Quiz Of The Week: Tech Cops And Robbers

The arrival of computers has created new crimes – and the police and justice systems have had to adapt. Our quiz follows just what has been happening.

Thirty years ago, computer crime existed, but the justice system had no way to handle it until crimes such as computer misuse were defined. While cyber criminals have evolved ever more sophisticated attacks, the police have set up new units to respond.

Watching the detectives

The cliches have been established fast. Hackers are alienated loners on the outside of society – even now most of them are working 9 to 5 in illicit “jobs” pursuing profits.

The police, of course, are overworked and harassed but dedicated, while we expect the judiciary to be completely bemused by technology and politicians to be at work on conflicting and ineffective legislation.

It’s worrying how often there is an element of truth in these received ideas – but it’s also heartening how much progress has been made. There are reasonable definitions of what constitutes a computer crime and hackers are regularly brought to justice.

In many ways cyber crime is on its way to becoming a unexceptional area of law enforcement.

And yet, along the way, there have been some pretty unusual cases and more are still emerging with the rise of cyber-activism, along with government-backed espionage and attacks.

Our quiz picks out some of the most important events and laws of the last few years, including crimes, and the new laws designed to deal with them.

How well do you know the field?

Try the quiz!

And if you like it, try some others…