Nowadays, E-commerce is a fundamental part of marketing activity. Most of e-commerce proceeds on the websites of publicly traded companies. A challenge that e-business face is that vulnerably experience e-crime, also known as cybercrime. As Internet technology continues to rise throughout the world, the threat of cyber crime also grows. While some of these crimes are relatively harmless and commonplace, others are very serious and carry with them felony charges. Various types of Cyber crimes that can be encountered over the net are spam, fraud, cyber terrorism and so on. Whether for individuals, companies or governments, cybercrime has become a big problem.
Spam is defined as unsolicited junk e-mail. It is used by chain mailers, forger and some others who selling dubious products. “The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has identified 12 types of scams that are most likely to arrive in consumers’ e-mail boxes. The “dirty dozen” are: business opportunities, bulk e-mail, work at home schemes, health and diet scams, effortless income, free goods, investment opportunities, cable descrambler kits, guaranteed loans or credit on easy terms, credit repair, and vacation prize promotions”(Phommalinh). Meanwhile, the most common type of cybercrimes occurred in spam is virus which spread by e-mails. When one receive an e-mail with a virus, the default settings of your computer do not have any action required to resist virus. At that point, virus can follow instructions and does anything whatever the programmer wants it to do. The typical action that virus does is installing itself in one’s computer’s system, infecting critical operating files, searching cached HTML and mailing them to others.
Computer fraud refers to the fallacious misrepresentation of fact that conveys with an intention of inducing another to do or refrain from doing something that will ultimately lead to some major kind of loss. Certain computer viruses can log keystrokes on your keyboard and send them to hackers, who can then take your Social Security number, credit card number and home address. This information will be used by the hacker to achieve his own goal. From my own experience, my computer got a virus last year. At the beginning, the system run much slower and it could not be deleted due to antivirus program. Two days later, the virus completely made my system break down. After I reset my computer, I found that my password of MSN has been changed by someone else. Fortunately, there is no loss on my bank account. In addition, hackers can collect one’s personal information by a fake website. These websites are absolutely same as official sites. Checking the website before any payment is a good way to protect identity information.
Due to the increase in cyber terrorism, the hacking into or crashing of official websites, government officials and Information Technology security experts have recently achieved a significant improvement of critical systems, in order to better protect information sensitive sites. “Many of the attacks are serious and costly. The recent ILOVEYOU virus and variants, for example, was estimated to have hit tens of millions of users and cost billions of dollars in damage. The February denial-of-service attacks against Yahoo, CNN, eBay, and other e-commerce Web sites was estimated to have caused over a billion in losses. It also shook the confidence of business and individuals in e-commerce” (Denning).
In October 2004, a criminal gained access to the ChoicePoint Inc.’s database and thereby steal 145,000 credit card files before leaving the system. The criminal did not have to crack the system with hacking procedures; however, he simply lied about his identity through the phone call and on a few forms. Afterward, the data was simply handed over to him. As a normal course of business, companies such as ChoicePoint Inc. distribute this type of information for a price to individuals for legitimate business purposes. In this case, the criminal made up false information about himself and was given access to the files. In response to the theft, ChoicePoint said it was "re-credentialing" business clients to be sure they can access only the database where they are entitled. It planned to require site visits for business customers accessing sensitive consumer database. The company said private investigators and some debt collectors would be allowed to see only "truncated versions" of Social Security numbers, driver's licenses and credit reports.
Cybercrime is harmful to marketing operations and to a company’s stock market performance. Corporate managers must consider e-risks, which is potential problems associated with e-business. Precautions must be taken against e-fraud, malicious hackers, computer viruses, and other cybercrimes. It is important to take measures to punish cybercrime. However, companies generally find it necessary to employ multiple intrusion detection techniques to efficiently and effectively detect electronic crimes. Intrusion detection techniques consist of many complex parts and programs which depend on business. Since prevention techniques are fallible, business firms should also establish procedures for investigation and recovery from cybercrimes after they occurred. Hiring qualified professionals can effectively protect corporate from cybercrime. Moreover, cooperating with some internet security organizations is also a good way.
For individuals, one of the best ways to keep attackers away from your computer is to apply patches and other software fixes when they are available. By means of regularly updating your computer, you block attackers from being able to take advantage of software flaws that they could use to break into your system. Several types of security software are necessary for basic online security. Security software essentials include firewall and antivirus programs. A firewall is usually your computer's first line of defense-it controls that can communicate with your computer online. The most importance is that being cautiously when sharing personal information such as your name, home address, phone number, and email address online.
In conclusion, internet and computers have brought us lot of convenience. However, every coin has two sides. We are all at increasing risk of suffering cybercrime. To protect our asset, we should take care of individual information by any means we can use.

Reference
Denning, Dorothy E. "CYBERTERRORISM." 23 Apr. 2000. Web. 27 May 2012. <http://www.cs.georgetown.edu/~denning/infosec/cyberterror.html>.
Phommalinh, Sylvia. "Spam and Cyber Crime." Spam and Cyber Crime. Web. 27 May 2012. <http://www.uni.edu/ihsmun/archive/sc2005/Spam.htm>.
PEREZ, EVAN. "For Big Vendor of Personal Data, A Theft Lays Bare the Downside ChoicePoint Struggles to Gauge How Much Information Fell Into Wrong Hands The Model: 'Small-Town Life'"
Http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=The+Model:+%27Small-Town+Life.%27+Wall+Street+Journal+(May+3)%3A&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CGAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmba6113-technology-enabledinnovation.wiki.usfca.edu%2Ffile%2Fview%2FChoicePoint%2Bidentity%2Btheft.doc&ei=lc7CT-fEDKTG6AGL2fXeCg&usg=AFQjCNHgZTNqC4HRMo0xY6AB_jMkAX17tQ. 3 May 2005. Web. 27 May 2012.
Sherman, Mark. "Cyber Crime." Http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/fjc/snobull5.pdf. Aug. 2000. Web. 27 May 2012.