This week, the world was introduced to its newest hacker! Authorities apprehended the vicious criminal and she now faces possible time in prison. Her name is Hayastan Shakarian and she is responsible for single handedly taking down 90% of the internet access for the entire country of Armenia. The service was down for about 12 hours before it could be restored.
Reader, when I read this, I thought “Good, let Hayastan rot in prison for a while.” I, along with most victims of web attacks, harbor a strong distaste for spammers, people who create/spread viruses, identity thieves, and other cybercriminals! So, when I heard about this incident, I hoped for the worst of punishments.
Now, before we all agree to stone this our dastardly hacker, Mrs. Shakarian, I think I should tell you that she is a 75 year old Georgian (the country not the US state) who has never heard of the internet until her inaugural introduction into the world of “hacking”. While many modern hackers would recommend using a protected home computer for their work, Shakarian used a gardening spade. That’s right! The women severed the internet connection to Armenia while searching for underground copper.
When provided with the later information, it seems kind of harsh to send this woman to prison. However, it got me wondering what the punishments for common cybercrimes are. After some research, it appears that the common cybercriminal does not normally get more than 5 years in the clink. In some cases a 10 year sentence can be issued. At the end of this blog you can review a quick summary that detail these kinds of laws and punishment procured from www.spamlaws.com.
I think this is a joke! These kinds of punishments are not effective. How do we put a stop to this kind of activity? Would harsher penalties help? I see ads that advise against pirating data such as music and movies, and these crimes have significant penalties. Still it has not stopped people from downloading illegal media. Maybe cyber crime is an activity that cannot be contained. Maybe we as users will be subject to their threats forever.
On a brighter and final note… a HUGE bust just took place in the global cyber criminal world. It is referred to as the restock botnet takedown. It is a large ring of botnet systems that were sending information to criminals to enable them to steal information and steal money from several US companies. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen. 1.8 million Computers were infected. 13 people who were associated with the criminal activity were apprehended and are looking at a “civil complaint” for engaging in wire fraud, bank fraud and illegal interception of electronic communications. What punishment will these people receive? What should they receive? Please see http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/13/government-targets-ring-infecting-23-million-computers/ for more information and review the below information on cyber crime. Thanks for reading.
-MJ
http://www.spamlaws.com reports the following:
The penalty for illegally accessing a computer system ranges from 6 months to 5 years. The penalty for the unofficial modification on a computer ranges from 5 to 10 years. Other penalties are listed below:
Telecommunication service theft: The theft of telecommunication services is a very common theft and is punished with a heavy fine and imprisonment.
Communications intercept crime: This is a Class-D crime which is followed by a severe punishment of 1 to 5 years of imprisonment with a fine. Other cyber crimes like telecommunication piracy, offensive material dissemination, and other cyber frauds also belong to this category.
Information Technology Act-2000: According to this act, different penalties are available for different crimes. Some of the penalties are as follows:
Computer source document tampering: The person who changes the source code on the website or any computer program will get a punishment up to 3 years of imprisonment or fine.
Computer hacking: The individual who hacks the computer or computer devices will get an imprisonment up to 3 years or a fine.
Government protected system: An act of trying to gain access to a system which is a protected system by the government, will result in imprisonment for 10 years and a heavy fine.
The introduction of such penalties have lead to a drastic reduction in the cybercrime rates as more and more criminals are becoming aware of the penalties related to them. Spreading the word about the penalties of cybercrime can serve as a deterrent against such crime.
Penalties relating to cybercrime will vary depending on the country and legislation in place.
Summarized websites
http://www.spamlaws.com/cyber-crime-punishment.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13158351
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/13/government-targets-ring-infecting-23-million-computers/
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