By NOEL MURPHY
INVISIBLE crime is a growing industry as cyber-crooks plot the digital footprint of a growing number of victims, a Geelong academic has warned.
John Lamp said illegal monitoring of personal and business details – such as myki and credit card transactions – could be stolen and used against owners without them knowing, Mr Lamp, senior lecturer at Deakin’s School of Information and Business Analytics said.
“If someone breaks into your home and steals your possessions, it’s a crime you can easily understand. Most crimes are offences against property or the person,” he said on academic website The Conversation.
“As we move to the information economy, criminal activities are also moving into the information economy.
“What is more worrying is increasing evidence of largely invisible crimes.“Often all these bits and pieces of information are completely innocuous until they are put together to create digital footprints of the victim’s movement within our social fabric.
“The victim often has no idea this is happening until the information is used against them. Information is the one item that can be stolen without the owner being aware at the time of the loss of property.”
Mr Lamp said information such as train ticket and petrol purchases could be used by criminals to determine travel routes and frequency, cell phone data to record who victims contact and for how long, and travel details.
He said laws need to be broadened to acknowledge the crime that might be incurred as a result of parties accessing seemingly insignificant personal details.
“As a society we have embraced the emerging information economy,” Mr Lamp said.
“As with sharing the keys to our house or car, we perceive a vulnerability in voluntarily sharing our passwords.
“We are beginning to perceive the same vulnerability with the digital footprints we necessarily generate in our day-to-day activities.”
