Transnational Cybercrime: The Dark Web

Background

Cybercrime involves the use of computers and the internet to commit acts against people, property, public order or morality (de Villiers 2011). Some may occupy a computer to steal funds, information or resources. These thefts can be aimed at stealing money, company trade secrets, chemical formulas, and other information that could be valuable to a competing business. Others may commit destructive acts by releasing a malicious virus or worm to harm a computer system.

Cybercrime is an evolving form of transnational crime. The complex nature of the crime as one that takes place in the border-less realm of cyberspace is compounded by the increasing involvement of organized crime groups.

Transnational Cybercrime can be grouped into three categories. (Albanese, 2011).

• The First Category: Provision of illicit goods such as drug trafficking, moving stolen automobiles and artwork, from one country to another for sales, is difficult to trace back to its original owner. (Alderman, 2012). Also included is the transportation and sale of counterfeit goods such as prescription drugs, medication and designer clothing.

• The Second Category: Provision of illegal services, includes human trafficking, with the transportation of sex workers or undocumented immigrants illegally into the country(Shamir 2012). Also included are fraudulent investments and child pornography.

• The Third Category: Infiltration of business or government. (Albanese 2011). This category includes the widely publicized conclusion by American Intelligence agencies that Russians under the direction of the Russian Government, sought to affect elections in the United States by hacking into American computers and selecting revealing information that would help or hurt certain political candidates. According to the United Nations, the annual profits from Transnational organized crime amounts to 870 billion annually with drug trafficking producing the largest segment of that amount.