The technology has given wonders for the ease of humanity, but unfortunately, this increase has increased the criminal acts globally. How has the rise in information technology affected illegal activities globally, and how can they be controlled? The answers to these questions will be discussed further in this article.
The following article constitutes the types of crimes committed through technology and how to overcome them.
How Has The Increase In Information Technology Affected Criminal Activities Globally, And How To Reduce Them?
Firstly, it is necessary to understand what the factors that generated the increase in criminal acts are? We often consider the benefits technology has provided us to make our life more convenient. The idea behind every invention is to serve humanity, not the promotion of criminal activities. Despite all the positivities, there are some persons with the evil minds who bring the negativity out of every good deed. Illegal activities that are performed with the help of technology are termed as Cybercrime. Computers and other electronic devices are used for the implementation of crimes. There are many types of Cybercrimes, and in all cases, the action should be taken against the responsible. Factors influencing a person to commit are briefly discussed below:
USE OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA
Criminals use social media applications to locate their prey. People nowadays are used to sharing too much information on social media platforms, such as where are they going? With whom are they spending there most of the time and where they are planning to go for a vacation? All the information on social media helps the criminals to target the person and analyze his/her weaknesses.
ONLINE SHOPPING CRIME
Online shopping is the latest trend in shopping in this pandemic situation. Everyone prefers to stay at home and be safe. Such a condition has triggered the online scammers to activate fraudulently. The buyer places an order on a website based on the display picture and pays the price online, but the delivery never happens. Only a few people report such cases to police.
YOUNG PEOPLE
People of age range 12-25 are more susceptible to cybercrime acts. These are the immature persons who are unaware of the criminal tactics of trapping victims. They are victimized by offering a guaranteed future with the exchange of money.
PROTECTION FROM CYBERCRIME
Using the internet and social networking websites, it is not easy to secure ourselves completely. However, the implementation of some precautionary measures will help in protection to some extent.
- Protect the computers from viruses and ransomware by installing security firewalls. It helps to secure the personal and financial information in the system and warns about the possible threats.
- Set strong passwords and avoid using the same passwords on different websites. Changing the passwords regularly also helps to secure the privacy of accounts.
- Keeping the laptops, computers, and other information systems updates with the latest software. Criminals will not be able to gain flaws to access systems.
- Manage and secure the social media account with all the possible privacy options. Allow personal information only to close friends and family members.
- Teach and inform young kids about criminal acts and how they should react in such a situation.
- The use of a VPN will help a person to secure from identity theft. The criminal will not be able to access personal information.
USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO CONTROL CRIMINAL ACTS
Technology has been beneficial in every aspect. Authorities do use its applications to catch and trace criminal activities. Technology has strengthened law enforcement to locate criminals.
- Face recognition technology is used by law enforcement. Capturing an image of a thief from a video of a public place, then these photographs and videos are further used for tracking criminals.
- Biometric identification is used to trace criminals by the analysis of fingerprints, iris recognition, heartbeats, wrist veins, and voice recognition.
- Artificial intelligence has enabled the introduction of the robot in several fields, such as sending robots to places where officers can not reach to capture the incidents in the future.
The brief discussion mentioned above describes how has the increase in information technology affected criminal activities globally and what precautionary measures can be taken.
