The modern society of information technology is based on the daily use of computer technology, communication networks, mobile communications, and other technical means.
The Appearance of Cybercrime in Modern Society
Our society is at a transitional stage between the “information system” that began in the middle of the 20th century and the era of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), self-driving cars, and the Internet of Things (IoT) – the fourth industrial revolution. In the current conditions of rapid digitalization, it is necessary to improve both the legal system in general and criminal legislation in particular.
Artificial intelligence is the ability of a system to interpret the received data in a certain way, to make optimal decisions on their basis using self-learning (adaptation). Thus, the system not only operates strictly according to the algorithm laid down in it by the creator but also can autonomously change the algorithm itself within certain limits to optimize decision making.
Moreover, these trends have led to the formation of a single global information space, where everyone can access any information anywhere in the world, remotely manage their own assets and company assets, conclude business contracts with foreign business entities without the need for personal contact, etc.
The system works on the principle of risk points: the higher the score, the more likely a person will commit a crime in the future. The points were calculated using two criteria: behavioral – information about the age, crimes committed, the number of mentions of a person in the database, and others were taken from the police database; network – the system studied the relationship of a person with persons accused of committing serious crimes. During the test run, it turned out that the system has very low accuracy, about 9-19%, which served as a decision to cancel testing and further launch.
What Should You Know About Cybercrime?
Thus, theft of payment card data (bank accounts) or data of access to the Internet banking system in order to seize the funds of bank customers, theft of personal data and commercial information from private computers or servers, deliberate damage to information systems or communication facilities in order to create losses for companies – this is not a complete list of such threats associated with the rapid development of modern information technologies.
All this leads to the emergence of such a thing as cybercrime. At the same time, cybercrime:
- is gaining a global scale;
- the latest technologies are turning real criminals into anonymous ones;
- the possibility of getting rich quickly is attracting more and more people to this criminal activity.
The most common crimes in the field of information and computer technologies are unauthorized write-offs of money from bank accounts, fraud with payment cards, interference with Internet banking, the spread of computer viruses, DDoS attacks on Internet resources, and fraud in information networks.
The preparation and commission of cybercrime can be carried out without leaving the “workplace”, that is, such crimes are available since computer technology is constantly becoming cheaper, crimes can be committed from anywhere in the world, in any locality, and objects of criminal encroachments can be located thousands of kilometers from the criminal.
In addition, it is quite difficult to detect, record, and seize criminally significant information when performing investigative actions in order to use it as material evidence. The above features of this type of crime, along with their significant profitability, have undoubtedly become significant advantages over other crimes.