Definition of Cyber Crime
- Cyber crime--also known as computer crime, e-crime and electronic crime-- is defined as a criminal act where a computer or computer network serves as the location, means, target or as the source of the activity. Types range from outside parties who hack into a computer network to phishing programs which give users a false sense of security, prompting them to divulge sensitive information.
WHAT IS CYBER CRIME????
Cyber crime is a new computer crime of the century. The emergence of the Internet as a tool of communication technologies promises a platform to strengthen the dissemination of knowledge and information.
Effects of Cyber Crime
Loss Of Revenue
- One of the main effects of cyber crime on a company is a loss of revenue. This loss can be caused by an outside party who obtains sensitive financial information, using it to withdraw funds from an organization. It can also occur when a business's e-commerce site becomes compromised--while inoperable, valuable income is lost when consumers are unable to use the site.
Wasted Time
- Another major effect or consequence of cyber crime is the time that is wasted when IT personnel must devote great portions of their day handling such incidences. Rather than working on productive measures for an organization, many IT staff members spend a large percentage of their time handling security breaches and other problems associated with cyber crime.
Damaged Reputations
- In cases where customer records are compromised by a security breach associated with cyber crime, a company's reputation can take a major hit. Customers whose credit cards or other financial data become intercepted by hackers or other infiltrators lose confidence in an organization and often begin taking their business elsewhere.
Reduced Productivity
- Due to the measures that many companies must implement to counteract cyber crime, there is often a negative effect on employees' productivity. This is because, due to security measures, employees must enter more passwords and perform other time-consuming acts in order to do their jobs. Every second wasted performing these tasks is a second not spent working in a productive manner.
