Developments in the Global Law Enforcement of Cyber-Crime

by

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION1

Cyber Crime2

How Cyber-Crime Happens5

Defense7

Characteristics of Cyber Crime9

Few Cases of Cyber-Crime11

DISCUSSION14

Responses to Cyber-Crime at National Level14

Toward International Cyber security Efforts16

Current International Efforts16

United Nations17

Organisation of Economic Co-Operation and Development18

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation20

Council of Europe21

Challenges to International Cyber security Efforts22

Effectiveness of Cyber Security23

Managing Technical and Policy Solutions25

General Global Cyber Laws27

CONCLUSION32

The Path Forward32

Public-Private Partnerships32

Crafting Genuinely International Solutions33

Clear Strategy34

Conclusion35

REFERENCES37

Introduction

The Internet is an integral part of the lives of millions of people around the world. Governments, businesses, and individuals across the globe have come to depend upon the capabilities and services that the Internet provides. Real-time communications, electronic financial transactions, data transfer, access to government services, and a myriad of other capabilities made possible by the Internet have truly revolutionised the modern age.

Unfortunately, this revolution has not come without cost; while the Internet has ushered in a new era of prosperity and progress it has also brought with it dramatic new risks to organisations, individuals, and even nations. Increasingly, governments have begun to recognise the implications of these risks and taken measures to address them, resulting in a variety of efforts devoted to cyber security and its many related aspects. While many of these measures are conducted on a domestic basis, there also exists a growing category of activity devoted to international efforts. Recognising the impetus behind these international efforts is important not only in understanding the current landscape, but also for appropriate planning for the future of international efforts on cyber security. The establishment and exponential growth of the Internet has triggered a dramatic improvement in the efficiency and capabilities of people, organisations, and governments around the world. Regretfully, this increased efficiency and capability has not come without costs.

Today there are a wide range of threats and vulnerabilities that result from cyberspace and the utilisation of the Internet. These threats and vulnerabilities, coupled with the architecture of the Internet itself, demonstrate why international involvement is required for effective control over cyber crime. This paper represents an effort to explain how effective cyber security both requires international collaboration and greatly benefits those nations involved.

Cyber Crime

We have entered a new informational age (i.e., cyberspace or virtual world). People spend part of their daily life in cyberspace, creating and enjoying new types of social relationships, being in touch with the outside world, and doing some business. All of these activities have been made possible for everyone having a computer, a modem and a little technical knowledge. In other words, the Internet is the agent that creates what is now known as cyberspace, or the virtual world.

Cyberspace has unique features, which have, unfortunately, brought about new types of crimes, called Cyber-Crimes. Crimes that are mediated by networked computers and not just related to computers are called Cyber-Crimes. So, Cyber-Crime is crime committed via the Internet such as viruses, cyber-stalking, identity theft, fraud, child pornography, hacking, and blackmail, etc. Cyberspace creates new opportunities for criminals to commit crimes through its unique features. These features are seen as "transformative keys”:

1) "Globalisation" enables ...