Computer Crime

1
Computer Crime

• By FUNG Wai-keung
• Hong Kong Police

2
Reliability of Computers
Money

• Is Web banking reliable?
• Sample case
• Impact large enough to deter large corporations
  to migrate to e-banking\
• Average bank robbery is 14,000 USD, whilst
  average Computer theft was more that 2M USD
  (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners)

2,000,000
3
Profile of a cyber criminal

• crimes of concealment and deceit
• no violence required (A weakling ?)
• needs computer with a little skill
• college kids
• non organized
• no investment needed.

4
Traditional Enforcement

• Evidence used to be paper format, hard evidence -
  finger print, blood sample, witnesses

5
Present Evidence

• Electronic evidence inside a computer
• cyber-trail
• pursuance of crime across continents

0100110100101100
6
Phenomenal with Cyber Crime

• Against the culture to report the crime (Rape ?)
• Company reputation
• Victims dont know they were robbed until
  sometime late in time.

7
Implications for Law Enforcement

• Pacing with technology (broadband, WAP )
• Collecting cyber Intelligence (Non traditional)
• It is anachronism to testify new technology with
  outdated Laws from the past,
• Acceptance of Electronic evidence

8
Serious Cyber Crimes

• Cyber-terrorism
• Information warfare
• Infrastructure Attack
• Electronic Battlefield

9
Cyber-Terrorism

• In 1996 - Times of London reported several London
  financial institutions had paid over 400 M to
  fend off extortionist with logic bomb.
• Some of the proceeds went to Russia.
• No national border boundary

10
Information Warfare

• In 1994 - two hackers downed a computers in a Air
  Force Base in Rome N.Y. for 18 days
• Sensitive Defense projects with sensitive files
  were stolen
• Use ROME computers to attack NASAs Goddard Space
  Flight Center and other defence contractors
  computers

11
Information Warfare

• One was arrested in England
• All stolen data were still missing
• The victim estimated that their Defense systems
  were attacked about 250,000 times a year
• no secret as hackers attacked 130,000 U.S.
  government sites on 1.1 million hosts in 1997
  (National institude of Standards and Technology)

12
Implications for Law Enforcement

• Gathering of evidence (Ethical problem -
• U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy
• Act),
• Transnational
• Time Constrain - legal issue

13
Implications for Law Enforcement

• Non standard interpretation of LAW (Gambling,
  terrorism - Traditional prerogatives of national
  sovereignty)

14
Common HK Cases

• Criminal Damage
• Obtaining Property by Deception
• Publishing Obscene Articles
• Cyberstalking
• Unauthorised Access to Computer

15
Case Study (March 1999)
16
Case Study (May 1999)
17
End