Protecting personal info crucial, says local expert

By Jeff Labine

The Internet is becoming a metaphorical dark alley, filled with dangers that might lead to the growing problem of cyber crime.
Ken Orford, owner and operator of Quinte Technical Services, says he hasn’t run into much crime but has seen his share of the Trojan virus that can leak personal information. Orford removes Trojan viruses from computers and creates firewalls for wireless networks. The Trojan virus can infect a computer from something as simple as an email attachment.
“I did clean off a guy’s computer, it was getting slower, and slower. It was practically unusable,” said Orford.
“In a hidden folder [he] obviously had a Trojan, which was making the computer act like a server. He had over 75,000 zip files and most of them were infected with another Trojan. He didn’t even know about this. It was very difficult to find the folder. Your computer can be turned into a server.”
Trojan, or also known as a Trojan Horse, is a computer virus that performs undesired or unauthorized functions. The program hides under the disguise of a hidden message or program, which is why it is called a Trojan Horse.
A definition of a cyber crime, according to the RCMP website, is any criminal act that involves using a computer to commit a felony. Identity theft, Trojan horses, logic bombs, hate speech, child pornography and data diddling are some of the various crimes that are committed.
Detective Inspector Mike Graham of Belleville City Police says bullying by any means is still an offence.
“If I start bullying you over the Internet, the charges would probably be stalking, mischief, threatening: that kind of stuff,” said Graham.
“They are offences whether they are on the Internet or not. The Internet is just another tool to do a threat. If it hits the definition of harassment in the criminal code, its just using the Internet to do it.”
Fraud on the web and identity theft is one of the more common types of cyber crime. A person hacking or gaining access to another persons account has the opportunity to see sensitive information says Graham.
“There is a huge problem with fraudulence on the Internet. It can be difficult, but of the help with the service providers we have had some success,” says Graham.
The law regarding hate speech applies just as much in written text as it does online. Sections 318 and 319 of the Criminal Code states “it is a criminal offence to advocate genocide, publicly incite hatred and willfully promote hatred towards an identifiable group”. Anyone of colour, race, religion or ethnic origin is categorized as an identifiable group. Under the Criminal Code, a judge has the right to remove any and all hate propaganda from a computer.
The Internet has sites that have adult themes. Though pornography is not necessarily illegal, there are some types that are, and child pornography is one of them.
According to cybertip.ca, a Canadian national tip line for reporting online exploitation of children, there are numerous methods for trying to get children to participate in inappropriate sexual behaviour. The website gave an example of how a 13-year-old girl had her MSN messenger account hacked and to gain access to it again, she was required to expose herself on a webcam to the offender. Fortunately, police intervened and helped her to recover her account without complying.
Accessing, distributing and creating child pornography is a criminal offence in Canada. The Criminal Code has been amended to ensure that every way possible, distributing child pornography material is an illegal offence; from sending emails to posting on a website, all are crimes and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.