Cybercrime (Essay Sample)

Cybercrime
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Cybercrime is a criminal activity which involves using computers and networks (Brenner, 2010). It includes various forms of illegal activities such as stealing money from the online bank accounts and downloading illegal music and videos. In addition, cyber crime also involves non-monetary offences including distributing viruses over a network and posting confidential information on the internet. With the current development of the internet together with the establishment of many social networks, many people all over the world are falling victims of such crimes at one time or another.
Cybercrime is one of the areas of crime which is growing at a significant rate all over the world. More criminals are now exploiting the convenience, speed and anonymity which modern technologies are offering for the purpose of committing a wide range of criminal activities (Brenner, 2010). The global nature of the internet is enabling criminals to commit various forms of illegal activities anywhere in the world. This is making it essential for many countries worldwide to adapt various domestic online controls in order to cover crimes committed in cyberspace. The nature of cybercrime is changing significantly (Yar, 2005). This is because in the past, individuals or small group of individuals were the ones committing crime. Currently, technology professionals are working together through pooling their resources as well as expertise (Yar, 2005).
One of the most common forms of cybercrime is the identity theft. On this, criminals usually steal personal information from a computer or internet users (Dennis, 2013). They usually do this through phishing as well as pharming. Both of these two methods attract users to fake websites, which appear to be legitimate with regard to physical appearance. The users are then asked to enter their personal information which includes login credentials such as usernames, passwords, email addresses, phone numbers, bank account numbers, and credit card numbers among other sensitive information. The fake websites then collect information, and the criminals can therefore, be able to login to the users account and carry out their criminal activities (Dennis, 2013).
While computers as well as internet are making life easier for many people all over the world, it is unfortunate that there are some people who are using these technologies to take advantages of other people (Moore, 2010). However, there are various methods that users can take into consideration to avoid becoming victims of cybercrime. First, the users should install firewalls in their computers to avoid unauthorized access to their computers. Secondly, the users should make sure they check the URL of the website they are using to make sure it is legitimate. The users should also avoid giving personal details to websites that they know little about even if they appear to be legitimate (Moore, 2010). Lastly, users should encrypt important data by the use of encryption software which gables important data making it unintelligible to anyone person who tries to hack into the computer system.
In conclusion, it is a fact from above that cybercrime is increasing at a significant rate especially with the modern development in technology. Many people in every corner are falling victims of these crimes. These criminals are coming up of new techniques for the purpose of committing their crimes without prior knowledge...