Cyber Crime

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Cyber crime
Introduction
Increased adoption of Information Technology among users and corporate organizations has also increased vulnerability to cyber attacks as there are more networked computers. The internet has many benefits and has the potential to improve business operations as well as enhance education and social interaction. Nonetheless, cyber crooks are increasingly targeting computer networks to obtain information illegally. Cyber crime entails committing unlawful acts through computers, ancillary devices, sabotage of computer networks, cyber stalking, cyber fraud, identify theft and cyber sex crimes. Cyber crime can be committed against individuals, individual property, organizations and the society. Cyber crime differs from other forms of crime because cyber criminals mainly rely on the cyberspace, but the activities also threaten order (Brenner 10). This paper addresses the threat of cyber crime, nature of cyber crime, motives, and challenges in combating cyber crime and cyber crime legislations.
The threat of Cyber crime
Using computers has been one of the ways through which to maximize intellectual property. Nonetheless, there is a growing threat of cyber crime as more people and organizations rely on computers, meaning that the number of potential victims will increase over time (Yang & Hoffstadt 203). In essence, cyber criminals attacked manufacturers, information brokers and those conducting e-business. However, information brokers who handle large data and information on their customers are at even greater risk especially for criminals intent on using identity theft (Yang & Hoffstadt 204). There are laws dealing with cyber crime for different industries, and the digital media market was one of the early targets for cyber criminal, and hence there are many laws that have been made over time to deal with this.
As companies networks are increasingly connected to the internet the computer infrastructure becomes more vulnerable to cyber attacks, as computers store information on customers and may contain sensitive information. In any case, there are more people capable of committing cyber criminal activities for financial gain. Contrary to earlier times, one does not need technical knowledge on computers to launch computer attacks. There are more tech savvy people who can carry out cyber crime, and there are also enablers who can trade their expertise as well as sell computer software capable of infiltrating computer networks. Cyber crime can be committed by anyone with access to a computer from anywhere in the world, and anonymity of the internet may make it harder to apprehend cyber criminals from different corners of the world.
Recently, internet vulnerability has gained prominence with the discovery of ‘Heartbleed’. This bug is thought to affect two-thirds of the internet, whereby use of OpenSSL encryption software leaves users vulnerable to att...