Cybercrime: Its Types And How to Protect Yourself
In the world of technology, Cybercrimes are increasing immensely. COVID-19 outbreak and the prolonged lockdown have affected the social domains, which have created new opportunities for online and offline crimes.
Cybercrimes can take place whenever there is an opportunity, motive, and digital data. Cybercrimes are mainly carried out for financial profit and rarely carried out for other reasons rather than profit, such as for political or personal reasons.
Cyber Crimes like malware attacks aimed to gain the privilege of sensitive data. Sometimes these attacks are performed by big organizations to get results according to their benefit. For example, stealing of votes, interfering in politics, attacking people, and so on.
Cyber Crime:
Cybercrime, also known as technological crime, is a criminal activity that involves cyber (computer), any digital device, and networks facilitated via internet medium.
Cybercriminals use computers either to commit a crime using them or to harm people. According to the U.S Department of Justice (DOJ), Cybercrime can split into three main categories:
1. Computer as an “Object”: Cybercrimes where targets are networks or devices. For example, Viruses.
2. Computer as a “Subject”: Crimes where the target is to interfere in the authorized services. For example, Encryption.
3. Computer as an “Instrument”: Crimes where computers themselves are used as a platform to perform traditional crimes. For example, Identity theft.
According to the report, the global economy faces damage of about $445 billion per year due to cybercrimes. And according to cybersecurity Ventures, it is expected that cybercrime costs will increase by 15% per year over the next five years, reaching $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, up from $3 trillion in 2015.
Examples of Cybercrimes:
Some of the common types of cybercrimes are:
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service):
The DDoS attack, also known as a network saturation attack, is an attack where the attacker uses multiple sites to create malicious traffic and make the online service unavailable. This type of cybercrime aims to send a mass of protocol packets to the network that exceeds the specific capacity and makes the network slow or unavailable for its services.
The targets of DDoS attacks are mainly Online banking services, Online shopping stores, and the Government official websites.
Malware:
Malware or Malicious software is a type of cybercrime in which Computer systems or networks get infected by computer viruses without the user’s knowledge to get to their personal information. These attacks aim to gain financial profit or to damage the device.
There are various methods of malware attack, which include malicious e-mail attachments, infected USB devices, phishing e-mails, malicious advertisements, and text messages.
Types of malware attacks are worms, viruses, spyware, ransomware, and Trojan horse.
Phishing:
Phishing, a cyber attack in which attacker disguises themselves into a trustworthy person. Their goal is to make the receptionist fool by maintaining the trust and lead them to share their banking details, click on malicious links that can lead to the installation of viruses, open e-mails or text messages, and pick up diversified calls.
Credential Attack:
The credential attack, also known as credential stuffing, is a cyber-attack related to breaching databases. The credential attack is an automated attack in which credentials, often the usernames and passwords obtained from the data breach, are used by bots to test millions of combinations on targeted websites or applications.
Credential attacks are successfully applicable only because the user reuses the same username and passwords many times for multiple services, which leads the attacker to successful logins.
According to the survey, around 81% of users reuses the same password for two or three sites, and 25% of users reuses the same passwords for their majority of accounts.
And according to statistics, around 0.1% of breached credentials lead to successful login if attempted on other sites.
Website Hijacking:
Website hijacking or browser hijacking is a type of cybercrime where unwanted software on the internet manipulates the browser setting without the user’s permission to inject unwanted advertisements into the user’s browser. The aim is to make users visit sites whether they want to or not so that the hijacker can increase its advertising revenue.
Another side of website hijacking is that hijackers can use it for spying purposes. They can use it to steal the personal information of users like banking and credit card details.
Ways to prevent Cybercrimes:
Strong Passwords:
Use a strong and unique password so that no one can not guess it. Make it strong by using a combination of alphanumeric characters. Do not use the same password for different sites.
Security Software:
Use security or antivirus software to prevent your device from getting infected by the virus. Antivirus keeps the system away from threats, malware, viruses before they affect the system.
It is equally important to update the operating system and the security software over time so that cybercriminals can not find any flaw or patch in the security of the system.
Login Authentications:
After using social sites and online accounts, must log out when done. Use two-factor authentication when possible or use a physical security key, especially for e-mails or bank accounts. 2FA makes it almost impossible for cybercriminals to access accounts or social sites. It helps in verifying that either user has authorized access to the account or not.
Login Alerts:
Turn on login alert when possible. It notifies that when and where cybercriminals are trying to access the account. It helps in keeping up the security.
When criminal tries to access the account from another device, by turning login notifications on, it notifies the account holder that someone is trying to access your account, and the account holder can take security measures.
Spam Links:
If something seems suspicious, don’t go for it. Never click on links or download attachments from an unrecognized e-mail. It is a trick used by cybercriminals that can lead the user to a phishing website or can download malware into the computer.
Cybercriminals send e-mails, messages with catchy subjects that grab user’s attention and make them click on the link that can cause damage to the computer.
