Cyber Crimes and Cyber Security in Pakistan

Cyber crimes refer to criminal activities which are computer or internet-based. It is completely illicit to use a computer or the internet as a goal, tool, or location for any criminal activity. Moreover, street crimes or any other typical crime which involves computers/the internet are also included in this. Pakistan’s government has made many laws to combat these crimes. In this article, I will narrate the details and types of cyber crimes and cyber security in Pakistan. I hope, by the end of the article you will get to know what are the types of cyber crimes. How people use the internet or computer for criminal activities.

There are two categories of cybercrime. The first one is “The Computer as a Target” and the other one is “The Computer as a weapon“. The first one includes hacking, malware assaults, etc. The other one provides credit and debit card fraud, phishing, cyber terrorism, etc.

Types of Cyber Crimes

1. Software Piracy

Software piracy is an illegal act of stealing legally protected software. This stealing includes copying, selling, modifying, or distributing. It doesn’t matter if it is intentional or unintentional. There are major five ways by which people commit the crime of software piracy.

• Software Rental: Renting of software for a temporary use
• Hard-disk Loading: It includes selling computers with illegally downloaded software
• Bulletin-Board piracy: It is an act of keeping software on a bulletin-board service to get copied by anyone
• Soft-lifting: It is an act of buying one licensed software and then loading it onto several computers
• Counterfeiting: It is an act of duplicating unauthorized copies of the software

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2. Hacking

Hacking refers to illegal and unauthorized entry into anyone’s gadget or network system. It is also called cracking. In Pakistan, government websites, mobiles, and computers are major targets for hackers. It is owing to media attention. The mind of hackers is driven by different motivations. It includes vengeance, excitement, greed, fame, and the desire to get restricted information.

There are several types of hackers but here two are the most important.

• White hat Hackers: White hat hackers refer to hackers who are professional and certified. They are employees of either government or organizations. So, technically they are authorized to do this. They do hacking to examine the cybersecurity of their organization.
• Black hat Hackers: They are also knowledgeable hackers but their intent differs. They hack systems with the wrong intentions. Moreover, they have no authorization to do hacking. Mostly, they hack systems to withdraw the data, and information of banks, the government, etc.

3. Dissemination of Viruses

This type of cybercrime includes the virus infection of software by criminals. Its examples are email bombing and Web jacking. Email bombing refers to a crime in which the receiver gets a large number of emails to overflow the space. Mostly on email platforms, spam folders indicate this type of abuse. Web Jacking refers to the act of illegal control of a website by taking over a domain.

4. Vandalism of Computer Systems

It is an act of destroying someone’s data completely. Criminals don’t steal or copy the data rather they destroy it. Cyber vandals destroy a website, create malware that damages the files, or interrupts the system.

5. Terrorism via the Internet and Computer

Internet assaults by predators and terrorists include distributed denial service (DDoS), hate emails, hate websites, attacks on service networks, etc. Child exploitation and adult material on websites are also one of its types. The Internet is accessible almost everywhere. As internet access and speed gain, more children are exposed to the predatory behavior of online pedophiles. Predators get their hands on them by pretending someone else.

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Pakistan’s Cyber Laws

There are plenty laws of regarding cyber crimes in Pakistan related to the internet and computer. Some of these are outlined here in the following.

• Ordinance 2002 about electronic media transmission
• The 2007 law on electronic and cybercrime (ECC)
• Legislation Enacting Measures to prevent cybercrime, 2016

Conclusion

Cyber crimes have risen over time with breakthroughs in technology. Governments, organizations, and people try to secure cyberspace with current technologies. Cybercriminals use the internet and computer for their wrong intentions. Usually, cyber terrorisms target developing and growing countries. There is no global cyber security legislation to prohibit cyber terrorism despite so many attacks on cyber power nations.

Several nations are trying to secure themselves. Regional and international conflicts cause cybersecurity issues in many developing and growing nations like Pakistan. Pakistan has powerful anti-terrorism defenses. Ideally, there should be a National Cyber Command Authority that handles all cyberspace activities. With its effective compliance structure, it may be duplicated at the federal and provincial levels.

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