If you often use the internet and are familiar with hacking, then you may understand that this can be an internet or cybercrime. Did you know that hacking could also be a white collar crime, though?
White-collar crimes involving digital transactions are becoming more common, and so it is possible that a hacking crime could be a white collar crime as well. Hacking in a corporate environment to take advantage of other professionals could lead to serious, felony charges.
What is hacking?
Hacking occurs when someone accesses another person’s digital information without permission through specialized programming techniques. Hacking itself is not necessarily illegal if you’re hired to do it to test the company’s security protocols, for example, but hacking without permission becomes a crime that you could face penalties for.
Hacking becomes a crime when there is criminal intent and no authority was given to access specific information.
How could hacking be a white collar crime?
Hacking can be used to commit white collar crimes fairly easily. For example, a hacker could hack into a company’s database and hijack banking information or customer credit card numbers. Then, using that data, the hacker could steal money or assets from those individuals.
Hacking could also be used to intercept financial documents or transfers, to forge documents or to commit other forms of theft.
What should you do if you’re accused of hacking into a system?
If you’re accused of intentionally attempting to defraud a company or hack into the company’s information system, it’s important for you to build a defense against those allegations as soon as you can. Remember, the company and prosecution would have to show that you intentionally accessed the information with the intention to commit a crime. They also have to show that you were the person on the other end of the hack. There are strong defenses that you can use to protect yourself, such as showing that you weren’t the only person with access to a computer system or that you don’t possess the skills needed to hack into a database.
Good legal information and support will help you in this case. Take the claims or charges seriously, since these crimes can be harshly penalized.
