A Study of Reported Cyber-crime in Sri Lankan Police Station

A Study of Reported Cyber-crime in Sri Lankan Police Station

Introduction

1.1  Background of the Study

To be able to function in a good and orderly way, society needs some degree of order and continuity, and therefore safety. Safety and security has long been merely a question of protection against dangers from the physical world. Late last century, ‘cyberspace’ arose alongside the old world (Stol 2008, cited in Leukfeldt, R. et al, 2013). This ‘new’ world is increasingly intertwined with the traditional offline world and therefore safety in cyberspace has become a prerequisite for a well-functioning society. A secure cyberspace means a cyberspace where (and from where) no crime is committed. In this, the police have a task.

Definitions range, for instance, from: ‘any kind of crime that is related to computer systems’, to ‘all crime carried out using a digital component’ (PAC 2008, cited in Leukfeldt, R. et al, 2013 ). It is clear that these definitions differ somewhat in their nature. The first definition is narrow: only crimes that are committed on computer systems, for instance, hacking and spreading viruses, are included, while crimes like fraud or stalking via internet are not. The second definition is broad: crimes whereby the perpetrator has merely used a mobile phone or a satellite navigation system to commit them are also considered to be Cyber-crime.

There are also several definitions that fall between these two extremes. Characteristic of these definitions is that they identify several categories (Van der Hulst & Neve, 2008; Stol et al., 2011; Leukfeldt et al., 2010, 2012; Bernaards et al., 2012; Campman, 2012; Domenie et al., 2013, cited in Leukfeldt et al,2013). The common theme here is that there is a category of offenses that focuses on Information and Telecommunication Technology (ICT) and these offenses are committed using ICT (hacking, destruction of digital information). Furthermore, there are offenses that do not focus on ICT, but in which ICT is fundamentally important to enabling the offence to be (for instance, fraud via internet or the spreading of child pornography).

The main purpose of this study is to find out the relationship between the effectiveness of police department in Sri Lanka and the reported Cyber-crimes. To support this purpose I have done a survey through the questioner to find out whether there has occurred the Cyber-crime in Sri Lanka. And also I have checked how the internet usage, IT knowledge and awareness of the people effect for the Cyber-crimes and is there any relationship between these factors and Cyber-crimes.

To achieve the research main purpose I have used the qualitative interviews and secondary data sources such as police report and newspaper articles.

1.2             Problem Statement

Is there any relationship between the reported Cyber-crime and effectiveness of police department in Sri Lanka?

1.3             Objectives of the Study

Ø  To find out the relationship between reported Cyber-crimes and effectiveness of the police department in Sri Lanka.

Ø  To find out the existing Cyber-crimes reported in police station for the period of 2010 to 2014.

Ø  To find out the various sources those are related to the reported Cyber-crimes.

Ø  To find out the frequently occurred Cyber-crimes in Sri Lanka.

1.4             Scope of the Study

The scope of this study is finding out the relationship between Effectiveness of the police department and Reported Cyber-crime in Sri Lanka. In order to collect the information to achieve the purpose of study data collection from the people in the 5 areas of Colombo district were used. And also author collected the data from the police officers.

The remaining part of the study begins with the literature review that investigates the existing position of Cyber-crimes, effectiveness of police department, the relationship, factor and correlation analysis, finally the findings and conclusion.

Literature Review

Ø  Cyber-crime

Cyber-crime is arranging of illegal digital activities targeted at organizations in order to cause harm. The term applies to a wide range of targets and attack methods. It can range from mere web site defacements to grave activities such as service disruptions that impact business revenues to e banking frauds (KPMG Report, 2014).

There is no consensus in the Sri Lanka on how Cyber-crime should be defined and
which crimes it encompasses exactly. According to the Hulst & Neve (2008) Cyber-crime is concluded as: ‘A common definition and consistent conceptual framework is lacking for this field of crime. A veritable arsenal of terminology is used, sometimes in combination with the prefixes cyber, computer, e-, internet, digital or information. Terms are bandied around, applied randomly, reflect overlap in content or reflect important gaps.’

The Oxford Reference Online defines 'Cyber-crime' as crime committed over the Internet.

Cyber-crime or computer crime is considered to be any crime that uses a computer and a computer network (Matthews 2010).

A basic definition describes Cyber-crime as a crime where computers have the possibility of playing an important part (Thomas and Loader 2000)

The crimes that are committed by computers and networks called Cyber-crimes (Avais, M. A. et al, 2014).

The survey which was done by Leukfeldt, R. et al, (2013) try to get answer for the question which is to what extent is the Dutch police organization able to effectively combat high volume cyber-crime? To get the answer they were look at the police records, analyze the nature of these crimes and look at the functioning of the Dutch police regarding the cyber-crimes what are the strengths and weaknesses of their handling of cybercrimes? Finally they conclude that. Finally they came up with the result of the Dutch police are insufficiently organized to combat cyber-crime and the lack of priority and proper capacity throughout the entire police organization to fight digital crimes results in cyber cases never entering the criminal justice system or leaving the criminal justice process early.

The main factor in cyber-crime increase is the Internet. By use of Internet, cybercriminals often appeal to images, codes or electronic communication in order to run malicious activities. Among the most important types of Internet crimes we can mention: identity theft, financial theft, espionage, pornography, or copyright infringement. The cyber-crimes can be divided into two categories: the crimes where a computer network attacks other computers networks – e.g. a code or a virus used to disable a system, and, the second category, crimes where a computer network attacks a target population – e.g. identity theft, fraud, intrusions (Svensson 2011).

When consider the above various definitions normally we can say Cyber-crimes are any crimes that involve a computer and a network. In some cases, the computer may have been used in order to commit the crime, and in other cases, the computer may have been the target of the crimes. There so many types of Cyber-crimes such as hacking Identity theft, Ransomware, DDoS attacks, Botnets, Spam and Phishing and etc. hacking is the main type of Cyber-crime. It can be defined as a Hacking is the gaining of access (wanted or unwanted) to a computer and viewing, copying, or creating data (leaving a trace) without the intention of destroying data or maliciously harming the computer.

This is the example for hacking (case 01).

Case 1: Hacking in the relational sphere

I was married to [suspect]. On [date] I officially divorced [suspect]. After the official divorce comes the process of determining the alimony. From [date] I noticed that my personal and private data was known to [suspect]. I received a letter from my neighbor with an incriminating statement that I wanted to use in court. This (paper) letter I personally received at another location because I did not want to arouse suspicion. On [date] I digitized the letter and stored it on my laptop. After that, I sent it over a wireless network to my lawyer. On [date] my neighbors called me and told me that my ex, [suspect], stood at their doorstep and wanted to know about their incriminating statement. [Suspect] had information from the letter I had sent to my lawyer. There were also some e-mails deleted from my e-mail account and [suspect] knew about other confidential information about me and correspondence with my lawyer. I suspect that my ex-partner may have had access to my laptop, possibly by hiring a hacker. The reason that my ex-partner would do this is because she wants to manipulate the judicial process by passing on my incriminating statements to her lawyer (Leukfeldt, R. et al, 2013).