1. Introduction:
The first recorded cyber crime took place in the year 1820! That is not surprising considering the
fact that the abacus, which is thought to be the earliest form of a computer, has been around since
3500 B.C. in India, Japan and China. The era of modern computers, however, began with the
analytical engine of Charles Babbage.
In 1820, Joseph-Marie Jacquard, a textile manufacturer in France, produced the loom. This
device allowed the repetition of a series of steps in the weaving of special fabrics. This resulted
in a fear amongst Jacquard's employees that their traditional employment and livelihood were
being threatened. They committed acts of sabotage to discourage Jacquard from further use of
the new technology. This is the first recorded cyber crime
The History of Cyber-Crime
The first spam email took place in 1978 when it was sent out over the ARPAnet, the
Defense Department's network. It was used to flog a new computer. The first virus was
installed on an Apple computer in 1982 when a high school student, Rich Skrenta,
developed the Elk cloner. He hid it on a floppy disk that was needed to boot the operating
system on the computer. For every fifty boots that were made, a bad poem appeared on
the computer screen.
Definition
Cybercrime is criminal activity done using computers and the Internet. This includes anything
from downloading illegal music files to stealing millions of dollars from online bank accounts.
“Offences that are committed against individuals or groups of individuals with a criminal
motive to intentionally harm the reputation of the victim or cause physical or mental harm
to the victim directly or indirectly, using modern telecommunication networks such as
Internet (chat rooms, emails, notice boards and groups) and mobile phones
1. (Law) the illegal use of computers and the internet
2. (Computer Science) the illegal use of computers and the internet
3. (Law) crime committed by means of computers or the internet
4. (Computer Science) crime committed by means of computers or the internet
In general, cybercrime has three categories

2. 1. target cybercrime: the crime in which a computer is the target of the offense.
2. tool cybercrime: the crime in which a computer is used as a tool in committing the offense.
3. computer incidental: the crime in which a computer plays a minor role in committing the offense.
Cybercrimes can be basically divided into 3 major categories:
1. Cybercrimes against persons.
2. Cybercrimes against property.
3. Cybercrimes against government.
International cybercrime
There is no commonly agreed single definition of “cybercrime”. Broadly speaking, it refers to illegal
internet-mediated activities that often take place in global electronic networks.[1] Cybercrime is
"international" or "transnational" – there are ‘no cyber-borders between countries'.[2] International
cybercrimes often challenge the effectiveness of domestic and international law and law enforcement
It has been suggested that this article be merged with Computer crime. (Discuss) Proposed since August
2011
Protecting Yourself from Cyber-Crime
Individuals can protect themselves from credit card fraud by not replying to strange or
unusual emails asking for personal financial information. Shoppers also need to be aware
that any shopping website has an encrypted secure shopping cart when inputting their
credit card information. Parents can keep a closer eye on their children and install filters
to block out unwanted material on the internet, and keep them away from chatrooms to
prevent Internet harassment and block internet predators.
Protection by ICT.
Information and communication technologies (ICT) plays an important role in
helping ensure interoperability and security based on global standards. As
computer crime refers to any crime that involves a computer and a network, cyber
crime refers to criminal exploitation of the Internet.

3. Document cases:
June 2012 LinkedIn and eHarmony had been attacked, compromising 65 million passwords,
30,000 passwords were cracked and 1.5 million EHarmony passwords were posted online. [14]
In January 2012 Zappos.com experienced a security breach after as many as 24 million
customers' credit card numbers, personal information, billing and shipping addresses had
been compromised.[16]