and Type II cybercrime, which has a more pronounced
human element. The following is a brief description of
some of the major types of cybercrime.
Computer hacking refers to the unauthorized access
to a computer or computer network, which may or may
not result in financial gain. For example, hackers may
attack a network solely to protest against political
actions or policies or simply to show that they can do
it, but equally, it can be used to access bank accounts
or data banks. The level of disruption caused may be
localized within a given organization or may, for
example, in extremis, potentially disrupt the availabil-
ity of power to a large geographical area. Were this to
occur, it would result in widespread social disruption,
which may be motivated by ideology and which tradi-
tionally may have been seen as terrorist activity.
The illegal transfer of technology, or piracy,
includes industrial espionage and the piracy of soft-
ware, logo, and hardware designs. The perpetrator may
be an individual (a young person sharing a program
with a friend) or a network (a company installing soft-
ware on multiple computers for which it owns a
restricted license), and it may be enabled by others
(such as a government). Its intended use may be finan-
cial, recreational, or for military or terrorist activities,
and it may be motivated by a complex array of factors.
The theft can breach contracts, trade secrets, and
national and international laws involving copyrights.
Identity theft is broadly defined as the unlawful use
of another’s personal identifying information (name,
address, social security number, date of birth, registra-
tion number, taxpayer identification number, passport
number, driver’s license information, or biometric
information such as fingerprint, voiceprint, or retinal
image). Such information is obtained in a variety
of ways. Low-technology routes include theft of
wallets or handbags or sifting through garbage to look
for bank statements, utility bills, and so on. High-
technology methods include skimming, where offend-
ers use computers to read and store information
encoded on the magnetic strip of an ATM or credit
card. This information can be re-encoded onto another
card with a magnetic strip. Identity thieves steal iden-
tities to commit an array of crimes, such as taking out
loans, cash advances, and credit card applications,
which may include large-scale operations such as tak-
ing control of entire financial accounts.
Spamming has also been identified as a cyber-
crime, although most of us would not generally con-
sider it to be so. Spamming is the distribution ofunsolicited bulk e-mails that contain an array of mes-
sages, including invitations to win money; obtain free
products or services; win lottery prizes; and obtain
drugs to improve health, well-being, or sexual
prowess. David Wall has argued that spamming
embodies all the characteristics of cybercrime in its
global reach: networking capabilities; empowerment
of the single agent through the (re)organization of
criminal labor; and use of surveillant technologies,
which creates small-impact bulk victimizations.
Currently, over half of all e-mails are spam, and this
constitutes a major obstacle to effective use of the
Internet and its further development.
Cyberstalking generally refers to using the new
technologies to harass or menace another person by
engaging in behavior that persists in spite of another’s
distress or requests that it should stop. It can take many
forms, such as unsolicited hate mail, e-mail whose con-
tent is obscene or threatening, malicious messages
posted in newsgroups, e-mail viruses, and electronic
junk mail or spam. It is analogous to other forms of
stalking but uses technology to achieve its aims and is
motivated by a desire to gain control over the victim.
Online pornography is considered a cybercrime only
when its content is illegal (such as abusive images of
children). Criminal activity may relate to downloading,
trading, and producing such images, although the crim-
inality of the act will depend on the geographical loca-
tion of both the material and the person accessing or
distributing it. Some countries do not have laws that
criminalize child pornography, and therefore an indi-
vidual producing such images within that jurisdiction
would not be seen to engage in cybercrime, but another
individual in a country where such laws exist may
access the images and thereby commit a criminal act.
This highlights one of the difficulties in relation to
cybercrime, in that while the Internet has no bound-
aries, legislation does. This has probably been the main
impetus for the European Convention on Cybercrime.Cybercriminals
It has been suggested that cyberspace opens up infi-
nitely new possibilities and that with the right equip-
ment, technical know-how, and inclination, you can
go on a global shopping spree with someone else’s
credit card, break into a bank’s security system, plan a
demonstration in another country, and hack into the
Pentagon—all on the same day. As Yvonne Jewkes
and Keith Sharp note, going online undermines the178 ———CybercrimeC-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:41 PM Page 178