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Cybercrime

Cybercrime is any crime that involves a computer, the internet or related technology.

Many traditional crimes are now committed online. Basically if the behaviour is unacceptable offline, it is also unacceptable online.

Examples of cybercrime could include:-

  • hacking
  • malware
  • viruses and spyware
  • ransomware
  • distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks
  • spam and scam emails
  • phishing emails
  • identity theft
  • online fraud and scams, for example travel frauds, pension frauds
  • copycat websites
  • cyberbullying
  • cyberstalking
  • safe social networking
  • online radicalisation
  • child sexual exploitation
  • Sexting

How to protect yourself from cybercrime

There are lots of simple steps you can take to improve your online safety and reduce your risk of becoming a victim of cybercrime.

Derbyshire County Council and Derbyshire Constabulary have developed the Digital MOT, which is a cyber security assessment. In less than 5 minutes, we'll tell you the most important things you can do to protect yourself online.

Here are some websites that contain good advice and information about how to stay safe online:

  • Get Safe Online is supported by Derbyshire County Council, Derbyshire Constabulary and Derby City Council
  • Cyber Aware is a government-backed website based on expert advice from the National Cyber Security Centre
  • Childnet and NSPCC are national charities providing expert online safety advice for young people, parents and teachers
  • Parent Zone provides online safety advice for parents
  • East Midlands Cyber Secure contains police online safety videos, with British Sign Language

Useful documents

Documents are published in either Portable Document Format (PDF) or standard Microsoft Office formats. You can download software to view these documents for free if you are unable to view them.