The cybercriminality problem

Hack - Decade Of Machines - Inertia

Internet is awesome, but awesomeness never comes alone. With every new thing comes criminality. There are always new ways to scam people. This has grown easier with the internet as everything is now digital. A good engineer that perfectly understands codes and everything can create a virus that can hack computers or bank accounts...this happens everyday. Look at what happened to Samuel : as he was using his credit card to buy things on the internet, someone succeeded in using it on his own purpose.

Firewalls and security measures always have to change on the Internet as the technology is always changing and as people always find new ways to hack a computer. For instance, an anti virus has to be changed very often because viruses integrate this new protection and get round it.

There are many ways to fool people, that is why a user has to be very careful about every nice offer, that sound "too good to be true"

Against that, people are trying to help each other, as this website or the following video are showing it.

Fake anti-virus software poses as Norton AntiVirus from Sophos Labs on Vimeo.

One of the most famous virus is that Trojan horse, but this is only a small piece of what cybercriminality can be.

In August, hackers found a way to hack bank accounts in such a way that the victim couldn't know that he or she was being stolen : the pirates used a program that changed the HTML code as they were taking the money so that nothing wrong appeared on the bill when the victim checked his or her bank account online. In short, all your money could disappear without you could notice it. To know more about it, check out this website.

Today the law against that kind of things is not very efficient. Indeed there are some policemen on the Internet that try to stop cybercriminals but there is no true law that can protect citizens. As I said, Internet goes fast and changes everyday. THis time is very different from the legislative time, a very slow time. For example, in France was recently voted the HADOPI measure that is made to fight against...illegal downloading, a minor and old-fashioned way of using music. Now things are different, there is free streaming music.

Law enforcement

There are just recomandations against hacking and cybercriminality. On the FBI's website, they make a list of everything that can happen without quoting any law. They create missions to fight against cybercriminality, they spy people but don't use any specific law (or create one). A good hacker know how to hide himself, that's why it is so hard to find them and write laws. In any case, a good programmer can go round the law.

So to say, there is no true law enforcement. The former laws are just applied to those new issues and what is done against piracy is just police job.

What to do then ?

Police job is never enough to solve an issue. Cybercrime will always exist as crime has always existed. We now have to find ways to minimize cybercrime such as educating children and warning them against cybercriminality, so that they are not scamed and have a smaller tendancy to scam.

The status of the cybercriminal must also be legally defined. What is a cybercriminal? What does he risk if he hacks? Which cybercrime is the worst?...After ten years of participative and interactive Internet, something must be done to legislate it and to put limits to its use.

Talks must also be done on forums so that both hackers and victims could talk to each other

Now if you want to understand how a virus work, just check that video :