http://www.bukisa.

com/articles/21491_what-action-should-be-taken-against-cyber-crime

http://www.crime-research.org/

library.thinkquest.org/06aug/02257/more.html

1. INTRODUCTION

The growth of technology has changed our lives dramatically. Computers were
viewed as a luxury or even an extravagance for 30 years ago. People relied on
television, newspapers, and radio as primary sources of news and information.
Today, computers are prevalent in businesses, homes, schools, libraries, and even
airports. The computers can bring good purpose and even joy to our technological
lives but it has a way of creating its negative side effects too. Computers today are
being misused for illegal activities like e-mail espionage, credit card fraud, spams,
software piracy and so on, which invade our privacy and offend our senses. One of
the major disadvantages is Cybercrime which it is illegal activitiy committed on the
internet. Cybercrime is a major concern for the global community. It has been a
problem as early as the late 1970's.

What is Cybercrime? Computer crime, or cybercrime, refers to any crime that

involves a computer and a network. A generalized definition of cyber crime may be “
unlawful acts wherein the computer is either a tool or target or both”. Some people
call cybercrime “computer crime”. The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines computer
crime as any crime that is committed by means of special knowledge or expert use
of computer technology. While according to Oxford Dictionary “An action or omission
which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law”. . Internet crime refers to any
crime that involves a computer and a network. It is a criminal exploitation of the
internet.

Types of cyber crime include identity theft, credit card fraud, cyber-stalking, phishing,
child pornography, and spoofing. Many types of cyber-crimes happen often through
everyday emails, or in chat-rooms. Other types of cyber-crimes also involve software
pirating, downloading illegal music files, and stealing money from banks by breaking
into online website. Because cybercrime covers such a broad scope of criminal
activity, the examples above are only a few of the thousands of crimes that are
considered cybercrimes.

While computers and the Internet have made our lives easier in many ways, it is
unfortunate that people also use these technologies to take advantage of others.
Therefore, it is smart to protect yourself by using antivirus and spyware blocking
software and being careful where you enter your personal information. As more
people are being cheated by irresponsible parties using it as their scam tool, it is
indeed a serious matter that we should look into. There are many aspects of internet
crime but here I will touch on the three main examples, namely credit card fraud, get
rich quick.
Issues surrounding this type of crime have become high-profile,
particularlythose surrounding cracking, copyright infringement, child pornography,
andchild grooming. There are also problems of privacy when confidentialinformation
is lost or intercepted, lawfully or otherwise. Internationally, both governmental
and non-state actors engage incybercrimes, including espionage, financial theft,
and other cross-border crimes.

2.1 CLASSIFICATION OF CYBER CRIMES

Computers and the Internet have made our lives easier in many ways, it is
unfortunate that people also use these technologies to take advantage of others.
There are 4 major categories and there are cyber crime against individual, cyber
crime against property, cyber crime against organization and cyber crime against
society.

Cybercrimes committed against persons include various crimes like transmission of

child-pornography, harassment of any one with the use of a computer such as e-
mail. The trafficking, distribution, posting, and dissemination of obscene material
including pornography and indecent exposure, constitutes one of the most important
Cybercrimes known today. The potential harm of such a crime to humanity can
hardly be amplified. This is one Cybercrime which threatens to undermine the growth
of the younger generation as also leave irreparable scars and injury on the younger
generation, if not controlled. In these crimes related against person, against property
of an individual are included. Against persons include harassment through e-mail,
cyber stalking, dissemination of obscene material on the Internet, defamation,
hacking / cracking and by indecent exposure.
Cyber crimes against property of an individual include computer vandalism,
transmitting virus, Internet intrusion, unauthorized control over computer system and
hacking / cracking etc.
The second category of Cyber-crimes is that of Cybercrimes against all forms of
property. These crimes include computer vandalism (destruction of others' property),
transmission of harmful programmes.
The third category of Cyber-crimes relate to Cybercrimes against Government.
Cyberterrorism is one distinct kind of crime in this category. The growth of internet
has shown that the medium of Cyberspace is being used by individuals and groups
to threaten the international governments as also to terrorise the citizens of a
country. This crime manifests itself into terrorism when an individual "cracks" into a
government or military maintained website. These include crimes against
govern¬ment, private firm, company, group of individual etc. These crimes can be
made by hacking and cracking, by possession of unauthorized information and
through cyber terrorism against the government organization. The distribution of
pirated softwares and other related work also comes under the category of cyber
crimes against organisations.
These crimes not only affect individual or any organisation but the society at large.
They include Pornography (specially child Pornography), polluting the youth through
indecent exposure and trafficking.

2.2 COMPARISON OF CYBER CRIMES IN MALAYSIA AND USA.

As the topic of cybercrime is so wide, what I would like to do is focus on

Malaysia’s Computer Crimes Act 1997, local law enforcement and practical tips on
how to prevent cybercrime. Computer crime laws in other countries, the enforcement
and multilateral efforts to harmonise laws against cybercrime will be discussed in
next month’s column. Are there laws in Malaysia to prosecute cybercriminals? What
are the penalties for cybercriminals in Malaysia? The need for laws against
cybercriminals is obvious. In fact, compare to US, there are not many laws governing
the cyberscape in Malaysia. Since 1997, some of the cyber laws that have been
passed by our Parliament include:

1. the Digital Signature Act 1997,

2. the Computer Crimes Act 1997,
3. the Copyright (Amendment) Act 1997, (also read Copyright Act 1987)
4. the Telemedicine Act 1997,
5. the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998,
6. the Communications and Multimedia Commission Act 1998, and
7. the Electronic Commerce Act 2006.

The Computer Crimes Act 1997 provides for offences against cybercrime. Now, it is not the
case that the other Acts of Parliament do not provide for criminal offences (like the
Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, the Digital Signature Act 1997 and the Optical
Discs Act 2000), it is just that in terms of cybercrime itself, the Act of Parliament which is the
most relevant is the Computer Crimes Act. In Malaysia, the punishment may range from
3 years to 10 years imprisonment and/or a monetary fine of between RM 25,000 to
RM150,000. Note that stiffer penalties will be given if it is found that the guilty party
had intention to cause injury when committing the crime.(SANS Institute, 2002).

Malaysia must has a strong working relationships between authorities in countries around
the world because it can help to solve cyber crimes cases quickly.

CyberSecurity Malaysia exist as the national reference and specialist centre in cyber security
under the purview of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI).
CyberSecurity’s role is to help organisations address cyber security issues. It plays a
development role in cyber security to all societies that use the Internet such as the public
and business communities. All cases handled by CyberSecurity Malaysia. But that rate was
an increase in incidents and it may not correlate with cyber crime rates. They have not
analysed cyber crime rates per se.A total of 8,090 reports were made to CyberSecurity
Malaysia last year compared with 3,564 in 2009. Last year, total of 2,123 incidents, which is
more than 100 per cent increase compared with 2007.The number of cases reported to the
Cyber999 Security Incident Help Centre increasing every year. And this proof that public
awareness on the threat of cybercrime was growing. In the first quarter of 2011, 3,563
cases, of which 36% or 1,273 cases were related to online fraud. Phishing sites targeting
local bank have also increased with 400 sites detected for the first quarter this year
compared to 900 last year.

Below is the statistic of selected categories of cyber crimes in Malaysia. The statistic
derived from CyberSecurity Malaysia for cyber crime statistic year 2010 in Malaysia.

This is due to ; in the country and this led to cyber

There was a lack of awareness of cyber security ; in the country and this led to cyber
crime such as fraud, forgery, hacking and unauthorised access of the Internet.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/71214912/Cyber-Crime-in-Malaysia-and-USA

http://www.cybersecurity.my/en/media_centre/media_faqs/media_faqs/main/detail/1691/inde
x.html

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/5/nation/20080805150054&sec=nation

4. RECOMMENDATION

Cyber crime is one of the hot issues of the moment, with government and the
private sector becoming increasingly concerned about the threat cyber criminals.
Cyber crime is a very real and worrying threat. The fact that cyber criminals are not
visible, coupled with the rapid pace of technology, makes it even harder for business
to keep ahead. While computers and the Internet have made our lives easier in
many ways, it is unfortunate that people also use these technologies to take
advantage of others. Therefore, it is smart to protect yourself by using antivirus and
spyware blocking software and being careful where you enter your personal
information. As more people are being cheated by irresponsible parties using it as
their scam tool, it is indeed a serious matter that we should look into Children should
not give out identifying information such as name, home address, School Name or
Telephone Number in a chat room. They should not give photographs to anyone on
the Net without first checking or informing parents guardians. They should not
respond to messages, which are suggestive, obscene, belligerent or threatening,
and not to arrange a face-to –face meeting without telling parents or guardians. They
should remember that people online might not be who they seem.
Parent should use content filtering software on PC to protect children from
pornography, gambling, hate speech, drugs and alcohol. There is also software to
establish time controls for use of limpets (for example blocking usage after a
particulars time) and allowing parents to see which site item children have visited.
Use this software to keep track of the type of activities of children.
. For this reason, it is smart to always check the URL or Web address of a site
to make sure it is legitimate before entering your personal information.

Suggestions to curb or reduce cyber crimes in

Malaysia

S u p p o r t i n g d e t a i l :

1 . M a l a y s i a g o v e r n m e n t s h o u l d t i g h t h e n
t h e e n f o r c e m e n t o f Computer Crime Act 1997 and the
Communication and MultimediaAct 1998.

2. Malaysia government should allow more cyber crimesinvestigators agencies such

as CyberSecurity Malaysia to take part in preventing cyber crimes in Malaysia

.3. People or end users of the Internet or computer should be educateand aware
of the cyber security

.4. Malaysia government should increase the numbers of cyber professionals to

improve the cyber security in Malaysia

.CONCLUSION.

In a nutshell, cyber security in Malaysia still need to be improve in order to prevent

or reduce cyber crimes in Malaysia. In line with that, all related agencies should call
for alliance in order to prevent and reduce the numbers of cyber crimes in
our country.

REFERENCES.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_crime.www.oxfordreference.com/v
iews/ENTRY.htmlhttp://www.reportcybercrime.com/classification.phphttp://library.thinkq
uest.org/06aug/02257/more.htmlhttp://www.bestarticleworld.com/2009/12/article-on-
society-and-increasing-cyber.htmlhttp://www.cybersecurity.my/en/media_centre New
Straits Times Press, 27 October 2010http://www.malaysiandigest.com/news/21919-
cybersecurity-malaysia-intensifies-fight-against-
cybercrime.htmlhttp://www.mycert.org.my/en/services/statistic/mycert/2010/main/det
ail/725/index.htmlhttp://scamfraudalert.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/fbi-2009-
cybercrime-statistics
􀂃Do not share personal information in public space online; do not give it to strangers.
􀂃Be extremely cautious about meeting online introduced person. If you choose to meet, do so in
a public place along with a friend.
􀂃If a situation online becomes hostile, log off and if a situation places you in fear, contact local
police.
􀂃Save all communications for evidence. Do not edit it in any way. Also, keep a record of your
contacts and inform Law Enforcement Officials.

2.2 PREVENTIVE STEPS FOR ORGANISATIONS AND GOVERNMENT

2.2.1 PHYSICAL SECURITY: Physical security is most sensitive component, as prevention
from cyber crime Computer network should be protected from the access of unauthorized
persons.
2.2.2 ACCESS CONTROL: Access Control system is generally implemented using firewalls,
which provide a centralized point from which to permit or allow access. Firewalls allow only
authorized communications between the internal and external network.
2.2.3 PASSWORD: Proof of identity is an essential component to identify intruder. The use of
passwords in the most common security for network system including servers, routers and
firewalls. Mostly all the systems are programmed to ask for username and password for
access to computer system. This provides the verification of user. Password should be
charged with regular interval of time and it should be alpha numeric and should be difficult to
judge.
2.2.4 FINDING THE HOLES IN NETWORK: System managers should track down the holes
before the intruders do. Many networking product manufactures are not particularly aware
with the information about security holes in their products. So organization should work hard
to discover security holes, bugs and weaknesses and report their findings as they are
confirmed.
2.2.5 USING NETWORK SCANNING PROGRAMS: There is a security administration’s tool
called UNIX, which is freely available on Internet. This utility scans and gathers information
about any host on a network, regardless of which operating system or services the hosts were
running. It checks the known vulnerabilities include bugs, security weakness, inadequate
password protection and so on. There is another product available called COPS (Computer
Oracle and Password System). It scans for poor passwords, dangerous file permissions, and
dates of key files compared to dates of CERT security advisories.
2.2.6 USING INTRUSION ALERT PROGRAMS: As it is important to identify and close
existing security holes, you also need to put some watchdogs into service. There are some
intrusion programs, which identify suspicious activity and report so that necessary action is
taken. They need to be operating constantly so that all unusual behaviour on network is
caught immediately.
4
2.2.7 USING ENCRYPTION: - Encryption is able to transform data into a form that makes it
almost impossible to read it without the right key. This key is used to allow controlled access to
the information to selected people. The information can be passed on to any one but only the
people with the right key are able to see the information. Encryption allows sending confidential
documents by E-mail or save confidential information on laptop computers without having to fear
that if someone steals it the data will become public. With the right encryption/decryption
software installed, it will hook up to mail program and encrypt/decrypt messages automatically
without user interaction.

REFERENCES

1. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_crime).
2. http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/02257/more.html
3. http://www.bestarticleworld.com/2009/12/article-on-society-and-increasing-cyber.html
4.