To many involved in criminal dense, cybercrime is the bane of the 21st Century. It accounts for millions in ill-gotten earnings each year. Vast criminal networks spanning the globe are now actively involved in cyber crimes of one sort or another. The potential for future earnings is almost unlimited and the relative safety that the Internet provider cyber criminals mean that it is extremely hard to catch. Victims mount up. However, things were not always this way.


In the early days of the cybercrime, the world of cybercrime was seen as a rather harmless prank by computer geeks showing off how much they knew about the working of computer networks. It was tantamount to a dare, you say it cannot be done and we will show you how it can. Relatively little harm was intended and criminal defence lawyers did not have their work cut-out showing this. Indeed, few if any specific criminal laws were on the statutes that regulated cyber crimes in the early days and most of the criminal defences were bog-standard.

As times changed, so did the nature of the cybercrime. More technological advances and cheaper access to hardware and software meant that the Internet became a domain anyone could access. The more sinister fraud came to the attention of the authorities. Child-related crimes, such as child pornography, became known widely. With the escalation of the criminal element of the cybercrime, new laws were needed and specialist criminal defence lawyers were required.

However, even only as recently as the last five years cybercrime was still controllable. Cybercrime was not a major revenue earner for criminal gangs in the late 20th Century. It has only been since the millennium that things have changed.

Nonetheless, without globally implement criminal sanctions in place against the actions of cybercriminals, the ultimate criminal defence still exists, namely jurisdiction. Unlike a crime committed in the real world, it is physically possible for a criminal to be in two places at once when it comes to cyber crimes. You can commit a crime in the US while you sit comfortably in your apartment in Russia. Consequently, universal laws will be needed if a criminal defence mechanism is going to be put in place to combat these growing problems.

Fortunately for the cybercriminal, another perfect criminal defence still remains, the apathy of government to unite to combat this growing problem.