With the increased numbers of hacking and computer crimes committed every year, there are more and more social concerns associated with the crime. E-mail hacking and password hacking stand out as very strong examples of such. Although some forms of hacking can be quite harmless, other forms are considered to be computer crimes and, in some cases, can even be tried as a Federal offense.
Hacking can be committed in order to carry out some of the most common forms of cybercrimes such as: identity theft, fraud, harassment, cyberstalking, denial of services attack, information warfare, or even cyberterrorism.
In cases of identity theft or fraud, most times the perpetrator will hack into a secure account illegally as a means to collect another person’s private information and use it to spend the victim’s funds, to obtain the victim's funds, or to obtain funds or materials under a false identity. The criminal(s) will execute password hacking by hacking into the victim’s account in an effort to obtain their password to access the victim's e-mail account, bank, information, etc.
Oftentimes, spies will commit espionage by password hacking into the government computer system in order to obtain passwords to classified documents. One of the best ways to avoid becoming a victim of password hacking is to select an obscure password and to always log-out of an account.
Password hacking utilized to gain access into a victim's email account is also referred to as e-mail hacking. E-mail hacking can make the victim feel especially violated due to the private subject matter that is usually contained in an e-mail inbox (i.e. personal messages, financial information, work-related material, etc.). Although this e-mail hacking could be used for financial gain, e-mail hacking can also be used a way to harass or to commit cyberstalking.
Many times, criminals who harass or commit cyberstalking become involved with bothering their victim with unwanted e-mails, messages, photos, videos, etc. This form of harassment can turn into cyberstalking when the stalker continues to constantly harass their victim, even using this personal information to start physically stalking them.
Growing concerns can even relate to the government and forms of cyber threats that they receive. If a threat is imposed on a government, then it will affect the citizens as well. Cyberterrorism is a constant threat against the government when dealing with their country’s concerns through cyber space. The government is constantly looking for ways to combat these threats and to ensure safety within the public when it comes to cyber security.
