Information Security Handbook

Cybercrime

Cybercrime is a crime that involves the use of a computer. The computer may have been the target of a cybercrime or it could have been used to conduct a cybercrime. In 2014, a report sponsored by McAfee estimated that cybercrime had damaged the world economy by 445 billion dollars. Cybercrime can be committed by organized criminal gangs as well as individuals that have procured the necessary tools:

• Fraud and financial crimes: Fraud is a misrepresentation of fact that is intended to manipulate another into doing or not doing an act that causes a financial loss:
  • Fraud can result by the altering, suppressing/destroying, or exfiltration of electronic data
  • Forms of computer fraud include identity theft, extortion, and bank fraud