Cyber Crimes In The USA: Literature Review

Malicious or criminal attacks that are the cause of 48% of data breaches, human errors account for 27% and system glitch 25% according to the International Business Machines (IBM). Cybercrime also called computer crime which is the use of a computer as an instrument to further illegal ends, such as committing fraud, trafficking in child pornography and intellectual property, stealing identities or violating privacy, hacking into personal accounts, hacking into work databases, breaking into competitor’s databases, various forms of internet theft and fraud etc. Cybercrime, especially through the internet has grown in importance as the computer has become central to commerce, entertainment, and government. Burnstein (2003), in the paper the law involving cybercrime was heavily mentioned for each or the different types of offences involved in cybercrime. It is hypothesized that cybercrime can affect any and everyone who has a smart device such as a smart phone or computer that has internet access have therefore led to the amendments and creation of laws to help punish and deter the cyber criminals for their wrong doing or illegal activity. The following eight (8) literature reviews will make an attempt to support and demonstrate the hypothesis.

In the research article by Chief Judge Winmill, David, Metcalf and Band (2010), this talks about the issues and challenges that cybercrime, pose to the United States. Cybercrimes is definitely becoming a very large crime in the United States; over the past few years due to the upbeat in technology becoming a very popular way in which people may be affected by cybercrime. However, this article focuses on how the laws play an important role in the controlling of cybercrime and its contribution towards solving it. They looked at how the laws and also how the court and judicial system interpreted the laws to get an upper hand on cybercrime and tried to punish those very severely to discourage those that are doing it to act as some sort of deterrence for cyber criminals to stop their crimes. They also talked about how a truly independent judiciary system is essential for at least three reasons. The three reasons are to ensure that the rights of participants in our legal systems will not be abused, secondly and independent magistrate overseeing criminal investigation will lead to great professionalism on the part of criminal investigators and prosecutors and lastly the independent judiciary offers legitimacy to the criminal justice system and our legal institutions. I found this article very helpful as it supported the hypothesis which was the part when laws were created to battle the cybercriminals and their whole operations of criminal activities. The result also indicated that the laws created were very stringent and very serious and are also very well designed to deal and combat with cybercriminals.

Conversely the article by Greer (2017), it was discussed that the growth of cybercrime in relation to fraudulent crimes will continue to grow very rapidly in the United States. As legislations continues to amend or the creation of new laws to deal with current trends and tactics used by cybercriminals, allocation of resources and overlaps needs to be streamlined to have an effect on declining fraud in its various forms. Further research is needed on economic cybercrime reporting and a uniform system in which those crimes can be reported to law enforcements for prevention and be very more investigative on the crime itself. This was a very short article but it got to the point the writer was trying to make also it supports the hypothesis when the laws were amending and also when it was being created to deal with the current tactics used by cybercriminals.

In addition, the research done by Aaron Burnstein (2003) was very deep when it came to the laws in the United States pertaining to cybercrime from beginning to end which was very interesting. The study also showed the different types of acts that are also related to cybercrime. It also gives a great analysis on how the laws and the various acts are meant to be used in the courts or interpreted by anyone in the judicial system. Some of the acts discussed are the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the No Electronic Theft Act (NETA), and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Some of the laws discussed are: The Rise of the Property Metaphor in Cybercrime which included crimes such a wired fraud, mail fraud, theft and trespass, Substantive Law of Cybercrime: The Tenacity of the Real Property Metaphor and the Procedure of Cybercrime which includes the fourth amendment. This article went very in-depth as it was very detailed and specific to what it wanted to convey and also well suited for the hypothesis as it had the different acts and laws and their purposes in helping to deter cybercriminals.

On the other hand the journal by Hadzhidimova and Payne (2019) which explored the characteristics of international cybercrime offenders prosecuted in the U.S. Their findings to a large extent correspond with general studies about cybercriminals with a few important exceptions. Firstly, the average age of the offenders in the study is slightly higher that others that do not focus exclusively on international offenders. Secondly, while this research confirms that China is among the leading country in committing cybercrimes when it comes to committing particular types of cybercrimes, the offenders come from other countries as well such as Romania, Estonia, Ukraine, South Africa, and Nigeria. Thirdly, the results show that in each of the cases from the sample the international offenders received prison sentences alone or complemented with a fine or restitution. In addition, the sentence length of citizens of those geographic regions. Prison sentences for cyber frauds and identity thefts were also found to be much lengthier than sentences for other types or cybercrimes. This study was very useful since it helped to show that a person involved in cybercrime or a cyber terrorist does not necessarily have to be from the same country but another part of the world as they do their crime. This study supported the hypothesis since every country has technology and almost everyone has a smart device that is to say that anyone cannot fall victim to the various cybercrimes that are used by the cybercriminals.

Next is the article by Broadhurst, Grabosky, Alazah, and Chon (2014) which outlines the definition and a scope of cybercrime, theoretical and empirical challenges in addressing what is known about cybercriminals and the likely role of organized crime groups. It also gives examples of known cases that illustrate individual and group behaviour and motivations of typical offenders including state actors. Different types of cybercrime and different forms of criminal organisations are described drawing on the typology suggested by McGuire (2012). It is apparently that a wide variety of organizational structures are involved in cybercrime and also enterprises or profit-oriented companies especially those state actors who are involved in cybercrime and it appears they have leadership, structure and specialisation. Protest activity tends to be less organized with weak (if any) sort or hierarchy to control the chain of command. This information pertained to the hypothesis since the criminals are organized the laws will have to be more stringent and serious in order to tackle or even to take down very well organised cybercriminals.

Furthermore is an article by Finklea and Theohary (2015) which discussed that it can be argued that the twenty first century criminals rely on the internet and technologies to further their criminal operations. These criminals today can easily use the internet to carry out crimes that are technology driven such as the use of illicit drugs, sex trafficking, identity theft, payment card and fraud, and intellectual property theft. Cybercrimes have economic, public health, and national security implications it also involves a number of elements and questions that include “where do criminals acts exist in real life and digital world, why are malicious activities instituted, and who is involved in carrying out the malicious act”? This article had its part to play in supporting the hypothesis when we were trying to figure out what is really the purpose of cybercriminals and why do they know to target some people and not just everyone.

Another article on cybercrime which was written by Paryag and Griffin (2015) on what you need to know about cybercrimes. This article said that cybercrimes are responsible for the interruption of normal computer functions and has been known to cause the downfall of many companies and personal entities. This research paper aimed at discussing the following aspects of cybercrime; the definition, why they occur, law governing them, methods of committing cybercrimes, who they affect, and cybercrime prevention procedures. More specifically, this paper will dive nose deep into one main example of cybercrime which is “hacking”. The report shows that the usage and progression of technology and how it has amplified different types of crimes such as theft crimes and terrorism. Also the report displayed statistical data which will give an idea of how far cybercrimes have increased over the period of ten years or more. This article supported the hypothesis a lot when it talked about the laws involved for cybercrime and also the procedures.

Lastly is the article by Maguire and Dowling (2013) which discussed about what are cyber dependent crimes which are offences that can only be committed using a computer, computer networks or other forms or Information Communications Technology (ICT). These acts include the spread of viruses or other malware, hacking and distributed denial of service attacks. They are activities primarily directed against computers or network resources although there maybe a variety of secondary outcomes from the attacks. They also outline the nature of cyber dependant crime; the characteristics of victims which are victimisation surveys suggest that younger people and men who use the internet appear to be more vulnerable to viruses. This article supported the hypothesis not in terms of laws but on how they assessed the victims after they became a victim to cybercrimes.

In conclusion, it can be said that individuals who frequently share their details online as well as very lucrative companies are very much on top of the cybercriminal’s list because their banking details is very easy to track. However, with the improvement of amending and the introduction of new laws and acts become more strict and serious. On the other hand when the criminals are caught who can determine how much damage they did to the victim emotionally and psychologically? One should have the will power to know what they are doing is wrong and what if the tables were turned and they became the victims how would they feel.

References

1. Dennis, M cybercrime| Definition, Statistics & Examples. Retrieved 26th November 2019 from https://www.britannica.com/topic/cybercrime.
2. Greer, B. (2017). The Growth of Cybercrime in the United States. 10.13140/RG.2.2.22698.11205.
3. Winmill, L.B., Metcalf, D.L., & Band, M.E. (2010). Cybercrime: Issues and Challenges in the United States. Digital Evidence and Electronic Signature Law Review, 7, 19-34.
4. Burstein, A. (2003). A Survey of Cybercrime in the United States. Berkeley Technology Law Journal & Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. 18, 313-338.
5. Hadzhidimova, L., & Payne, B. (2019). The profile of the international cyber offender in the U.S. International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, 2 (1), 40-55.
6. Broadhurst. R, Grabosky. P, Alazab. M & Chon. S (2014). Organizations and Cybercrime: An Analysis of the Nature of Groups engaged in Cyber Crime. International Journal of Cyber Criminology. 8, 1-16.
7. Finklea. K, Theohary. C. A. (2015). Cybercrime: Conceptual Issues for Congress and U.S. Law Enforcements. Congressional Research Service (Informing the Legislative debate since 1914) 2-26.
8. Paryag. E, Griffin. A. (2015). What You Need to about Cybercrime. It Capstone. 4-23.
9. Maguire. M, Dowling. S (2013). Cyber-dependent crimes. Cybercrime: A review of the evidence. 4-28.