Many computer crimes involve the theft of money or goods or intellectual property. In the majority of cases, they are “inside jobs” that involve unauthorized network entry and fraudulent alternation of computer databases to cover the tracks of the employees involved.
This category includes cyber intrusion, but is also sometimes used to refer to any criminal theft, where a computer system or the internet is used as a means of perpetrating the crime.
One of the examples was involve the use of internet, such as the widely publicized theft of $11 million from Citibank in late 1994, Russian hacker Vladimir Levin and his accomplices in St. Petersburg used the Internet to electronically break into Citibank’s mainframe systems in New York.
They then succeed in transferring the funds from several Citibank accounts to their own account at banks in Finland, Israel, and California.
The new computer based technology allows criminals to operate in a more efficient and effective manner.
Cyber thieves now have the luxury of remaining anonymous, living in any part of the planet, conducting their business during the day, working the evening, working alone or in a group, and at the same time reaching a much wider number of potential victims than ever before.
In most case, the scope of such financial losses is much larger than the incidents reported. Most companies don’t reveal that they have been targets or victims of computer crimes.
What is cyber theft?
