BotNet News

Cybercrime has become a major concern for governments and society in general. The lack of consensus over what constitutes a cybercrime and/or cyberdeviant act continues to impact criminal justice response, policy development, academic research and the ability to identify, prevent and prosecute cyber offences and their perpetrators.

Understanding cybercrime requires investigators to be as familiar with the hardware and software components that make up a computer system as they are with forensic science. This includes being able to recognize data in binary or hexadecimal format and knowing when this type of evidence can and cannot be useful as part of an investigative process.

In addition, it is necessary for them to be aware of the various methods used by attackers and understand how they are able to manipulate systems to perpetrate their crimes. This includes being able to trace attack information such as timestamps, putative sources and addresses, domain names and e-mail headers back to the attacking systems of origin.

As with all crime, the motivation of cybercriminals is varied and diverse. Some attacks are motivated by financial gain, others by terrorism or even political activism. In order to counteract the growing impact of cyber criminality, laws have been enacted around the world that seek to protect individuals and businesses from harm. These can range from the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that focuses on financial institutions to the cybercrime legislation of the Council of Europe’s Convention of Cybercrime [25] that defines specific offences in relation to cyber security, fraud, forgery and copyright infringement.