As the internet and technology becomes more powerful, and how it has become necessary

in our daily life. So is the cybercrimes has become more powerful and destructive. In this
research paper I will be talking about the meaning of cybercrime, the origins of cybercrime, the
reason of cybercrime, the rise of cybercrime, and the impact on law enforcement. By expounding
on the mentioned areas, the readers will have a better understanding of what cybercrime is.
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting at work, when an email came in through
our team inbox. The subject on the email read DDoS Attack (Distributive Denial of
Service). The email continue with an introduction of the organization who was
committing the attack. After a paragraph the sender demanded to be paid in
bitcoins after 24 hours, if our company did not comply with their demands they
would continue to attack to our companys servers until we had paid them. After
seen this email I went on searching more about DDoS attack, and the name of the
organization. What I found on my research opened my eyes to the world of
cybercrime.
What is cybercrime? According to Nir Kshetri [The] defene[tion] [of]
cybercrimes [is] criminal activities in which computers or computer networks are
the principle means of committing an offence (2009) these crimes are being
perform with commons tools that most people use every day, a computer(s) and the
internet. Mr. Kshetri continues with different type of crimes that are committed
using the internet, Examples include cyber-theft cyber-trespass, cyberobscenity,
critical infrastructure attacks, and cyber extortions. (2009) These types of crimes
are not inclusive, as technology keeps evolving, criminals will continue to explorer
different types of cybercrimes.

Because cybercrime is done by using a computer(s) and the internet, its easy
for a hacker to commit the crime and never be caught. This is why most cyberattacks done to computes in the U.S are originating from another part of the world.
It has been reported that cyber-criminals from Malaysia, Japan, Korea, the US and
China have targeted computer in the Philippines. (Kshetri. 2010) The reports
continues to say In a well-publicized case it was found that Canada-based hackers
employed about 100,000 poorly protected zombie computers mainly in developing
countries such as Poland, Brazil, and Mexico, and stole $44 million. (2010) These
criminals hide behind a computer where the internet and firewalls are their
protection. Also this developing countries are a perfect grounds for a criminal to
commit cybercrimes. For example In Indonesia, the police say they lack expertise
and resources to fight against cybercrimes. Also in Russia most hackers are
young, educated, and work independently and thus do not fit conventional criminal
profiles. (Kshetri, 2009)
Another reason why most hackers are overseas is because most countries do
not have laws in placed to persecute a cyber-criminals. For example the U.S.
couldnt prosecute the Philippino hacker, who launched the Love Letter virus in
2000 because the Philippines had not laws prohibiting cybercrimes at that time.
(Kshetri, 2009)
Like any crime, a criminal has a motive behind why that person is committing
a certain crime. A Murder may kill a person because of jealousy, revenge, or
because of mental illness. A burglar may steel to gain money. As these examples
can tell us that a person that is committing a certain crime will have some sort of
motive behind the act of crime.

Triska Hamid reported A decade ago, many hackers were motivated by the
notoriety they could gain from creating and launching a successful virus (2010)
Many hackers motives are just to show off their ability to penetrate a certain target,
or to show off they ability to write a successful virus as Triska suggested. But now
studies has shown that the motives of cybercrime has shifted. More and more cyber
criminals are using their skills are program writers to commit crime for monetary
gain. Mr. Kshetri points out Chinese gangs, Colombian cartels and Russian and
Malaysian organized crime groups have reportedly employed hackers, diverted their
efforts from traditional activities to cybercrime and expand their business. (2010)
Cyberattacks has become a lucrative way of making money. Nir Kshetri reported
that According to some estimates, the global cyber-crime industry has been
generating US$1 trillion annually in recent years. (2010) This is become a huge
motive for code writers to create viruses, and become better and more powerful. Mr.
Kshertri interviewed a Russian hacker and this person went on and said There is
more of financial incentive now for hackers and crackers as well as for virus writers
to write for money and not just for glory or some political motive. (2009) As the
world continues to turn to move money electronically, hackers will have a bigger
motive to come up for new ways to gain money by hacking.
As the internet, computers, and even smartphones are becoming more and
more powerful, more hacking activities has been reported. According to Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI), nine out of 10 U.S. companies experienced computer
security incidents in 2005 which led to a loss of $67.2 billion. (Kshetri, 2009)
Triska Hamid reported that:

According to the Security Tracking Study carried out by the Ponemon

Institute in August this year, 83% of multinational companies believe
they have been target of a cyber-attack over the past 12 months. The
research noted a 20.6% rise in attacks in the past year alone.
PricewaterhouseCoopers believes 92% of firms have experienced a
malicious security breach at some time. (2010)
As more people are connected to the internet, companies are putting more efforts in
having their present in the internet. This creates gold mine for hackers to highjack
website, and or servers for ransom for monetary gain. A survey was done by the
company IBM showing that U.S business worry more about cybercrime than about
physical crime. Internet-related frauds account for 46% of consumer complaints
made to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2005 (Hamid, 2010). McAfee CEO
reported, that McAfee received 3,000-5,000 threat submission per day and 10% are
were new threats submission. This shows that cyber-crime is an increasing problem
for companies, society, and law enforcement.
Because cyber-crime is committed behind a virtual world, this creates
problems for law enforcement in dealing with cyber-crime. Because cyber-crime is
rapidly evolving and getting more sophisticated, that law enforcement are failing to
catch up with the progressive nature of such crimes.
As it was pointed out earlier most cybercrimes are committed abroad, this
presents issues with catching, and persecuting criminals that are overseas. Mr.
Kshetri points out on his report In poorer nations (Where most cybercrimes are
originating from) fighting cybercrime gets lower priority. In Indonesia, the police
say they lack expertise and resources to fight against cybercrimes. (2009)

Currently there are few international laws that targeted to cyber criminals, and this
is advantage for any cybercriminal. Mr. Kshetri points out on his report that For
small cybercrimes cases, it is difficult to find an attorney. Experts also say that
explaining cybercrimes to judges is difficult. (2009) This is an example how
cybercrime has an upper hand on the law enforcement.
Technology will continue to evolve and become more imbedded to our lives.
This evolution will continue to be an advantage for cybercriminal as they will
continue to come up with new ways to commit crimes using the internet. The
evolution of cybercrime will reinvent and reshape law enforcement in order to stay
ahead of these new type of criminals.

Bibliography.
Hamid, Triska. (2010, October 5) Playing with firewalls. Retrived from
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1000142405274870345380457547963285571
8318.
Kshetri, Nir (2009) Positive externality, increasing returns in cybercrimes.
Communications of the ACM, 52(12), pg. 141-144.

Kshetri, Nir (2010) Diffusion and effects of cyber-crime in developing economies.

Third World Quarterly, Vol. 31 No. 7, pg. 1057-1079.