The Management of Electronic Crime — Prevention and Containment
| Date | 01 January 1999 |
| Pages | 260-264 |
| Published date | 01 January 1999 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb025892 |
| Author | Peter M. German |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
Journal of Financial Crime — Vol. 6 No. 3 — Electronic Crime
ELECTRONIC CRIME
The Management of Electronic Crime — Prevention
and Containment
Peter M. German
Technology continues to revolutionise our lives.
Instant access to cash, electronic banking, inter-
national wire transfers, the electronic purchase of
securities and instant credit authorisations are but a
few visible examples of this revolution. Soon, first
world countries will be fully immersed in the age
of the 'smart card' — the plastic card which repre-
sents money and embodies the cashless society.
As with technology, changes in transportation
and communications have revolutionised the way
humans travel and interrelate. Discount air fares,
global competition for routes and passengers, and
excursions and junkets to every part of the globe,
mean one thing — the world is no longer beyond
a person's reach. Cellular phones, electronic mes-
saging, encrypted communications and satellite
technology permit instant access for everyone who
succumbs to the temptation and embraces what is
available.
For all the advantages that technology, trans-
portation and communication provide, there are
disadvantages. Criminal organisations have also
embraced these mediums in order to streamline,
expand and profit on a global basis. That is not
new, only the methodology is new. As far back as
1876,
Canada's Minister of Justice, Edward Blake,
bemoaned the increase in transnational crime
when he wrote: 'I fear the carnival of crime is
beginning on our border.' Over 100 years later,
when speaking to Canada's proceeds of crime leg-
islation in Parliament, the then Minister of Justice,
the Hon. Ray Hnatyshyn, described the problem
in the following terms:
'Increasingly we are seeing the effects of crimi-
nal organizations operating both from within
and without this country that are totally dedi-
cated to the commission of crime for profit.
These organizations take advantage of modern
communications, transportation and corporate
structure to frustrate the reach of national legal
systems to amass illicit and illegal wealth.'
Today, in its pursuit of profit, criminal organisa-
tions can transfer value from one person to
another, via electronic cash, with anonymity and
security, and without a clearing mechanism or
effective audit trail. Despite the implications of
such conduct, technology in criminal hands poses
an even more sinister risk. As society, in particular
its vital services, become more dependent on
increasingly sophisticated technology, intrusion
and disruption of its electronic infrastructure has
the potential to wreak havoc within cities and
towns. In the US, a President's Commission on
Critical Infrastructure Protection is now dealing
with the implications of such potential attacks.
Combine cutting edge technology with the poten-
tial misuse of security devices, such as encryption
Page 260
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