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Kiril Mitic UDK:343.9.02:004.7
Ministry of interior of Republic of Macedonia
SECURITY AND CYBERCRIME AS A TYPE OF ORGANIZED CRIME
Abstract
This paper tries to give a presentation of one of the contemporary types of organized crime – the
cybercrime, in all of its forms, means of operation and the damages that it causes on national and
international level. A presentation is given of how the cybercrime negatively influences on the
security of the
States, on the information society or the so called E-society, which represents a society where the political,
legal, economical, social, health and the cultural – educational system increasingly depends on the
information technologies and communication systems.
The new information space known as “Cyberspace” in global areas, as a part of the informatic society does
not recognize borders, does not have sovereignty nor legislator. It offers exchange of information of different
character, while the global computer networks enable networking of computers and computer systems and
availability to all interested. However, this enables networking of people and organizations that have
dishonest and criminal intentions, making available to them certain information and transactions. Therefore,
the information society should be observed as a subject of interest, object of attack and threats from certain
number of interested, like the structures of the organized crime and terroristic organizations, but also from
individuals. They realize their activities through one contemporary type of illegal activity so called
cybercrime, which for them represents relatively save way of criminal behavior in the information space
through usage of computer networks or systems for achieving high criminal incomes. In this way, they
directly jeopardize the economic and political stability and security of the States, and the security of their
citizens. This paper also shows the ways of recognition of cybercrime, its prevention, and the methods of its
combating, and gives summary of the current legislation.
Key words: Information society, information space, security, threats, cybercrime.
1.
INTRODUCTION
The current governments in the modern states increasingly place their activities in the virtual scope of
work. The governments hold their meetings “on line”, more often the bank transactions are made
electronically, they allow their citizens to vote at elections through computers, also enabling them to shop
and pay bills on-line etc. However, this way of modern connection also represents weakness, for reasons that
the governments, parliaments, banks, companies or media are more often target of isolated or orchestrated
and coordinated attacks by individuals or organized structures driven by different motives.
The new information society, especially the development of the Internet was marked with emphasis of
the interoperability, efficiency and freedom, but the Internet connection was not followed by activities and
efforts to preserve it in order to remain safe.
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In this way, this society enabled the rapid development of the
global information technology, which in turn has created excellent preconditions for the emergence and
development of cybercrime as a new type of organized crime that enables committing of crimes not only
from the classical crime area, but also of crimes that twenty years ago were unknown for the states of
Southeast Europe.
The illegal activities of the structures of organized crime in the area of communication and
information technology represent growing problem for the security structures of the states in the field of
protection of citizens and national security. The creation and usage of complex information networks by the
states, financial institutions, large corporations, private companies and other subjects as users of these
networks, created preconditions and possibility for illegal and unauthorized access to information, their
termination and destruction by well-trained individuals so called hackers, but also by members of the
structures of organized crime, and by some terrorist organizations. It is known that these types of illegal and
unauthorized accesses in the computer networks or so called cyber attacks are carried out by foreign
intelligent agencies, also by companies that are in direct market competition with the
attacked companies and
institutions.
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. Lloyd's Emerging Risks Team,
Digital Risks: Views of a Changing Risk Landscape (London: Lloyds, 2009).
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The increased dependency of modern societies on the advanced communication and information
technologies at the same time increased the dependency on them for the criminal structures, as a new source
of income, but also modern and relatively safe way for their commercial and financial transactions, while
providing greater security for their members. Thus, the structures of organized crime and the terrorist
organizations by using modern information networks conduct their illegal activities relatively safely, often
out of the reach from security structures on national and international level.
For their higher security and protection from prosecution certain members of the structures of
organized crime and terrorist organizations are more information educated, allowing them independence and
autonomy in usage of the latest technologies in order for unfettered access to the necessary information, and
according to that to the acquisition larger criminal incomes. This way the criminals become bolder in
carrying out criminal acts, and feel more secure by being inaccessible for security structures.
The fact that cybercrime as a relatively new form of international crime was not adequately followed
by the national legislation, the national policies and methods of prosecution and by the international
cooperation nor the security structures of the states was appropriate and on a necessary level, benefits the
structures of organized crime. It should be emphasized here the fact that large number of members of the
security structures, prosecutors and judges in the \EE region possessed a low level of knowledge required in
this area, and consequently were unable to recognize these types of crimes, and by that take the necessary
measures and activities for timely prevention, recognition and providing tangible evidence of identification
and prosecution of the perpetrators of this crime.
2.
CYBERCRIME, TERM AND DEFINITIONS
Computers are one of the most significant benefits of modern society and
have become an integral part
of all spheres of social life and work. Yet, despite such wide application, all the advantages that they offer
and their great value for civilization today, the computers in the same time have become a tool of abuse by
individuals, groups and organizations. These abuses of the computers and the computer systems are used by
dishonest individuals, criminal groups or terrorist organizations in various ways and by using various
electronic means to gain for themselves or for someone else some tangible or intangible benefits, to overawe
someone with fear or to cause damage. This has created preconditions for the creation of a new and
contemporary form of crime with its own singularities and volume, known as cybercrime. The term cyber
space that first appeared in 1984
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implies a system from a number of computers connected into a network
in which all segments of society are represented in so called “bytes”, but also a space created by the
computer networks themselves. Cybercrime represents a form of criminal behavior in the cyber space where
the computer networks or systems appear as a means, target, evidence or a place for practicing of this type of
crime. This type of crime represents criminal activity directed against the security of communications and
information systems in general or against some of their parts. The computers and information technology can
be abused in various ways, and the crime that is realized through them can range from the classic types of
crime - theft, evasion, various abuses, and the information and data obtained by abusing information systems
can to be used by criminals in most cases for illegally acquiring property. From criminal-legal aspect,
cybercrime is identified as a computer abuse, computer fraud, information crime, technical crime,
committing a
crime by computers, etc.
In the attempt to find the most acceptable definition of what constitutes a cybercrime, the international
community seems to have succeeded in promoting the document under the title "Crime tied to computer
networks," adopted at the Tenth congress of the United Nations in April 2000, dedicated to the prevention of
crime and the treatment of its carriers.
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Experts from the Working group on this type of crime defined it as
a crime referring to any crime that can be executed by computer systems and computer networks, within
computer systems or networks or against computer systems and networks. Connected to this document is the
Convention on Cybercrime of the Council of Europe, which states that if the term computer system means
devices or group of devices that are interconnected to perform automatic data processing or perform other
functions, it is clear that without them and the computer networks there is no cybercrime.
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. The term cyber space for the first time was used by the writer William Gibson in his science fiction novel „Neuromancer“in
1984.
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.Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, year 2000, Background paper for the
workshop on crimes related to the computer network: Crime-fighting on the Net, http://www.un.org/events/10thcongress/2088h.htm
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. European Committee on Crime Problems, European Committee of Experts on Crime in Cyber-Space, Draft Convention on
Cyber-crime, April 2000., http://europa.eu.int