An interview on Cybercrimes and Investigation was organized by the Forensic Sciences Club and Technology Club of Uskudar University. Prof. Dr. Serhat Özekes, Head of the Computer Engineering Department at Uskudar University, attended the interview as a speaker.
Prof. Dr. Serhat Özekes; “A new accomplice has been added to the crimes committed”
Prof. Dr. Serhat Özekes addressed the good and bad aspects that came with the introduction of electronic devices into our lives; “As required by our era, advancing technology has begun to be present in every moment of our lives. Along with this, a new accomplice has been added to the crimes committed; ‘electronic devices.’ With the entry of electronic devices into our lives, a witness emerged who knows a large part of our lives and can even store this information. Although these witnesses are sometimes misused by criminals, they are mostly turned into an opportunity by IT professionals who want to identify criminals who do not know that they leave digital evidence behind or cannot destroy it, thus ensuring the detection of crime and criminals in the digital environment.” he said.
“Most types of crimes can be committed using an information system.”
Prof. Dr. Serhat Özekes talked about which crimes fall under the scope of cybercrime and made evaluations about the legal status of cybercrimes committed in our country. Özekes said, “The concept of cybercrime is a general name given to crimes that target the security of an information system, its connected units, and users, and are committed using an information system. The most important feature distinguishing cybercrime from other crimes is that it cannot be committed without an information system. Most types of crimes can be committed using an information system. However, this does not make every such crime a cybercrime. There is a convention called the ‘European Convention on Cybercrime.’ According to the convention, cybercrime is defined as unauthorized and unlawful entry into an information system and all subsequent actions. The target of cybercrimes can be an individual, that individual’s assets, or the individual’s system itself. Actions such as damaging by entering the system, adding data, preventing system use, interfering with privacy, obstructing communication, unauthorized monitoring and recording of communication fall into the cybercrime category. One of our most valuable assets is data. Adding new data to existing data, that is, attempting to harm a person by adding a non-existent file, modifying existing ones, and deleting existing ones, is evaluated within the scope of data-oriented crimes. The Turkish Penal Code (TCK) contains various regulations regarding these cybercrimes. If we refer to these, it is primarily defined as the crime of entering an information system, or entering a part of it. The deletion of data or the commission of this crime against systems that provide services for a fee is considered an aggravating circumstance here.”