Cybercrimes: The Price of Technology

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The technological revolution has had many positive effects on our lives; it has changed the shape of our daily lives and made a fundamental difference in it. Nevertheless, our life is not free from problems due to technology. Perhaps technology itself is innocent, but misusing it has led to these problems; the most significant one is cybercrimes.

Cybercrimes are crimes through the Internet, whether using computers, mobile phones or tablets, with the assistance of certain programs and applications designed. Cybercrimes have different forms; including:

  • Identity Theft

A serious crime, through stealing someone’s data, and with the assistance of software, the thief gets that person’s credit card number, bank account number, medical record, and other private information that can be used in illegal acts under the name of this person whose identity was stolen, and whose documents had been falsified and used for illegal purposes.

  • Cyber Bullying

Bullying usually starts at an early age in schools among students; currently, it has evolved to take different forms; text or voice messages with humiliating phrases are considered an-all-too-familiar picture of bullying nowadays. It can evolve beyond that to racism, mockery, offensive images, etc.

  • Extortion

A threat using confidential information, pictures, or similar things, to drain someone’s money or to force them to do something they do not want to do. The blackmailer has to burglar the victim or spy on him/her to get what s/he needs, then starts the extortion, which s/he may succeed in because the victim fears the leakage of the information. As technology has greatly facilitated the access to private information, pictures, and other personal material, it has become easier and quicker for criminals to extort people.

  • Money Theft

Masked bank heists are no longer the usual form of money theft. Crimes and thefts have become much quieter, and the discovery of crime may take some time. Although banks and financial institutions impose strict protection systems on their programs and applications, hacking and manipulation still occurs, given the development of the programs that help hackers hack these systems and make transfers, sales, or purchases.

Cyber Security

With all these violations and cyber crimes, an effective solution had to be found; as a result, cyber security emerged. This specialty is responsible for protecting systems, networks, and softwares from cyber attacks; although it has evolved very rapidly, the task is becoming increasingly difficult. With the large number of devices allowed to access the Internet, and with the development of hacking programs, and devising new methods for cyber crimes, it has become difficult to completely prevent them. Yet, at least they can be minimized as much as possible.

The important rule that we should be aware of is that nothing is safe on the Internet; however, that does not mean that we are in major danger every minute. It is important to keep our personal information and photos away from our Internet-connected devices, and keep them on an off-line device or memory. Also, it is essential to install security softwares on our devices and update them on a regular basis to avoid cyber attacks.

References

cisco.com 
consumer.findlaw.com
fbi.gov
stopbullying.gov


Credits: Banner Image/Freepik

*The article was published in SCIplanet, Winter 2020 issue.

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