Cybercrime is an urgent issue

The term crime in itself is offensive and provocative. When any crime occurs on the ground, the competent authorities move and pursue the perpetrator to arrest and convict him. Thus you take the victim’s right.

With the spread of #technology and modern means of communication, the environment was opened to illegal behavior, known as cybercrime, which, like any other crime, consists of a perpetrator, a criminal instrument, and a victim. He used the #Internet as a double-edged sword to destroy him morally, personally, and politically. The goals of the “#digital_criminal” vary between achieving material gains, theft, defamation, satisfying instincts, and many other psychologically terrifying goals.

Because some societies and most individuals conceal this unethical and harmful behavior, for fear of scandals or lack of confidence in the effectiveness of competent authorities, CyberX published a form that includes questions about exposure to such crimes. Studying its types and ways individuals deal with it. We also analyzed the data on several levels while ensuring the confidentiality of the identity of the participants.

The ages of the victims range from 16 to 50 years, male and female, and they were exposed to crimes of #extortion, account theft, racism, and harassment, to which 29% of respondents were exposed, which is a high percentage compared to the rates of other crimes. It was found that 40% of those exposed to crimes of #electronic_harassment are females, as they are a vulnerable group and easy to target because the perpetrators believe that they will submit to the threat for fear of defamation. They resort to deceit and manipulation to achieve goals and instincts that direct them to them.

However, according to the form, 70% did not report what they were exposed to, and 32% of the victims reported it to authorities specialized in combating #information_crimes. According to the answers we obtained, “some did not reach any results despite reporting.” Two-thirds of the participants in the questionnaire were unable to tell their families for fear of lack of understanding and to avoid blame. While a third turned to a friend or relative to relieve themselves of their distress or to try to find solutions. Also, 72% of the respondents responded that they did not suffer from any psychological problems after being exposed to one of the types of #cybercrimes, and here it must be noted that with the tremendous development witnessed by societies, acknowledging psychological problems is still prohibited and unwelcome, in addition to the inability to diagnose Mental illness individually. While 35% of the victims admitted to suffering psychological conditions, very few of them sought advice from a specialist doctor or received treatment.

Two-thirds of respondents also took action personally to avoid exposure to similar problems in the future. About 20% did not take any measure, considering that “ignoring it is the best solution.” Only 13% sought help from experts to find out the best means of prevention to protect themselves from such crimes.

Ignoring the criminal motivates him to continue committing crimes. Failure to be careful and take all necessary precautions makes it easier for any blackmailer, hacker, or harasser to reach his prey more easily. Because #cybercrime is an urgent issue that cannot be postponed, 80% of the countries in the world have signed legislation to combat and reduce #cybercrime. Including all member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. While 5% of countries have not yet approved it. 14% of them do not have any legislation. As for the countries that do not have data regarding penalties for cybercrime, it is 2%, most notably Russia.

Among the personal means of combating cybercrimes, monitoring children when they use social networking sites is essential. Another precautionary measure is to avoid sharing highly private information and photos, regardless of the level of trust in the other party. Refrain from dealing with accounts that are unknown or have pseudonyms or characteristics. In addition to making sure to cover the devices’ camera as long as it is not being used, because cybercriminals have the ability to control and access the camera, open it, and record what you see, even if the phone is turned off. And of course, install reliable applications to protect the device from hacking. Encrypting personal information on any user’s website.

Most importantly, communication with the official authorities responsible for combating #cybercrimes should not be overlooked. Even if the victim is afraid of exposing the matter in front of her family, especially if the criminal possesses a list of relatives’ numbers, and uses it as a threatening tool, the competent authorities will be able to take legal measures against the perpetrator to prevent him from continuing his harassment and force him to delete all the information in his possession, informing only the victim and no one else of the results. The case is completely confidential.