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What is Cybercrime

Cybercrimes are defined as “Offences that are committed against individuals or groups of individuals with a criminal motive to intentionally harm the reputation of the victim or cause physical or mental harm to the victim directly or indirectly, using modern telecommunication networks such as Internet (Chat rooms, emails, notice boards and groups) and mobile phones (SMS/MMS)” (source).

Examples of Cybercrime

The United States Department of Justice defines a dozen classes of cybercrime as well as the appropriate federal investigative law enforcement agencies that handel those crimes. The FBI, Secret Service, Immigration dn Customs Enforcement, Postal Inspection Service and the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are some of the law enforcement agencies that investigate cybercrimes (source).

• Computer intrusion
• Password trafficking
• Counterfeiting of currency
• Child Pornography or Exploitation
• Child Exploitation and Internet Fraud over mail
• Internet fraud and SPAM
• Internet harassment
• Internet bomb threats
• Trafficking in explosive or incendiary devices or firearms
• Copyright piracy
• Trademark counterfeiting
• Theft of trade secrets and economic espionage

It is notable that the classification for cybercrime is extremely broad and government agencies do not have the resources to pursue all types of cybercrime. For example, internet fraud and SPAM are highly prevalent. It’s also hard to warrant a federal investigation for harassement on social networks even though harassment on social networks have caused suicides (source).