Computers serve a major role in crime which is usually referred to as “Cybercrime”. This cybercrime is performed by a knowledgeable computer user who is usually referred to as a “hacker”, who illegally browses or steals a company’s information or a piece of individual private information and uses this information for malevolent uses. In some cases, this person or group of individuals may become evil and they destroy and corrupt data files. This cyber or computer-based crime is also known as hi-tech crime or electronic crime. As the computer is the main source of communication across the world, thus this can be used as a source of stealing information and this information can be used for their own benefits.
The role of a computer in the crime may vary depending upon the activity that a person does, for instance, a person may steal the details and misuse them on one hand, and on the other hand, a terrorist may use the information to do violent activities and some persons may steal financial information for trading purposes and so on, but these all activities can be done by the means of a computer only.
There are several examples of crime that use computers they are as follows:
- Espionage:
This is a process of spying on a person or business.
- Malware creation:
The process of creating malware like viruses etc.
- Cybersquatting:
It is a process of gaining personal information and trying to resell them.
- Harvesting:
Here, hackers usually steal a person’s private information from an account and use it for illegal activities.
- Wiretapping:
Here, the hacker connects a device to a phone line and tries to listen to the conversations.
Thus a computer plays a role in criminal activity.
