Computer Crime: New Kind of Professional Crime

Professional criminal activity is illegal activity of the person possessing corresponding experiences, skills, methods and instruments, person considering this activity as basic occupation, and main or additional source of money income.
According to A. Gurov, criminal professionalism is criminal occupation, source of means for the criminal; it demands necessary knowledge and skills for achieving the ultimate goal; it causes certain contacts with antisocial environment; it defines stable kind of criminal occupation. Criminal professionalism gives an opportunity to prepare, commit crime and cover up traces and, as a rule, to avoid the criminal liability, to have constant income.

Criminals quickly adapt to new kinds, forms and methods of entrepreneurship. They use conditions of the developing market and new technologies on criminal purposes.

As an example they may take large money thefts using counterfeit bank documents, fake securities, and illegal use of electronic means designed for accessing bank accounts, office equipment (computers, fax-modems, copying devices).
The analysis of criminal actions committed lately with use of computer technologies, and also numerous interrogations of bank employees allow to allocate the most typical ways of computer crimes.

First, computer crimes committed by unauthorized access to bank databases by means of telecommunication networks are becoming more and more widespread.

Second, there was practically no computer crime lately which would have been committed by a criminal alone. Moreover there are some cases when organized criminal groups hired hackers. They had a separate protected premise equipped with the latest computer facilities so that they could carry out grand money thefts by illegal penetration into computer networks of large banks.

Third, the majority of computer crimes in bank sphere are committed with direct complicity of commercial banks employees. Results of the researches conducted with bank personnel practice, show that share of such crimes approaches to 70%.

Fourth, the increasing number of computer crimes is committed with use of opportunities of the global computer network Internet. So, the accountant of Simferopol department of a commercial bank entered computer network of the bank and issued a payment order according to which she transferred sum of 45,000 UAH to account of a company (Sevastopol). Her accomplices transferred the specified sum for converting in a local bank in which the criminal with the help of counterfeit documents received 10861 USD, and replaced fake operation with real in memory of computer. Also in 1999 the protection system of The State Export-Import Bank of Ukraine blocked attempts of the unauthorized penetration into its network. During secret search, Security Service officers established the source network of the attack and the hacker was identified. He explained that he had wanted to get access to the Internet, and his partner had given him an IP-address for free use of the Internet. It was found out, that he was "framed" by the professional criminal.

Criminalists frequently define computer criminality as the following:
1. Сrimes in sphere of computer information:

- Illegal interference with operation of computers, systems, networks and communications;
- Theft, misappropriation, extortion of computer information or its capture by swindling or abusing official position;

- Violation of automated electronic computer operating rules;

2. Crimes committed with help of computer (thefts, scams, etc.)

Fighting criminal professionalism requires implementation of economic, social and legal measures along with active participation of public. Some specialists suggest creating conditions when crime commitment would be economically unprofitable. Others say it is necessary to make retribution for the committed crimes favorable to the state and victims, but it involves reforming the entire penal system…

Formation of democratic lawful state puts forward new requirements to law enforcement bodies. The safety of society is impossible without essential improvement of experts training in educational institutions. The level of disclosing of computer and related crimes and also their further investigation still remains unsatisfactory.

Features of crimes commitment in sphere of computer information, high rates of its development and modifications, and also obviously insufficient legal regulation of information relationship have led to situation when there are no techniques of gathering proofs and investigations of such crimes, no uniform approaches to their suppression and investigation so far.

Increase in law enforcement bodies’ efficiency on revealing, disclosing computer crimes and making offenders responsible is one of the basic directions on preventing crimes of the considered group. Thus high latency and low rate of these crimes disclosure predetermines impunity of persons which have committed computer crimes and promote the growth of computer criminality. Realization of this direction demands officers with high qualification and specialization.