The following report is an insight into Cybercrime, discussing in short detail some of the different types of Cybercrime, the obstacles involved in preventing future criminal activities and the obstacles that are involved in combating illegalities that are occurring within the spectrum of the information technology with the use of computers.
Over the last fifteen years, the increase in technology and the use of computers in both the personal and business sector has increased remarkably. This increase has bought changes in all areas of society including such areas as banking, the stock exchange, air traffic control, telephones, electric power, health and education. These industries have not only improved but are now largely dependant on information technology for their operation. This rapid technology advance has well and truly ensured that the twenty first century is the information age. .
"If cyberspace is a type of community, a giant neighbourhood made up of networked computer users around the world, then it seems natural that many elements of a traditional society can be found taking shape as bits and bytes. With electronic commerce comes electronic merchants, plugged-in educators provide online education, and doctors meet with patients in offices on-line. It should come as no surprise that there are also cyber criminals committing cybercrimes." .
(Natalie D. Voss: http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/crime.html).
The growth however, has come at a price. A new area of crime has been created providing a new, distinct criminal to prosper and in most cases go undiscovered. The criminal activity involved is known as "Cybercrime" and is defined by "Computer Crime: The New Threat", into two categories: .
a) Crimes in which the computer is used as a tool to aid criminal activity such as producing false identifications, reproducing copyright materials, and many other things.
b) Crimes in which the computer is used as a target, and probably a tool, to attack organisations in order to steal or damage information, attack banks to make unauthorised money transactions, steal credit card numbers, as well as many other activities.