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cybercrime

/ˈsaɪbərˌkraɪm/
IPA guide

Cybercrime is illegal activity that involves a computer network. Computer hacking and using the Internet to steal credit card numbers are both kinds of cybercrime.

When criminals use a computer that's connected to the Internet to commit a crime, it's considered cybercrime. If you have your identity stolen after entering information on a website you think is secure, you're a victim of cybercrime. Malware or computer viruses are another type of cybercrime. The word itself uses the prefix cyber-, which since the early 1990s has been used in many words to signify a connection to the Internet or electronics.

Definitions of cybercrime
  1. noun
    crime committed using a computer and the internet to steal a person's identity or sell contraband or stalk victims or disrupt operations with malevolent programs
    see moresee less
    type of:
    crime, criminal offence, criminal offense, law-breaking, offence, offense
    (criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act
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