THE EVOLUTION OF CYBER CRIMES: THE CHALLENGES IN TANZANIA

Henry H. Mwinuka LLM- ICT LAW 2012 ( TUMAINI UNIVERSITY- TANZANIA) [email protected]     What is Cyber crime Categories of cyber crimes Historical development of the concept The position in different legal regimes - In the United Kingdom (UK) - In the Republic of South Africa - In Tanzania  Challenges    The way forward Concluding remarks Bibliography and references   Also E-crime, computer crime, Hi- Tech crime, Various approaches have been made to define the term Cyber crime.  No global consensus in defining the same  Roy Girasa (2002) defines the same to be a generic term covering the multiplicity of crimes found in penal codes or in legislation having the use of computer as a central component.  James Moor (2000) argued Computer technology is logically malleable and thus creates new possibilities for human actions including new possibilities for crime.  Article 1.1 of the Stanford Draft International Convention to Enhance Protection from Cyber Crime and Terrorism (the Stanford Draft of 1999 points out that cybercrime refers to acts in respect to cyber systems.  Therefore Cyber crime is a crime in which the criminal act can be carried out only through he use of Cyber technology and take place only in the cyber realm. Cyber crimes Web jacking Hacking Information Theft E-mail bombing Salami attacks Denial of Service attacks Trojan attacks           -Credit card frauds -Cyber pornography -Sale of illegal articlesnarcotics, weapons, wildlife -Online gambling -Intellectual Property crimes- software piracy, copyright infringement, trademarks violations, theft of computer source code -Email spoofing -Forgery -Defamation -Cyber stalking -Cyber terrorism Crime against Government Crime against property Crime against persons  The evolution of digital technology began around ’s following the advancement in information and communication technology.  The ’s Phase -the introduction of transistor-based computer systems, which were smaller and less expensive than vacuum-tube based machines, led to an increase in the use of computer technology. - offences focused on physical damage to computer systems and stored data.  ’s Phase -the use of computer systems and computer data increased further. See .”Hackers and crackers” -With falling prices, computer technology was more widely used within administration and business, and by the public. - new forms of computer crime were recognized e.g. illegal use of computer systems , manipulation of data and computer-related fraud. - a debate about legal solutions started in different parts of the world. Us Draft Bill to solve the problems.  ’s Phase - personal computers became more and more popular - caused increase in the number of potential targets for criminals. - increasing interest in software, resulting in the emergence of the first forms of software piracy and crimes related to patents. - spread malicious software, and more and more computer viruses were discovered. - Countries started the process of updating their legislation so as to meet the requirements of a changing criminal environment  ’s Phase -The introduction of the graphical interface WWW in the 1990’s. - rapid growth in the number of Internet users led to new challenges. - Information legally made available in one country was available globally – even in countries where the publication of such information was criminalized. - challenging in the investigation of transnational crime was the speed of information exchange. - attempts = UN General Assembly Resolution 45/121 adopted in 1990.  The 21st Century Phase -new trends in computer crime and cybercrime continued to be discovered in the 21st century. - new millennium was dominated by new, highly sophisticated methods of committing crimes, such as phishing and botnet attacks . - offenders became able to automate attacks, the number of offences have increased. - Countries and regional and international organizations have responded to the growing challenges and given response to cybercrime high priority.  The position under the UK Law  The Computer Misuse Act of 1990 -Introduced 3 new criminal offences 1) Unauthorized access to computer material. 2) Unauthorized access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offence. 3) Unauthorized modification of computer material . Note: The Police and Justice Act of 2006 amended some parts of the 99 ’s Act. )ncreased punishment. Section and 3 amended.  The Position in South Africa (SA)  Electronic Communications and Transactions Act No.25 2002. See Section 86. -Unauthorised access -Unauthorised modification of data/malicious code -Denial of service -Unauthorised interception -Computer-related fraud -Pornography, cyber-obscenity and stalking.  The Position in Tanzania - No draft Legislation so far. - Slow in covering the evils coupled with Cyber technology - Part IX of the Written Laws ( Miscellaneous Amendment) Act of 2007, reforms have been adopted in respect to electronic evidence. -Apart from the inadequacy of the law to curb the situation, the gvt have not ratified any international convention on this matter.  Reliance on ICTs -The supply of energy, water and communication services depend on ICTs. -Growing reliance on ICTs makes systems and services more vulnerable to attacks against critical infrastructures. - major risk for military communications. See Kevin Mitnik case. -Strategies must be formulated to prevent such attacks and develop countermeasures.   Number of users -The popularity of the Internet and its services is growing fast. - over 2 billion Internet users worldwide by 2010. - the number of targets and offenders increases as well. - difficult to estimate how many people use the Internet for illegal activities. Missing mechanisms of control - Internet was originally designed as a military network thus easier to control - With the shift from military to civil services -The nature of demand for control instruments has changed. - The absence of control instruments makes cybercrime  investigations very difficult. International dimensions - Many data transfer processes affect more than one country. - If offenders and targets are located in different countries, cybercrime investigations need the cooperation of lawenforcement agencies in all countries affected. - National sovereignty does not permit investigations within the territory of different countries without the permission of local authorities thus posing a challenge.  • Bibliography and References Bainbridge, DI (2008) Introduction to Information Technology Law, 6th Ed, Ashford Colour Press Ltd, Harlow, England. • Hiller, JS and Cohen Ronnie (2002), Internet Law and Policy, Pearson Education, Inc, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA. • Mambi ,AJ (2010), ICT Law book: A Source Book for Information & Communication Technologies and Cyber Law, Mkuki na Nyota, Dar es salaam. • Tavani, HT (2007) Ethics and Technology, 2nd Ed, John Wiley & Sons Inc, USA. • Gercke, M (2012)Understanding Cybercrime:Phenomena, Challenges and L egal R esponse, ITU Publications retrived at www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/cybersecurity/legislation.html • The Computer Misuse Act of 1990 (UK) • The Police and Justice Act of 2006 (UK) • The Electronic Communications and Transactions Act No.25 2002. • The Written Laws Miscellaneous Amendment Act of 2007. Henry H. Mwinuka LLM – ICT Law ( Tumaini University) 2012/2013 ©