipment gives traveling long journeys that many times span across different
jurisdictions, states, and in many cases across the nation. With the use of the night
vision goggles, the trains can be robbed at any location at night when identifying
the perpetrator(s) would be virtually impossible in unlit areas.
Viruses and Hackers
There is no need for thieves to be agile or run the risk of being spotted doing
something illegal with the technology at their disposal. Now, from their own
home,computer savvy crooks are able to write viruses. By writing viruses such as a
“Trojan horse”, crooks are able to obtain information on a victim’s computer such as
banking transactions or other information stored in their history from a previous
transaction dealt over online banking. (Not to worry though, most anti virus
protection programs stop this)If there is no program installed or updated to keep up
with the complexity of some viruses, the consequences could be big.
Hackers are another form of criminal activity. Hackers and their complex
programs find their way into all sorts of sensitive material. Take for a example
the“phone masters” as they were called by federal investigators. The “phone
masters” were a gang of hackers, across the country ranging from Philadelphia,
Santiago, Dallas, Canada, Switzerland, and as far away as Sicily. They were involved
in stealing credit card information and then selling it to identity theft criminals. They
also hacked into a telephone company to find out where the federal wiretaps were
for the Drug Enforcement Administration, and then later contacted the dealers
under investigations tipping them off that they were dealing with the D.E.A. which
then blew the drug investigations and let the dealers get away. Hackers such as
these are difficult to catch because the work under user names that are not
traceable making them more of a nuisance and a big threat.
Possible Improvements
Improvements can be made anywhere, and this is definitely an area where they
have to be made. One example of improvement already in the process is that of
Visa and its online authentication system called “Verified by Visa” in which all credit
card purchases made online with a Visa require you to type a password that
authenticates directly with Visa, and if the password is incorrect the transaction is
denied. This is a form of validating credit card purchases online just like a person
would check for ID at the checkout counter. One other possible improvement that
can be made would be that of asking the search engines, like Yahoo! or Google, to
develop a system for scanning all weapon dealer websites or any other malicious
sites and have them indexed in a government database where government officials
can review their content and crackdown on these illegal activities. Finally, the most
obvious improvement that can be made would
be to enforce stronger laws against people violate these laws, this can set a
precedent that online crimes will not be allowed and will be prosecuted to the
maximum extent possible.
Need for international harmonization of
cyber laws
People usually are impressed by the illusory overlap between Internet space and
international space. Notwithstanding the fact that information systems are linking
Continents, islands, residents and communities into a giant virtual network, states
and areas preserve their traditional sovereignty. McConnell International’s metaphor
(2000, p. 8) said that: “In the networked world, no island is an island.” At this
turning point, the globally connected Internet has made cyber crime a trans-border
problem. The “international dimension” (Wasik, 1991, pp. 187-201), “trans-national
dimension” (Sofaer & Goodman, 2005) or “global dimension” (Grabosky, 2004, pp.
146-157) of cyber crime is universally perceived. While law is always territory-based,
the tool, the scene, the target, and the subject of cyber crime are all boundary-
independent. Domestic measures will certainly be of critical importance but not
sufficient for meeting this worldwide challenge. International coordination and
cooperation are necessary in fighting offences commonly prohibited by every
country. Many international organizations have been making efforts to harmonize
actions within their forums; for example, Sieber (1996, 1998), United Nations Crime
and Justice Information Network (UNCJIN, 1999), Police Commissioners’ Conference
Electronic Crime Working Party (2000), Sofaer et al. (2000), Putnam and Elliott
(2001), Schjølberg & Hubbard (2005), and so on. INTERPOL’S efforts
Many international organizations qualify for professional organizations, because their
goals and activities are focused on certain specific issues; these organizations
include Interpol, the International Telecommunications Union, etc. However,
professional efforts here primarily mean substantial actions in the field of cyber
security protection and cyber crime prevention. Although some other organizations
also greatly contribute to coordinating cyber security protection, their emphasis is
not necessarily on the law. By this standard, this section only analyzes the actions of
the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). , Interpol also takes distinct
actions to prevent cybercrime, cooperating with credit-card companies to combat
payment fraud by building a database on Interpol’s web site (Police Commissioners’
Conference Electronic Crime Working Party, 2000, p. 64).
Regional efforts :
The Council of Europe has been working to tackle rising international anxiety over
the risks brought about by the automatic processing of personal data since the early
1980s. In 1981, the Council of Europe implemented the Convention for the
Protection of Individuals with Regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (ETS
No. 108, 26 January 1981), which was revised according to the Amendment to
Convention ETS No. 108 Allowing the European Community to Accede, 15 June
1999, and the Additional Protocol to Convention ETS No. 108 on Supervisory
Authorities and Trans-border Data Flows, 8 June 2000. The Convention recognized
the desirability “to extend the safeguards for everyone’s rights and fundamental
freedoms, and in particular the right to the respect for privacy, taking account of the
increasing flow across frontiers of personal data undergoing automatic processing,”
and the necessity “to reconcile the fundamental values of the respect to privacy and
the free flow of information between peoples” (Preamble). The Convention covers
the protection of personal data in both the public and private sectors.
Unlike professional organizations that are limited to a more specific field of concern,
and unlike regional organizations that are limited to a more specific location of
states, the multi-national international organizations care for affairs of a broader
range and take actions in a broader territorial environment. This section recounts
the efforts of three of the multi-national organizations.
The Commonwealth of Nations took a direct and timely action in the harmonizing
laws of its member states. In October 2002, the Commonwealth Secretariat
prepared the “Model Law on Computer and Computer Related Crime” (Bourne,
2002, p. 17). Within the Commonwealth’s 53 member countries, the “Model Law”
has had a wide influence on domestic legislation. Through this model law, the
Convention on Cyber crime has become one of the legislative choices in substantive
criminal law, covering the offences of illegal access, interfering with data, interfering
with computer systems, and illegal interception of data, illegal data, and child
pornography.
(ii) The Group of Eight (G8)
Since the mid-1990s, the Group of Eight (G8) has created working groups and
issued a series of communiqués from the leaders and actions plans from justice
ministers. At the Halifax Summit 1995, the Group of Seven recognized “that ultimate
success requires all Governments to provide for effective measures to prevent the
laundering of proceeds from serious crimes, to implement commitments in the fight
against trans-national organized crime At the Denver Summit 1997, the Group of
Eight proposed to strengthen their efforts to realize the Lyon recommendations, by
concentrating on punishing high-tech criminals, and promoting the governments’
technical and legal abilities to react to trans-territorial computer crimes.
With its 30 member countries, the OECD addressed computer security for several
decades. In 1983, an expert committee was appointed by the OECD to discuss
computer crime phenomena and criminal-law reform (Schjolberg & Hubbard, 2005).
Offences against confidentiality, integrity or availability listed in the 1985 OECD
document included unauthorized access, damage to computer data or computer
programmes, computer sabotage, unauthorized interception, and computer
espionage. In December 1999, the OECD officially approved the Guidelines for
Consumer Protection in the Context of Electronic Commerce (Department of Justice,
2000, p. 27), representing member states’ consensus in the area of consumer
protection for e-commerce: consumers should be protected in e-commerce not less
than the protection they enjoyed within traditional commerce (Department of
Justice, 2000, p. 27).
Conclusion
As technology is advancing and crimes are also advancing the law needs to be
upgraded to meet the challenges of crimes arising out of this. This periodic revision
of law with genuine interest to curb losses from these crimes are the need of the
hour. In addition to this efforts must be to train all the segments of the criminal
justice system in understanding and combating such crimes.
With every technology, you will always find cons and pros. With crimes and
criminal science, you see these technologies battle back and forth to see how one
will be able to get the better of the other. You have the investigators trying to catch
criminal with technologies such as DNA and fingerprinting while the criminals are
using technology to steal people’s identities to buy possessions while leaving their
victims in financial ruins.
Technology has helped both sides achieve their goals, and as technology
continues to evolve so will the methods used to counter the other. There will always
be room for improvement; we just need to find the appropriate technologies that
will counter the flaws in the ones we use today.
References
9. Hackers <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hackers/risks/dangers.html>
10. “Using DNA To Solve Cold Cases.” U.S. Department of Justice, Office of
Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice (2002) : Pg. 23
11. Ratha, Nalini, Bolle, Ruud. Automatic Fingerprint Recognition Systems. Verlag:
New York Springer, 2004.
12. https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/the-impact-of-technology-on-
organised-crime/