Cybercrime is a crime committed in a “virtual space” that can be defined as an information space, which contains data presented in mathematical, symbolic or any other form (Moore, 2011). Unlike traditional crimes, cybercrime is a relatively new phenomenon that emerged with the development of the Internet. The very nature of the Internet is quite favorable for the crime commitment. The first cybercriminals appeared in 1970th. They became known as “hackers”. It is almost impossible to identify the first hacker. However, many literary sources provide information on six teenagers who called themselves the “Group 414”. They have been indicted as cybercriminals. This group had broken 60 computers, including Los Alamos laboratory PCs. Arrested member gave testimony and other participants received a suspended sentence.
Researchers classify hackers into six categories. Black-hat hackers violate the computer security for the purpose of personal gain. They achieve their goal through programs that damage computer networks and systems. White-hat hackers provide the computer security programs that protect systems from illegal penetration. Gray-hat hackers offer repair for a small amount of money. Script kiddies have little or no hacking skills. They look for the hacker utility programs on the Internet and launch them at the target computer system. Hactivists are individuals who use their hacking ability to spread a political message. Cyber terrorists break the computer networks in order to horrify the public (Moore, 2011).
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A significant increase of cybercrimes started in 80th of the past century. In 1984, Fred Cohen published information on the development of the first malicious computer programs and applied to them the term “computer virus”. In 1986, the United States passed “The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act”, which prohibited obtaining the secret information and unauthorized access to any computer system. In 1994, the international community heard about the “Vladimir Levin Case”. Organized criminal group out of 12 people tried to transfer more than 10 000 000 USD over the Internet (Moore, 2011).
It was the first major international financial cybercrime which showed that the cybercrimes can cause a significant financial loss. Nowadays cybercrime is no longer a rare phenomenon. New types of cybercrimes appear every year. Lack of control and protective measures, accessibility of information on the malicious programs promote the cybercrime proliferation. Hackers create new methods and find bugs in the security systems more quickly than those who oppose to them.
- Moore, R. (2011). Cybercrime: investigating high technology computer crime (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
