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Cybercrime takes many forms

Cybercrime takes many forms

Cybercrime, also known as computer crime, are crimes committed through computer networks or ones that make use of networks. Today, the internet and other digital networks play an increasingly important role, both at work and home. An increasingly large part of all crime today consists of some form of cybercrime.

Almost everyone in Finland has come across cybercrime in one way or another. Common forms of cybercrime are phishing – trying to steal passwords or other private data – and e-commerce scams.

Cybercrime is often divided into two types:

  1. Crimes targeted against computer technology or information networks
  2. Crimes that are committed with the help of information technology and computer networks. These crimes do not target the network itself, but the computer network is used to commit the crime.

Examples of cybercrime

Most cybercrime consists of common crimes such as fraud, drug-related crimes and money laundering. However, information networks provide new ways to pursue those crimes.

Here are some examples of cybercrime:

Crimes targeting computer technology or information networks

  • Data breaches (hacking)
  • Data hijacking committed with malicious software
  • Network attacks, such as denial-of-service (DOS) attacks

Crimes committed with the help of information technology and computer networks

  • Fraud
    • Online romance scams
    • E-commerce scams
    • Payment fraud
    • Nigerian email scams
    • Police officer impersonation
    • Timeshare scams
    • Fake invoice scams
  • Phishing
  • Ransomware
  • Drug-related crime
  • Money laundering
  • Hate crime
  • Sexual violence
  • Crimes related to terrorism, such as disseminating terrorist material, recruiting new members or radicalisation through violence
  • Online gambling

Because the internet and other digital networks work independent of physical location, cybercrime is often international. The criminal and the victim can be in different countries. For this reason, a large part of cybercrime never comes to the attention of the police. Much of cybercrime therefore remains unsolved, and many victims fail to seek help.

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