Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Africa's Coming Cyber-Crime Epidemic

Posted by Soulskill on from the hello-sir-madam dept.

jfruh writes "Those Nigerian spam scams of the last decade may have just been the first step in a looming African cyber-crime wave. Africa has the world's fastest-growing middle class, whose members are increasingly tech-savvy and Internet connected — and the combination of ambitious, educated people, a ceiling on advancement due to corruption and lack of infrastructure, and lax law enforcement is a perfect petri dish for increased cybercrime."

5 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. They hijack boats by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    They kidnap people and hold them for ransom. They are the filth of the earth; this is the armpit of the world and why would you expect anything different?

    1. Re:They hijack boats by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      They kill a classroom full of 6/7 year olds. They are the filth of the earth too?

  2. Computers, in the future .. by dgharmon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "There's a great chapter from a 1981 children's book called "World of Tomorrow: School, Work and Play" that imagines how computers, in the future, would give rise to a whole new phenomenon: 'Computer Crimes" .. Computer criminals will "work from home, using his own computer to gain access to the memories of the computers used by the banks and companies"

    I guess it'll be safer to use the BBC Microcomputer in the 'future' ...

    --
    AccountKiller
  3. Re:No Laws, No Service by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So why the hell do we not cut them off from the Internet?

    Here's why, by analogy:

    Statement: The vast majority of violent crime occurs in urban areas.
    Response by your logic: Why don't we carpetbomb all urban areas to prevent violent crime?

    See what you did there?

    Generalization is the hallmark of the non-thinker.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  4. Re:No Laws, No Service by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1, Insightful

    That's not my thinking at all.

    Then you should be more clear to avoid confusion - intent is often difficult to infer from written text, and it is the duty of the writer to ensure his message is clearly stated.

    What I'm saying, these countries don't abide by the laws that the rest of the world abide by, so why do we treat them as equal.

    What are these international laws that "the rest of the world," which includes Russia, China, and the U.S., supposedly abide by? None I've ever heard of.

    What countries like Africa are doing

    Ah, a student of the Sarah Palin School of International Knowledge.

    Explains a lot, actually.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese