unified communications, and which integrates audio-visual, telephone and computer networks; although no concrete or universal definition exists as the concept continues to evolve with great rapidity, it can be understood as including computer systems and networks, as well as the data processed by them. Data ”Data” (be it described as computer, ICT, information or electronic) describes a representation of facts, information or concepts that can be read, processed or stored by a computer or a computer system. Although some (though not all11) multilateral instruments explicitly provide that “computer data” includes computer “programs”,12 in practice all activities involving data are generally considered to be covered by provisions for computer data.13 System ”S  ystem” (be it described as computer, ICT, information or electronic) means any device capable of processing data. Some multilateral instruments define “computer network” as an interconnection between two or more computer systems.14 In practice, “computer system” includes, but is not limited to, the linking of any number of computers, smart phones, tablets and other such ICT devices.15 B. Technology’s Place: Now and to Come At the heart of the matter of cybercrime is technology, both (1) as it stands now, both as a tool and as a target for cybercrime, and (2) as improvements come usher in both new opportunities and corresponding threats. 1. Today’s Technological Infrastructure: A Tool & Target for Cybercrime In defining cybercrime, it is helpful to have an understanding of the infrastructure allowing it, namely of the technology that underpins it. Technology plays a defining role in cybercrime.16 On the one hand, and as discussed earlier,17 technology, in the form of electronic devices (e.g., computers or smart phones), or software (e.g., viruses and malware) may be used to facilitate a diversity of crimes. Those crimes may be perpetrated against individuals, organizations or governmental entities. Essential cybertools having legitimate and beneficial uses—including high-speed internet, peer-to-peer file sharing and encryption—can be used to both enable and conceal criminal activity. On the other hand, the technology itself may be the target of the crime. That technology needs to be understood in all of its diversity, being both hardware and software, and as being used by both the public and private sectors, as well as by organizations and individuals. Hardware is used by governmental and quasi-governmental authorities to assure the functioning of societies, from the functioning of power grids to the operating of dams and other pieces of infrastructure, to the Page 67 | Chapter 2 | § A. Working Definition of Cybercrime Table of Contents