Last week, five people were charged in a Nairobi court with stealing by electronic transfer some $2 million from KenGen, the state-owned power-generating company. The money, meant for a World Bank account in New York, was reportedly electronically diverted from KenGen's Nairobi Co-operative Bank account into a private account in the US.

On August 20, two accountants of the multinational Cisco Systems pleaded guilty to illegally transferring stock worth $8 million by exceeding their authorised access to computer systems.

Mr David Smith, who created the malicious Melisa virus, caused $80-million damage in the US alone. The more recent "I Love You" virus caused a $6.7-billion loss to businesses across the world.

In 1999, virus attacks caused $12.1 billion in losses and damage. It is estimated that by 2005, world business will have lost over $112 billion through crimes committed through computers.

In Kenya, automated organisations and companies are vulnerable to similar computer crimes. Hackers and dishonest employees strive to beat the system's security perimeters to commit fraud.

Computer crime ranges from identity fraud (aptly dubbed the new millennium theft, e.g., credit card fraud), payroll fraud, counterfeit software and software piracy to money transfer fraud.

Developed countries face more sophisticated computer crimes, including Internet gambling, fraudulent Internet auctions, extortion, theft of information and trade secrets, electronic eavesdropping and child pornography.

E-sabotage, like the DDS (Distributed Denial of Service), is difficult to prevent. In this instance, hundreds of Internet-linked computers are instructed by a deliberate wicked programme to simultaneously unleash senseless data to a specific target.

This causes the target computers to run out of memory, rendering them unresponsive to legitimate users.

This is the equivalent of having hundreds of thousands of people queuing at a shop, each making stupid and irrelevant inquiries unrelated to the business, thus blocking out genuine customers. The shop soon loses business and shuts down.

Hackers' ability to beat the most stringent of computer security systems poses a more deadly risk than a terrorist bomb. With the click of a button in the safety of any cybercafe, a hacker can unleash chaos of unprecedented levels in military, financial and government networks, with devastating results.

Traditional crimes, unrelated to computers, have been polished and reintroduced through the new medium. The opportunity to commit such crimes is made possible by the easy access to cyberspace. The anonymous low-cost nature and the Internet's borderless connectivity makes it a highly attractive means of committing crime.

Some cyber offenders are motivated by personal profit. Others - the most damaging - are purely malicious.

A victim's geographical location is immaterial. Connectivity to the Internet exposes any user to viral attacks launched from any point on earth. The cross-border effects of computer crime and the computer's unique attributes pose terrible challenges to law authorities globally.

The current laws are inadequate

Investigative and prosecutorial issues on unlawful use of computers require cautious and co-ordinated attention. World agencies are still developing skills to understand such crimes and identify the best way to put paid to them.

In Kenya, we still need to look afresh at the existing laws to see whether they can deal effectively with cyber criminals. The current penal laws and laws of evidence are totally inadequate. There isn't much case law from which judicial officials can draw reference and guidance.

More frightening is the fact that we have not developed competencies to detect and prosecute such crimes. In all these aspects, we are practically sitting ducks. We need to identify and acquire the technological tools and capabilities required to curb computer crime. The old fraud investigative technique of following the paper trail has been rendered obsolete and useless.

Our exposure to cyber crime increases with our inevitable reliance on digital technology. The diversified and increased use of information technology opens new avenues and opportunities for malevolent action from the less-upright.

Solutions to cyber crime range from the basic "local policy" on that stand-alone personal computer to an elaborate access security measures for the Pentagon's Star Wars programme.

There are packaged solutions for routine computer security that are available over the shelf. Dr Tony Githuku, Fintech Africa's CEO, advises that organisations instal locally available regular auditing and operation analysis systems to beef up security.

In the United States, the Department of Justice (equivalent to our AG's chambers) issues regular bulletins on the latest developments in cyber crime and warns business and citizens on expected cyber attacks.

Internet policing is not easy. China tried - and failed - to curb potentially harmful political and private information from filtering into the country. Unrestricted Internet access via satellite makes it virtually impose to enforce any restrictions on downloaded content.

The first step in checking criminal violation via computer is to enact laws to address computer crime. Then we should train investigators and prosecutors in high-tech crimes. Training will focus on the substantive, procedural and practical elements of computer crime cases. It will address questions of law, policy and practice.

Industry should be the core driving force of this initiative. A specialised unit, on the lines of the Banking Fraud Investigation Department, will be set up, under the direction of the director of CID, to collect information and investigate all reported cases of computer crime.

Left unchecked, cyber crime would blot out all the advantages of the Internet as a useful communications and commerce tool and a channel for expanding other social opportunities.

Mr Murunga is a former CID officer and is presently a manager with a leading city-based IT firm