What Are Different Types Of Computer Crimes

Some of these include illegal access to protected websites, illegal interception of computer data, unauthorized data interference, and unauthorized interference with the functioning of a computer system, misuse of information technology devices, electronic fraud and internet-related forgery. As per statistics available with the US Uniform Crime Reporting Agency, more than 300 million people around the globe have access to World Wide Web, out of which, more than 1 million are engaged in one or the other types of cyber crime activities.

Although, there are several different forms of cyber crimes in vogue, all these can be broadly classified into four major types of computer crimes. Mentioned below are two important types of cyber crimes.

1. Computer as a target: Objective of this crime is to damage or steal data from a computer at a distant location. Some important types include intellectual property theft, theft of marketing information, and stealing personal information. Creating malicious spyware and viruses with the intention of sabotaging the operating systems also comes under this category. Unlawful access to confidential government records, techno-vandalism and techno-trespassing also come under crimes where computer is a target.
2. Computer used as an instrument of crime: These categories of crimes involve using the computer as a means for committing a crime. Some important examples include fraudulent use of ATMs, credit card frauds, theft of money from transfer accounts through manipulation of computer processes, and frauds committed through internet transactions. Telecommunications frauds also come under this category where the calls are made by one person and the charges are billed to another customer. 

Other two categories of cyber crime include those where a computer is incidental for other crimes and crimes associated with the prevalence of computers.