Chapter 18 Formidable Challenges Posed by Cybercrimes

Throughout the previous chapters, we had explained how computers and networks are relentlessly pushing deeper and deeper into each and every aspect of all human endeavors. We had also seen how every computer and network, whether at home, deployed in businesses, or integrated into the national infrastructure are susceptible to attacks, without exception, both from the outside as well as from within. In this chapter, we will focus on three critical areas of human activity; examine the pre-cise role that computers and networks play in them; assess the potential impacts of cybercrimes in these areas; and analyze their far-reaching consequences. These three areas serve to underscore the formidable challenge that cybercrimes pose to human-ity. We will also examine two other formidable challenges that may be potentially posed by cybercrimes. We are used to the idea that, in general, the impact of a traditional crime will reverberate in society for a reasonable but limited period of time. Also, after suffi-cient time has passed following an incident, the adverse consequences are possibly behind us. This thinking serves as the foundation of the principle of the statute o