Tenth Crime Congress Tackles Cyber-Sabotage.

Hacking into unauthorized sites with the help of sophisticated techniques to mimic passwords or bypass other security measures has become a popular cyber offence. So popular, in fact, that it has become the basis of movie megahits and a source of counter-culture heroes. But it is no laughing matter. Once hackers have access, they plant viruses, post insulting messages or steal valuable data, including credit cards and personal information. Cyber-criminals roam the virtual world seemingly at will, committing fraud and computer sabotage, trafficking in drugs and child pornography, or cyber-stalking.

Since the Ninth Crime Congress in 1995 when Internet crime was not included on the agenda, the world has begun to change in profound ways. Compared to 26 million users five years ago, today more than 200 million communicate, shop, pay bills, do business and even meet on-line. And as the Internet has mushroomed, so has its misuse. Cyber-criminals zip undetected across international borders, lurk behind inexhaustible "links", stash digital evidence in "data havens"--countries lacking laws or expertise to track them down--and then vanish just as easily into thin air.

Cyber-criminals sabotage computers to gain economic advantage over competitors or threaten to damage systems for purposes of extortion. They tamper with data or operations directly or employ "viruses" or "worms" to stop systems cold, lift data or wipe out hard disks. Randomly targeted computer viruses are now transmitted instantly to tens of thousands of users via networks, often concealed within seemingly innocuous e-mail.

About $500 million per year are lost by consumers just to hackers stealing credit and calling card information from on-line accounts, according to recent estimates. But not all the costs can be measured in terms of dollars or euros. Offenders have used e-mail and Internet "chat rooms" to stalk women or prey on the vulnerable. Pedophiles win the trust of children on-line and then set up face-to-face meetings aimed at exploiting or abducting them.

With this background, the Tenth UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, in its Vienna Declaration on Crime and Justice, has decided to develop action-oriented policy recommendations and to work towards "enhancing our ability to prevent, investigate and prosecute high-technology and computer-related crime."

The Declaration also urges a speedy conclusion of negotiations on the draft United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. It establishes 2005 as the target for achieving a significant decrease in trafficking in persons, especially women and children, as well as in the illicit manufacturing and trafficking of firearms. States should also aim for 2002 as the target year by which they review and improve policies and practices regarding crime victims.

The Congress also stressed the urgency of an effective separate international legal instrument against corruption. Member States undertook to take measures to prevent and combat terrorism and to fight other forms of transnational organized crime, including illegal trafficking in people, and financial offences such as money laundering.