Cybercriminals in United States

Cybercriminals

Overview of Cybercriminals in relation to cyber crime: [1] Cybercriminals can be classified into the following 12 distinctive forms of information systems abuse and crime: 1. Negligent users who violate security policies or do not practice sound information security practices and thereby expose their data or that residing on a network to harm; 2. Traditional criminals of conventional crimes who use computers or other types of electronic devices for communications and/or record keeping in support of their illegal activities; 3. Fraudsters and thieves including those who phish, spoof, spim, or otherwise deceive people for financial gain; 4. Hackers, computer trespassers, and password crackers (also known as white or gray hat hackers) who, in the tradition of the original hacker ethic, use computers to illegally explore, learn about, and take control of systems in order to pull mischievous pranks, and who may also find, exploit, or expose security vulnerabilities; 5. Malicious code writers and distributors who create, copy, or release disruptive or destructive viruses, Trojans, worms, or adware/spyware programs; 6. Music, movie, and software pirates who use IT to violate copyright laws by illegally copying, distributing, downloading, selling, or possessing software applications, data files, or code; 7. Harassers and extortionists who use technologies to threaten, annoy, or coerce; 8. Stalkers, pedophiles, and other cyber sex offenders who use online and/or in-person methods when needed to acquire illegal sexual pleasure from or power over people; 9. Academic cheats who use a variety of tools and techniques to plagiarize or cheat on assignments or exams, or who fake research methods or findings for profit or fame; 10. Organized criminals including ethnic-based gangs who use computers or electronic devices in the course of their legal and illegal business enterprises; 11. Corporate, government, and free-lance spies who use simple-to-complex tools and methods of espionage including spyware and key logger applications to snoop for personal or professional purposes; and 12. Cyber terrorists who seek to advance their social, religious, or political goals by instilling widespread fear or by damaging either critical infrastructure or critical information infrastructure.

Resources

Notes and References

1. By Samuel C. McQuade, III

See Also

• Types of Cybercrime
• Cybercriminal

Further Reading

McQuade, S.C. (2006). Computer abusers and cybercriminals. In Understanding and managing cybercrime (Chap. 4). Boston: Allyn and Bacon; National White Collar Crime Center &West Virginia University. (1996). Proceedings of the Academic Workshop, Bureau of Justice Assistance Grant No. 96-WC-CX-001; Wall, D. (2001). Crime and the Internet. London: Routledge.