What is Cyber Crime?
Cyber Crime (also known as computer crime or electronic crime) is any criminal activity involving computers or computer networks (Donato, 2008). Cyber Crime is then divided into 3 categories, based on the role the computer plays during the crimes committed: computer targeted (e.g. hacking, viruses), computer assisted (e.g. child pornography, fraud), and computer incidental (e.g. email, internet history) (Donato, 2008).
Statistics
2nd most reported crime globally in 2016
71% of Americans are worried about being hacked
67% of Americans worried about being a victim of Identity Theft
U.S. had most data breaches compared to other countries (1013 in U.S./38 in U.K.)
700 million people in 21 countries have experienced Cyber Crime in the last year
71% of Americans are worried about being hacked
67% of Americans worried about being a victim of Identity Theft
U.S. had most data breaches compared to other countries (1013 in U.S./38 in U.K.)
700 million people in 21 countries have experienced Cyber Crime in the last year
Learn more about cyber crime
Committing cyber crimesThere have been many psychological theories over the years that have tried to explain why people commit crime. From broken windows theory to social bond theory, many people have tried to figure out what makes a person commit a crime. When looking at cyber crime, theorists are no different. While the internet grew in popularity very quickly, researchers had to quickly keep up with crime as it began to show up on the internet. There are theories that show why certain people commit cyber crime, but there is also certain content you get exposed to that can also affect your likelihood.
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sex crimesWith the creation of the internet, crime found a new realm. Pedophiles use the internet to target victims and establish an online community of predators. Through psychological manipulation and cognitive distortions, online predators established a new hunting ground. The number of children victimized through online chatrooms grows each year resulting in lasting trauma. In addition to pedophilia, human trafficking thrives on the dark web. Online offenders increase victimization rates and find new techniques to mask their identities, leading sexually motivated crimes to be the largest amount of cyber crime offenses.
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hackersCyber hacking is when a person attempts to gain unauthorized access to a computer system (Dalal & Sharma, 2007). Categorizing hackers is a difficult task to do since there are many models to classify the types of hackers there are. Looking at the theories that researchers have developed to help understand why hackers hack, there are 2 categories that they can be split into: Social Learning Theories and Cognitive Theories. There are also other behaviors that Hackers unintentionally engage in that can be explained by psychological reasoning.
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VictimsAs Cyber Crime continues to increase, do does the number of people that fall victim to the crime. There are many forms of cyber crime such as cyber stalking, hacking, and identity theft. Many of these crimes are quite new to the public and a lot of people are unaware of the dangers that they pose online. The days of surfing the web freely and mindlessly are out the window because every site poses a threat. To understand what makes a person more likely to fall victim to some of these cyber crimes, it is important to know what personal traits make a person more susceptible.
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