The legal concept of cyber crime in Kenya

  

Date Posted: 10/11/2011 12:32:21 AM

Posted By: luyali  Membership Level: Silver  Total Points: 120

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Understanding Cyber Crime in Kenya

Introduction

The crimes committed against computer and the airspace has become bizarre and enormous in Kenya. A few countries have placed a legal framework to combat the crimes in order to install sanity in our media. The computers have proved to be unsafe to conduct business since hackers have become rampant in the world today. Kenya especially lacks specific laws which govern the use of computers .Where gaps exist governments should draw on the best practices from other countries and work closely with industry to enact enforceable legal protections against these new crimes. Self protection, while essential is not sufficient to make cyberspace a safe place to conduct business. The rule of law must also be enforced. Today computers are being misused for illegal activities like e-mails espionage, credit card, fraud, spam’s software piracy and so on which invade piracy and offend our senses. Therefore there is need to take action ensure that computers do not interfere with everything we worked for a fortune. Cyberspace has developed since the 1990s and the impact on the societies has been so fast and enormous, that codes of ethics and the common sense of justice and penal laws have kept pace. In order to establish ethical standards in the cyberspace, penal laws must be enacted with clarity and specificity as possible, and not rely on the vague interpretations in the existing legislation. With cyber laws, perpetrators will be convicted for their explicit acts and not by existing provisions stretched in the interpretation, or by provisions enacted for other purposes covering only incidental or peripheral conduct. Cyber crime laws will also ease the evidentiary burden for law enforcement and prosecutors and courts will be able to participate in the process of establishing precedents and ethical standards more significantly through their ruling

and sentencing. The nature of cybercrime and legal issues are global .Ensuring that the dual criminality requirement is fulfilled may provide for an efficient global prosecution of cybercrimes. Such an approach is especially vital in the investigation and prosecution of attacks against the infrastructure of computer systems and networks.

Terms Used in Cyber Crime

Hacker- someone involved in computer security/ insecurity, specializing in the discovery of exploits in systems or in obtaining or preventing unauthorized access to systems through skills tactics and detailed knowledge.
Phishing- is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication pay pal, e-Bay and online banks are targets. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging and often directs users to enter details at a web-site although phone contact has also been used.
Spamming – the abuse of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk messages. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media instant messaging spam.
Botnet – a jargon term for a collection of software robots or bots they run autonomously and automatically, on groups of zombie computers.
Email spoofing – a term used to describe fraudulent e-mail activity in which the sender address and other parts of the e-mail header are altered to appear as though the e-mail originated from a different source. E-mail spoofing is a technique commonly used for spam e-mail and phishing to hide the origin of an e-mail message.
Cyber terrorism- is unlawful attacks and threats of attack against computers, networks, and the information stored therein when done to intimidate or coerce a government or its people in furtherance of political or social objectives.
Cyber espionage- it involves the unauthorized probing to test a target computer`s configuration or evaluate its system defenses, or the unauthorized viewing and copying of data files.



Cyber Crime in Kenya

Cyber crime is connected with terrorism, drug trafficking, telecommunication that includes internet which is rampant in Kenya.
In Kenya, everyone is in the famous website like face book, twitter but just around the corner, and one or two clicks away the real danger lies in wait. The new websites is ripe with risks. It can be hard to comprehend the level of activity on today`s dynamic web. E-mail is a security attack pipeline into your company. E-mail carries essential messages for the everyday workings of your business. But it’s also a major conduit for security threats that blend Web email, and data attack strategies. A recent survey found out that nearly 90 percent of unwanted emails contain web links to spam or malicious websites, only 1 of every anti-virus products catch blended Web and email attack campaigns and cybercriminals use news, shopping, and other hot topics to disguise spam carrying emails so well that even savvy recipients can`t resist clicking. Unified content security is essential for email protection. Companies that don’t have unified content solutions that include Web, email and data are sitting targets for costly security attacks. One of the challenges a company faces is loss of confidential data such as client names, database passwords, and more. The proportion of cybercrime that can be directly or indirectly attributed to terrorists is difficult to determine. However, linkages do exist between terrorists group and criminals that allow terror networks to expand internationally through leveraging the computer resources, money laundering activities, or transit routes operated by criminals.

Drug Trafficking

Drug trafficking is a business of the rich and powerful. It is network that is difficult to break, a recent forum concludes. Mr Samuel Limo, the coast Provincial Commissioner, warned last month that if urgent measures are not taken to deal with the menace, Kenya which has become a major transit point, might be transformed into a “Narco state” in which the drug trade is a way of life.
The Kilome MP Harun Mwau to prime Minister Raila Odinga Friday asking to temporarily leave government pending investigations into the narcotic trade. He was among four MPS in parliament by internal security Minister George Saitoti on Wednesday as being investigated in connection with their alleged involvement in drug trafficking. Others were Gideon Mbuvi, William Kabogo, Ali Hassan Joho. A Ugandan woman suspected of drug trafficking at Nairobi`s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport June 6, 2010 after she was arrested with cocaine worth Kshs 85 million wrapped in 10 packets and packed in two plastic boxes bearing UN logos Kenya is among African countries which have been turned into playgrounds for international drug traffickers. Drug traffickers are reportedly among the most widespread users of encryption for internet messaging, and are able to hire high-level computer specialists to help evade law enforcement, coordinate shipments of drugs and launder money . Terrorism is not also a new thing in Kenya because earlier this year there was a scenario of a bus going to Kampala in Nairobi and a day that is so memorable to Kenya is the bomb blast in 1998 August in Kenya Nairobi at the US embassy and also in Arusha Tanzania this are modes of crimes backed up by cyber criminals.


Definition of Cyber Crime

In a study on the international legal aspects of computer crime in 1983, computer crime was consequently defined as encompasses any illegal act for which knowledge of computer technology is essential for its perpetration and can be broadly defined as criminal activity involving an information technology infrastructure including illegal access or unauthorized access; Illegal interception.

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