Cyber Crime and Its Causes

Any activity that is considered criminal and makes use of a computer is considered cyber crime. The computer can be used as an instrument or target to commit a crime.

Storage of Data
Computers allow criminals in various fields the access to extensive data, and this data can be removed through various means, including physical and virtual.

Confidential Information
Confidential data from security firms, scientific databases, financial institutes and even governmental organizations is stored online and on networks. This allows cyber criminals to initiate unauthorized access and use it for their own needs. Complex technology can be manipulated and firewalls can be bypassed, allowing criminals to gain access to security codes, bank accounts and other information.

Negligence
Sometimes simple negligence can give rise to criminal activities, such as saving a password on an official computer, using official data in a public place and even storing data without protecting it. The cyber criminal can take advantage of such negligence and use it to obtain, manipulate and forge information.

Complexity of Codes
Operating systems have complex codes that can be decoded or manipulated to gain access to the system. There are always loopholes in security that a professional cyber criminal can find and hack into. The traditional bank robber researched the security system and took advantage of it; a cyber thief is not much different, except he can breach security virtually.

Lack of Evidence
One cause of increasing cyber crime is the lack of evidence to bind the criminal by law. There are so many ways to hide the trail of a cyber crime and little to actually police the criminal. Consider a pedophile who baits his victim through email or social networks. The police can trace the information to the criminal, but unless solid physical evidence is found, the trail cannot be used in a court of law.

New Form of Crime
There are so many modes of criminal activity on the Net that the traditional policing methods and the laws that bind criminals at times lose jurisdiction in cyber crime cases. This is why there are so many crimes being committed online.

Accessibility to Victims
The amount of people online allow criminals to target their victims without being physically present. Police find it impossible to implicate people when the trail is online. Child pornography, pedophiles who bait their victim's online; rapists who meet their targets through online social networks and hackers who gather information and use it to their own criminal ends without ever being a part of the network are just a handful of criminal examples. Though technology is improving there is a long way to go before cyber criminals can be policed vigilantly.

Sources:
1. Cyber Crime and Financial Loss: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/48417.html
2. Crime without Punishment: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/apcity/unpan002368.pdf