The problem of spreading cybercrime is becoming more acute today, and developed countries with high gross domestic product rates suffer from it to a much greater extent than developing countries. This is due to the fact that the more advanced technologies are used by society, the stronger its dependence is on digital structures. And this, in turn, creates more opportunities for cybercriminals. In 2021, the damage from cybercrime is predicted to be $6 trillion — twice as much as in 2015.
Meanwhile, the terms cybercrime and cyberterrorism differ in various legal systems. Some criminologists divide these concepts; others consider them as equivalents. Barry Collin, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Security and Intelligence in California, first defined the term “cyberterrorism” in the 1980s. He understood this meaning as a convergence of the virtual and physical worlds and saw no difference between cybercrime and cyberterrorism. Later, other definitions of the term appeared.