Computer Crime Classification
Date: May 04, 2004Source: Computer Crime Research Center
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According to Economic Crime Unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine official statistics for 4 months of 2001 year, 7 crimes, in 2002 – 25, for 6 months of 2003 - 51 crimes have been revealed. It is necessary to note that qualification of the revealed criminal acts in sphere of computer and Internet technologies, except actions provided for by Articles of Section 26 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, is based on Articles providing theft, causing of damage, illegal actions with payment orders and other means of access to bank accounts, illegal actions concerning information with restricted access, etc. 24 criminal cases on 37 crimes committed with use of Internet technologies have been processed for the first six months of 2003. It is possible to define groups of widespread crimes in Ukraine.
First group covers offences with ids (logins - passwords, PIN-codes) which are committed both by outsiders, and workers of communication and Internet services companies ("insiders"). Second group are offences with information of restricted access using remote access technologies. It is possible to mark out the third group of crimes with computer accounts, access to which is provided remotely by network technologies. For example, illegal use of "client-bank" systems against enterprises (institutions), or for efficient control of electronic money funds of criminal character.
It is necessary to consider official statistics on cybercrime critically in view of high latency of this kind of crime. In global practice, unfortunately, it makes only 12% of cybercrimes that become known to public and law enforcement. Say for example, what bank is interested in situation when everyone knows about its hacked payment system? Right next day all clients will close their accounts in this bank.
Distribution of computer viruses, swindle with plastic cards, theft of money resources from bank accounts, computer information theft and service regulations of automated computer systems violations are not all kinds of computer crimes. That is why the problem of counteraction is emerging both for Ukraine, and many other countries of the world. The main feature of such criminality as the integral part of criminality in general lies in fact that every year brings new tendencies of aggravation and it is getting a transnational (boundless) character.
European Union Convention on Cybercrime defines four types of “pure” computer crimes. These are offences against confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems:
- Illegal access, Article 2 (the access to the whole or any part of a computer system without right);
- Illegal interception, Article 3 (intentional interception without right, made by technical means, of non-public transmissions of computer data to, from or within a computer system);
- Data interference, Article 4 (the damaging, deletion, deterioration, alteration or suppression of computer data without right)
- System interference, Article 5 (the serious hindering without right of the functioning of a computer system by inputting, transmitting, damaging, deleting, deteriorating, altering or suppressing computer data).
Other - computer-related or computer-facilitated crimes, they are:
- crimes when computer is a mean (e-thefts, frauds, forgeries, etc)
- content-related crimes when computer is the intellectual mean (i.e. placing of child pornography, information unleashing national, racial, religious hostility, etc.).
In conclusion, typology of ways and methods of computer crime commitment will allow to develop more efficiently estimation and criteria in broad range of computer crimes, and also will facilitate development of domestic laws taking into account international legislation.
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