Impacts of Computer Crimes and Misuse on Users, Companies, and Society

This report analyzes and discusses the impacts of computer crimes and misuse on the users, companies, and society. It includes a literature review, types of computer crimes, and their impacts on the economy and human behavior.

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Network and security

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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Computer crimes and computer misuse................................................................................................2
Literature review...................................................................................................................................3
Impacts of computer crimes and computer misuse..............................................................................5
Types of computer crimes and computer misuse..................................................................................7
Crackers.............................................................................................................................................7
Hackers..............................................................................................................................................7
Pranksters..........................................................................................................................................7
Spam..................................................................................................................................................7
Fraud.................................................................................................................................................8
Denial of service attack......................................................................................................................8
Career criminals.................................................................................................................................8
Findings and results...............................................................................................................................8
Recommendation..................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................10
References...........................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Computer crime is defined as the security threat, cyber-crime and hi-tech crime which
are performed by the hackers to access the personal devices and accounts of consumers.
Mainly, attacker’s uses the malicious software to detect the private details of users
because it has potential to identify the login ID and password of computer devices and
networks (Albanese, 2008) Computer misuse is defined as a security problem in which
the third person access user’s personal accounts and misuse their computer system and
networks. Many criminals enter into the computer devices and encrypt user personal
information such as bank details, pictures, financial documents and many more. The
objective of this report is to analysis and discusses the impacts of computer crimes and
misuse on the users, companies, and society. In this report, a literature review will be
conducted which evaluate the opinions of other experts and researcher and reduce the
previous research gaps. The research question will focus on the impact of computer
crimes and misuse on the companies, individuals and society.
Computer crimes and computer misuse
Computer crime is a part of cyber-crime in which hackers attack the computer devices
and networks of individuals. It is one of the most common security issue faced by many
organizations because criminals use the more complex algorithm and botnet process to
enter into the computer system. Between 2014 and 2016 the rates of computer crime
and misuse have increased by the 44% because every individual uses the internet
connectivity in their computer devices which are associated with the cyber-attacks and
data breaches (Bainbridge, 2007). It occurs when consumers and companies employees
use unauthorized servers to access their personal accounts because unauthentic
networks are developed by hackers to detect accounts details of users. Computer
misuse happens when any individual uses the third party application or click on the
unwanted links and many hackers send the traffic signals to the consumers to access
their computer systems (Williams, 2008). In this modern era, the rate of cyber-crimes
and computer misuse is growing rapidly and many largest business companies are
facing this issue and they can lose their personal information due to such security
issues.

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Literature review
Today, computer crime is very common cyber threat in the field of computer science
which is increasing due to the lack of security and use of unauthentic networks during
the communication process. There are many researchers investigated on this topic and
they observed that computer crimes impacts on the individual and companies due to
which they can lose their personal data files and suffer from the financial issues. Most
hackers attack the largest business industries and companies to earn more money
because they block users and employees data and demand money from companies to
restore their files. According to Biggs, and Vidalis, (2009) there are numerous kinds of
cyber-threats and attacks occur in the computer system and it is very difficult to identify
the key factors which increase the rate of computer crimes.
To understand the concept of computer crimes and misuse the researcher conducted a
survey and collected the views of other persons. This survey evaluated that more than
70% of individuals and employees use simple passwords and access personal Gmail
accounts in the third party application that increase the issue of cyber-attacks and
hacking. The computer crimes and misuse considered as the security threat and they
have serious impacts on the society and organizations in the form of psychological
disorder, economical disrupt and threat to national defense. Bryan Foltz, Schwager, and
Anderson, (2008) provide the understanding of cyber-attacks and their impacts on the
society and individuals and they identified that the problem of cyber-crimes can affect
the performance of the computer networks and companies can lose their clients and
consumers due to cyber-attacks. The Internet is the best platform to share and receive
any information from others and many individuals and organization use this step to
communicate with their friends and clients. But the problem of this step is that users
connected their devices with the internet and hackers use the malicious process to
identify their accounts details (Camp, 2009).
D'Arcy and Hovav, (2009) defined computer crime as a cyber-crime which is completely
related to the use of computer system particularly illegal trespass into the computer
devices. The author also discussed that the lack of security is one of common problem
which increases the percentage of the data breaches. In the the year 2016 attackers
hacked thousands of computer devices with the help of malware and botnet process and
they entered into the computer devices and blocked their files. In the year 2015, the

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rate of cyber-crime has increased by 24% and around 70% of individuals were suffered
from the issue of data breach and hacking. Recent investigation evaluated that there are
main four kinds of security attacks occur in the field of computer science such as viruses
and worms, denial of service attack, malware attack, and phishing. In which malware
and phishing both are very common cyber-attacks that faced by the many companies
and business industries. According to D'Arcy, Hovav, and Galletta, (2009) hackers first
generate the huge amount of unwanted links and traffic signals by using the malicious
software after that they transfer these traffic on the computer networks of individuals
or companies. These traffic signals jam the server or network of consumers and reduce
the performance of their system which is the very common impact of computer crimes
on the companies.
At the end, hackers detect password of user’s peripheral devices and enter into their
computer system to hack data files or information. Field, (2008) analyzed that hackers
send the fraud mails to the consumers through Gmail and users click on spam mails by
which attackers connect their servers to the individual servers and collect the
passwords of the computer system. Most hackers use this step and it affects their
servers and networks and they can lose the account details like pictures, videos and
data files. Every year the problem of email phishing defrauds is increasing and amazon,
eBay, Github, and Facebook all these are best examples of computer crimes. Recently
the bank of Bahrain and Kuwait was targeted for phishing in which they lost their
financial documents and data of 55 million individuals that reduced their values by 20%
in the market. In which hackers sent the spam mail to the customers where users
restricted data or information were explored and they lost their private files (Guo,
2013).
The cyber-crimes those are processed can be defined as computer crimes and they have
a serious impact on the society and individual in the form of economical disrupt and
psychological disorder. It is observed that the restriction of computer crime is
completely depended on their behaviors and security networks because hackers attack
the communication networks and detect their IP address and location. According to
Kerr, (2009) computer crimes are the illegal activities which can be penalized with the
help of low and such kind of attack may impact badly on the society and individuals. In
this paper, the researcher collected the relevant data by using qualitative and

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quantitative research method where qualitative method provides the theoretical
information about the research topic and quantitative approach provide the graphs and
statistics and data of the previous investigation. The main key factor of computer crime
is that many users login their accounts in other person computers that create
uncertainty in the system and they do not update their computer software on regular
basis due to which the rate of cyber-crimes and hacking also increases. In this advanced
generation the most concern research field our impact of the computer crime on the
consumers and the impact of computer crimes on the organization is very high rather
than other because every company uses the internet and wireless technologies for
communication that increase the number of computer crimes.
Liao, et al., (2009) described the impact of cyber-crimes and computer misuse on the
performance of the organization and evaluated that hackers, pranksters, spam, fraud,
and harassment all these are types of computer crimes which occur in the area of
information and communication technology. Today, users and employees may care
about their personal data files and information because the problem of hacking is rising
very fast and they want to protect data from hackers. Such kind of issue affects the
various areas of the society, for example, bank, software, shops and business industries
due to which individuals can suffer from the financial issue (Marcella Jr, and Menendez,
2007). The recent survey evaluated that the rate of negative impacts of computer crime
is very high rather than other and hackers encrypt their account details and demand
money to restore back.
Impacts of computer crimes and computer misuse
It is analyzed by Ng, Kankanhalli, and Xu, (2009) that the computer crime and computer
misuse both negatively impact the gross domestic product, gross national product,
economic structure, and income levels of an organization. This is mainly caused by
wasted time, loss of revenue, and decreased the productivity of the business and
computer crimes also affects the money, jobs, and community. The recent survey
evaluated that in the year 2016 around 45% of individuals affected by the fraud case
over the internet and hackers collected the details of their credit and debit cards
(Marion, 2010). Many government authorities and organization are suffering from the

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issue of cyber-crimes and because they have important databases of consumers and
hackers detected passwords of their computers to access their networks.
According to the McGuire, and Dowling, (2013) business is one of the most important
victims which improving the wave of computer crime because business industries are
utilizing the information and communication technologies to increase numbers of
clients but it has expended the risk of computer crime. Such kind of computer attacks
and crimes can inhibit the business from performing its daily life activities which can
cause the business it infects to lose a substantial part of money or cost in a short time.
According to the recent research in the field of cyber-crimes over 70 million individuals
in the US were victims of computer crimes in the year 2011 and such hackers act
resulted in the $30 billion in direct financial losses. The further investigation
highlighted that around 68% of the consumers and adults that are online have been
victims of computer crimes and misuse resulting in the 1 million computer crime
victims in the day. A survey is conducted by the investigator and observed that most
consumers think computer crimes and hacking are the fact of doing business and earn
money online. It also impacts on human behavior and nature because hackers collect
user’s data or information and demand money to restore them which can increase the
amount of frustration. If any company suffer from the cyber-attacks and data breach
issues then they can lose their values in the market and also decrease the consumers’
confidence.
Majority of hackers and criminals are targeted on the consumer’s personal devices and
computer systems which can affect the networks of their systems. Such kind of attacks
and crimes are also affecting the economy of the country and many investigators
identified how such crimes are growing rapidly. Due to computer crimes and data
breach, there is the loss of billions of dollar annually and it is also producing big losses
and organization level (Parker, 2007). The United State is leading in the field of cyber-
crimes and computer misuse and criminals attack the largest business sectors like
banking, social media, and e-commerce where they can earn more money. It is analyzed
that an organization suffers from the financial losses due to computer crimes and
misuse when an attacker steals confidential information and future plans of the
organization. Most cyber criminals collect the bank details of consumers accounts and
the data or information are stolen the user will not trust the organization again and will

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transfer to someone else that could secure their confidential information (Saini, Rao,
and Panda, 2012).
Types of computer crimes and computer misuse
There are various kinds of computer crimes occur in the information and
communication technology which are described below:
Crackers
These consumers are intent on causing loss to satisfy some antisocial motives or just for
fun and they earn money by jamming the computer networks of the small business and
companies (Siponen, and Vance, 2010). In such type numerous virus creators and
generators involve and they first identify the types of networks and servers used by the
users to enter into their system.
Hackers
Such kind of criminals explores the information or data of other computer devices for
education, out of curiosity and for entertainment. In which hackers use the high level
computer systems and software to identify the passwords of the user's peripheral
devices and gain respect from fellow attackers (Taylor, 2012).
Pranksters
Such kind of consumers perpetrates tricks and techniques on another and they mainly
do not intend any long lasting harm. Many criminals collect only a few information like
name, bank details, address and profile pictures.
Spam
It is a very common computer crime that occurs when any user clicks on the fraud links
and traffic signals. Hackers send the spam mails to the users and employees in order to
conduct the commercial advantages which help them to hack their private details. In
last two years, the rate of spam and phishing attack has increased by the 45% because
every user receives the spam mails and rewards links which are produced by the cyber-
criminal and they lost security or privacy of their systems.

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Fraud
It is defined as a dishonest process to make someone to do a loss which could make a
profit for you in any case and every company suffers from the issue of the fraud case.
Denial of service attack
It is one of the common computer crime in which hackers produce the huge quantity
jamming or traffic signals by using botnet process. Hackers use such type of attack to
reduce the security and performance of the consumer’s networks and they easily detect
the password of their data link servers. Recent investigation evaluated that more than
60% of employees in a company use the third party applications and fraud links during
data sharing and communication process which impact on their privacy and data files.
Career criminals
These people earn money from the crimes and hacking and they learn the hacking or
cyber-crimes to detect the passwords of the user’s computer systems. Such kind of
persons extend from the mentally ill do not necessarily engage in the crime as a full time
occupation.
There are many other cyber-crimes and security threats which are associated with the
computers and internet such as malware attack, ransom ware attack, wanna cry and so
on. All these crimes occur when users use the unauthorized serves and networks that
negatively impact on the private information, pictures, videos, and bank details. It also
affects the society and individual behaviors because every user wants to earn money
from both illegal and legal method. In the society, most adults and children use smart
phones and computer systems and when they listen about computer crimes and
hacking then they increase their focus towards hacking. It can impact on parents and
family member’s relationship with their children and recent survey observed that
around 4 people in the group of 5 members use the internet and spam links that
increase the percentage of computer crimes.
Findings and results
In the last three years there are many researcher developed research articles and
provided their view on the computer crimes and computer misuse and they evaluated
that the rate of cyber-crimes has expended by 22% in the year 2014. Between 2015 and

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2017 this rate has increased by 45% due to lack of security and many users were
suffering from the data breach and computer crime (Willison, and Warkentin, 2013).
From recent research, it is founded that most users do not follow the proper
configuration process during generation of computer networks that increase the rate of
cyber-crimes. More than 67% of individuals are facing the issue of hacking and
computer misuse because they use the unauthorized servers to link their personal
accounts. In the United Kingdom, the problem of cyber-crime is very hugged because
every child and adult use the internet connectivity and simple password which can be
easily detected by the attackers. Moreover, the most organization developed and
implemented the security plans and they identified that there are main three key factors
that increase the problem of computer crimes such as fraud links, less security, and use
of the unauthentic system.
Recommendation
It is recommended that the problem of computer crimes and computer misuses can be
resolved by adopting the high level security tools like encryption, cryptography and
robust technology. Encryption is one of the common security techniques which are used
by the organizations to protect the communication servers from hackers. It provided a
platform to convert the data or information into a code that cannot be hacked by
attackers without user permission. It uses the private key to encrypt the signals and
information of consumers and companies and reduced the computer crimes by 22% in
the year 2017. People should update the software and networks on a regular basis
because hackers can easily enter into the system with the help of old software or
processor. Companies can adopt the biometric recognition and two step verification
process to control and monitor the cyber-crimes or data breach. There are a few other
steps which can be used during security plans and strategies which are the following:
 Use only secure networks and authentic servers
 Enable the antivirus and firewall software to detect the malware and traffic
signals from the computer
 Block the spam and fraud mails from the accounts
 Use the robust technology to detect and identify the spam links from the
computer system

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Conclusion
This report is completely based on the impact of computer crimes and computer
misuses on the consumers, society and companies and readers can enhance their skills
in the area of network and security. Computer crime and hacking both are a most
common issue faced by the users and business industries and they impact on the
performance and productivity of their business. This report described the concept of
computer crimes and a literature review is conducted which increase the effectiveness
of the research. With the help of this literature, review researcher achieved the
objective and solution of the research equation. People should ensure that they use only
authentic networks and use backup plans to protect more important files from hackers.

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References
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