Cybercrime

The digitization of society offers new opportunities to commit a crime using ICT. This type of crime is called computer crime or cybercrime. Cybercrime is one of the fastest-growing categories of crime.

Cybercrime is a crime with ICT as a means and a target. This is wider than it seems at first glance. You don’t necessarily have to immediately think of something that is happening on your computer screen. Nowadays many products contain computer chips (think of the OV chip card, telephones and bank cards). All these products can be manipulated by cybercriminals through cybercrime. Whole business systems can also be shut down or manipulated by cybercriminals.

Well-known examples of computer crime are computer trespass (providing unauthorized access to a computer system), manipulating unauthorized computer data, disabling unauthorized computer systems, spreading viruses, stealing someone’s (digital) identity and hijacking data on a computer (ransomware).

Criminal reports can be used to report cybercrime. In civil law, one can claim damages from the person concerned. This means that a company or organization can file a claim against another company, organization or person for compensation for the damage suffered by cybercrime. For example, clearing up the damage and checking for leftover software like rootkits can be a time-consuming task. But it is also possible to obtain compensation for non-material damage, for example, due to violation of privacy or the right to property. Data theft can also lead to compensation.

In practice, the perpetrator of cybercrime will have to be ordered to pay compensation and, if necessary, taken to court. The judge can then hold the computer criminal liable for compensation for the damage caused by the activity in question.

Has your company or organization suffered damage due to cybercrime? Call or email Wouter Dammers from LAWFOX to get an initial estimate of your chances of success.