Types Of Computer Crimes

What are the types of computer crimes? There’s a wide range of computer crimes in the world today especially with the advancement in technology where all institutions including banks, cooperates and individuals opt for online transactions. Cybercrimes is term used to refer to all types of crimes committed via computers.

There are very many types of cybercrime and they include:

Fraud

These are the most common types of computer crimes. In most cases they are financial based. It’s a major problem which online investors face and it has so far resulted to loss of huge sums of money. The cyber criminals normally hack personal financial account or access banks database for various personal identification numbers. Other forms of fraud involve hacking telecommunication network to make free calls or send free text messages. These types of computer crimes may also include accessing other peoples or institutional wireless networks for internet services without paying for the service offered. Although various measures have been put in place, the cybercriminals have proved to be very smart in their actions.

Harassment and bullying

This is one of the most common types of computer crimes especially in the various social media networks. At times, the user accounts are normally hacked and used to send all sorts of abusive material which results to embarrassment of the account’s owner. It has also flourished stalkers with the best platforms to conspire or get other online user details and use them to commit other crimes. This may include passport numbers, telephone numbers, physical addresses etc.

Hardware hijacking

Devices such as printers may provide good platforms to cybercriminals especially when they auto download and update their software. This can be used by cybercriminals to send very dangerous softwares which can eventually damage either the computer system or the devices which triggers the process of downloading the updates. This is just an example of an advanced type of computer crime.

Telecommunication piracy

Through computers these types of computer crimes have increased over the last decade as almost every one can afford a PC. Music industries and software development firms have been the greatest victims who have incurred great losses. This involves copying information to CDs or DVDs without the owner’s authority and selling at a very cheaper price. Mechanism have been put in place to produce optical disks in which ones the data has been stored it can only be read and not copied in any other form of electronic devices. Terrorism attracts, threat and drug trafficking activities have been very rampant since the computers were introduced especially the use of internet. It has facilitated these types of computer crimes by providing a cheaper, faster and very efficient means of transferring information. For instance an electronic mail gives an option of sending information to more than 10 people within seconds.

These are examples of some of the most common types of computer crimes. It should however be noted that anything done which contradicts the set laws of any country or institution while using computers as a medium or a tool is considered a cybercrime.