Cyber Security Issues- Part A – Assignment Sample
In the existing period of time, the use and role of the internet have become extended in the most intensive manner. In the context of exchange of information, the significance of internet has reached to an optimum level. On one hand, where internet has provided some intensive amount of benefits to the human beings, on the other hand, some critical issues related with security and cyber crime has also been emerged quite significantly. Due to misuse of internet, it has become of the most critical threats for the international peace and security . The first and foremost example of evilness of the internet can be revealed in the example of Wikileaks, which has presented some critical to National Security. Wikileaks is one of the most talked website in recent period of time, which engages in the activities of publishing and leaking some confidential information publicly.
The website came into limelight when it published some highly confidential and sensitive information regarding national defense and security of the USA . President Obama has also expressed his concern about the national security after the Wikileaks issues. The founder of the website, Mr. Julian Assange has been alleged as one of the most wanted criminals of the country. This issue of Wikileaks has made the debate more rigorous regarding usefulness of internet in storing, disseminating and exchanging highly sensitive and confidential information. Information leaked by Wikileaks was quite sensitive regarding the sovereignty and political image of the country among the rest of the world. Moreover from the perspective of the strategic formulation also the leakage of confidential information can be proved harmful for the government .
Although, internet has made the information technologies more advanced and useful for human beings, yet people have started to misuse internet application for evil purposes. Hacking of confidential and personal information of others, frauds, cyber crime related to e-commerce, and misuse of information retrieved from internet are some of the critical issues related to enhancement of internet usage among common people. These issues can be considered quite harmful as it leads to harm the sustainability and security of a nation. Increasing rate of cyber crime like frauds and hacking is the matter of concern for the government of the country. In existing period of time, a large portion of internet users consists of young generation. Enticing this generation by offering fake pleasure or advantages is quite easy. On the internet, where there is virtual interaction between two people, tempting young and immature generation becomes quite easy. Cyber criminals take advantage of this phenomena and cheat innocent people quite easily. This is one of most critical issues associated with the use of internet .
Moreover in existing period of time, e-commerce has become quite popular among users for undertaking different type of financial transactions. The use of internet has made the payment of bills and other financial transactions quite easy and hassle free. However, along with increased use of internet for financial transaction, the number of cyber crimes in terms of financial frauds has also been increased significantly. Cyber criminals hack confidential and personal information regarding bank accounts of the user and conduct financial frauds. Such frauds are commenced in so professional manner that spotting of such crimes becomes quite hard for victim. In this way, internet has made financial forgery and frauds so easy for professional criminal .
Along with criminals, internet is widely used by countries for spying activities of other countries. In existing period of time, where internet has become prominent aspect of communication and information sharing, the definition of spying and war has been changed. Nowadays cyber security has emerged as one of the most prominent tasks for the government as now instead of battle field, wars are taken place on internet. Internet is widely used by country to hack confidential, sensitive and defense related information of the rival country. However, such type of cyber spying is not right from ethical point of view and not in the alignment with legal guidelines of international society. From the perspective of international peace and development, this cyber spying can be proved quite dangerous .
In addition to this, another evil from the internet can be judged in terms of social and moral degradation of the society. Internet has become one of the major sources of pornography and other objectionable materials. One can easily find such objectionable material on the internet. Teenagers and children are the easy victims of such kind of objectionable material on different websites. Although, governments of different countries have made some significant efforts for reducing the number of availability of such objectionable material on the internet, yet still it is not easy to keep the internet free from this issue. From the perspective of the social and moral development of the young generation this scenario is not favorable as it directly harms the sustainability of society as a whole.
Another misuse of Internet is done by terrorists for terrifying, and enticing people for fulfilling their evil aims and purposes. Along with sneaking into the security system of a country, terrorists use the internet for threatening mass people. Through internet, they can easily broadcast their views, speeches, warnings, and videos across the world, which can be accessed quite easily by common people. With the help of such types of actions terrorists can be proved successful in preparing an environment of political anxiety, and tension at the international level, which is one of the major objectives of terrorism.
On the basis of the discussion made in the paper, it can be observed that there are some of the crucial aspects related to the usage of the internet which can be misused by cybercriminals in conducting various criminal activities. Although the internet has enhanced connectivity among people and the exchange of information among them, yet information security can be regarded as one of the critical issues associated with excessive usage of the internet. Recent cases of leaking of confidential information related to the national security of the USA by Wikileaks can be considered quite concerning regarding evil usage of the internet.
References:
B. G. Kutaisi. Internet Policies and Issues. (Nova Publishers, 2002).
John D. Haynes. Internet Management Issues: A Global Perspective (Idea Group Inc (IGI), 2002).
Keith Darrell. Issues In Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law (Amber Book Company LLC, 2012).
NSA Speaks Out on WikiLeaks, Cybersecurity. (December 2010). Reuters < https://www.foxnews.com/tech/2010/12/17/nsa-speaks-wikileaks/>
Oren Dorell and Jack Gillum. Pro-WikiLeaks cyberattacks show a growing threat. (Dec 2012). USA today < https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-12-09-1Awikileaks09_ST_N.htm>
Scott Ludlam. Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on internet filtering, Wikileaks and cybersecurity. (May 2013) < https://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/estimates/department-prime-minister-and-cabinet-internet-filtering-wikileaks-and-cybersecuri>