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McGriff
Julia Ellis
CJ 1010
December
10, 2014
ePortfolio Link:
http://pacelds.weebly.com/cj1010---intro-criminal-justice.html
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Cyber Crime
Not until very recently in human history has the technology existed for
advanced computer devices. In fact, merely 150 years ago if you were to
explain to a person that you could hold in your hand a Smart Phone with WiFi, camera, video, music, and GPS capability all in one device, they would say
that you are crazy. Modern computer science and technology is accelerating
at breakneck speeds, and becoming ever more sophisticated. In just the past
ten years alone computer technology has increasingly evolved, and has
spread throughout the entire world. Computer technology is available to a
vast amount of people, and is therefore vulnerable to be exploited by
criminal activity.
For this Criminal Justice Term Paper, I have chosen to write about a
modern form of criminal activity, known as Cyber Crimes. This topic is of
great interest to me because I have chosen to pursue a major in the
Computer Science/Information Systems Degree, and will be focusing on
information technology for my future career. I will present the definition of
various Cyber Crimes, tactics of cyber criminals, and strategies to combat
these crimes. All of my sources for this paper are from academic journals
found in the Salt Lake Community College Online Library, and from this
courses textbook, Criminal Justice in Action.
From the textbook, there are three categories for computer crimes: (1)
The computer is the object of a crime, such as when the computer itself or
its software is stolen. (2) The computer is the subject of a crime, just as a
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Law enforcement officials have the difficult task of fighting these cyber
criminals. As computer hackers get smarter and more sophisticated, so also
must the investigators. From the academic database, the author Dennis
Fisher has written in his article: While obstacles remain, those involved in
the cybercrime fight say there are growing reasons for optimism. Law
enforcement agencies are sharing information more often and more widely
than ever before. Investigators are more experienced. Fisher also talks
about how hackers are advancing in their tactics, saying The schemes are
getting more sophisticated with attacks that plant Trojan horses and
backdoors on users PCs as soon as users open malicious e-mail messages.
These crimes are effecting citizens, businesses, and the criminal justice
system. Fisher says, in 2005, The FBIs budget called for $60 million in
funding to fight cybercrime (Fighting Back). Although, the cybercrime
agency is probably underfunded, and does not have the attention that it
needs. Perhaps there needs to be more people who have training in
information technology skills, but how will they be funded? I believe the FBI
still needs to figure out how to recruit enough people to help combat
cybercrime.
There have been other efforts to combat cybercrime between different
countries. From an academic journal, authors Laura Huey and Richard
Rosenberg have written, On 23 November 2001, the Council of Europe and
non-member states Canada, Japan, South Africa, and the United States
signed the Convention on Cybercrime (CC), an agreement that requires
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know what computer hackers will come up with next to use the internet for
their own motives.
In conclusion, advanced computer technology is rapidly increasing, and
becoming accessible to almost anyone on earth. Because there are so many
people who use computer technology, the exploitation of this technology for
criminal activity is inevitable. Hackers are people who are very educated in
computer technology, and use their education to commit crimes on innocent
people or businesses. There are many sophisticated forms of cybercrime,
which are being combated by FBI agencies, and the cooperation of different
countries. As a result, there is no personal information on the internet that
cannot be viewed by other people, and online privacy is almost non-existent.
It is a good idea to gain a basic education on how to be safer while using
computer technology. The future battle between cyber criminals and law
enforcement has unknown possibilities. We will just have to wait and see
where the technology takes us.
Works Cited
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