Real Cost of Cyber Crime

Cyber crime is a type of of crime that not only destroys the security system of a country but also its financial system. One supporter of legislation against cyber crime, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), stated, "Our mouse can be just as dangerous as a bullet or a bomb." Cyber attackers should be penalized and punished severely and most cyber crimes have penalties reflecting the severity of the crime committed. Although in the past many laws against cyber crimes were insufficient, law enforcement agencies and governments have recently proposed many innovative plans for fighting cyber crimes.

Punishment

Cybercrime must be dealt with very seriously because it causes a lot of damage to businesses and the actual punishment should depend on the type of fraud used.

The penalty for illegally accessing a computer system ranges from 6 months to 5 years. The penalty for the unofficial modification on a computer ranges from 5 to 10 years.  Other penalties are listed below:

Telecommunication service theft: The theft of telecommunication services is a very common theft and is punished with a heavy fine and imprisonment.

Communications intercept crime: This is a Class-D crime which is followed by a severe punishment of 1 to 5 years of imprisonment with a fine. Other cyber crimes like telecommunication piracy, offensive material dissemination, and other cyber frauds also belong to this category.

Information Technology Act-2000: According to this act, different penalties are available for different crimes. Some of the penalties are as follows:

Computer source document tampering: The person who changes the source code on the website or any computer program will get a punishment up to 3 years of imprisonment or fine.

Computer hacking: The individual who hacks the computer or computer devices will get an imprisonment up to 3 years or a fine.

Government protected system: An act of trying to gain access to a system which is a protected system by the government, will result in imprisonment for 10 years and a heavy fine.

The introduction of such penalties have lead to a drastic reduction in the cyber crime rates as more and more criminals are becoming aware of the penalties related to them. Spreading the word about the penalties of cyber crime can serve as a deterrent against such crime.

Penalties relating to cyber crime will vary depending on the country and legislation in place.

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Identity theft comes in many forms.

A person\92s identity can be 'borrowed' for the purpose of creating fictional credit cards or a person\92s entire identity can be usurped to the point where they can have difficulty proving that they really are who they claim to be.

Up to 18% of identity theft victims take as long as four years to realize that their identity has been stolen.

There are many ways to protect your personal identity and many steps you can take to prevent your identity from being stolen:

*Never give out unnecessary personal information
*Never provide bank details or social security numbers over the Internet
*Always remain aware of who is standing behind you when you type in your personal credit codes at ATM machines and at supermarket checkout swipe machines.