Cyber Crime And Solutions
What is Cybercrime? Types, Examples, and Prevention
The phrase “cybercrime” was coined following the most recent developments in networks and the computer industry.
Because they may result in severe consequences including monetary losses, the theft of private information, system failure, and damage to an organization’s brand, cybercrimes are seen as a serious risk.
We’ll talk more about cybercrimes and what they are in this post. How do they take place? Cybercriminals: who are they? We will also showcase several kinds of cybercrimes.
What is Cybercrime?
“The illegal usage of any communication device to commit or facilitate in committing any illegal act” is the definition of cybercrime.
A cybercrime is defined as any form of criminal activity that intentionally causes harm to a computer, or a set of computers connected to a single network.
Computers and computer networks are used in cybercrimes. They may be going after specific people, companies, or even nations.
When examining equipment that may be utilized or the subject of a cybercrime, investigators typically employ a variety of techniques.
Who are The Cybercriminals?
A cybercriminal is a person who commits cybercrimes, or harmful acts and unlawful operations, using his or her technological talents. They might be groups or individuals.
Cybercriminals may be found in large quantities on the so-called “Dark Web,” where they primarily offer their illicit goods and services.
Since hacking may be used to uncover vulnerabilities and report and batch them, hackers are referred to as “white hat hackers,” and not all hackers are cybercriminals.
On the other hand, when hacking is done with the intent to cause harm, it is classified as a cybercrime. This type of hacker is known as a “black hat hacker” or cybercriminal.
Since not all cybercrimes include hacking, cybercriminals do not always need to be skilled hackers.
Cybercriminals might include those who engage in illicit internet material, con artists, or even drug traffickers. So let’s look at a few instances of cybercriminals:
- Black hat hackers
- Cyberstalkers
- Cyber terrorists
- Scammers
Cybercriminals who conduct targeted attacks are better to be named Threat Actors.
How do Cybercrimes happen?
Cybercriminals use security flaws and vulnerabilities in systems to their advantage in order to get access to the intended environment.
Security flaws can result from the use of shoddy passwords and authentication techniques, as well as from lax security models and guidelines.
Why are Cybercrimes Increasing?
The world is heavily dependent on technology these days since new technologies are always being developed. The majority of smart gadgets have internet connections. Both advantages and disadvantages exist.
The significant increase in cybercrimes and the lack of adequate security operations and procedures to safeguard these technologies are among the threats.
People may instantly access any linked location on the planet using computer networks.
distinct countries may have distinct rules and regulations pertaining to cybercrimes. It should be noted that committing cybercrimes is far simpler to cover up than actual crimes.
The following is a list of the several causes of the sharp rise in cybercrimes:
- Vulnerable devices:
As previously said, a variety of susceptible devices are introduced by the absence of effective security measures and solutions, making them a prime target for cybercriminals.
- Personal motivation:
Cybercriminals may carry out cybercrimes as a sort of retaliation against someone they dislike or otherwise disagree with.
- Financial motivation:
The primary incentive for most hacker organizations and cybercriminals these days is financial gain, which drives the majority of assaults.
Two Main Types of Cyber Crimes
- Targeting computers
This type of cybercrimes includes every possible way that can lead to harm to computer devices for example malware or denial of service attacks.
- Using computers
This type includes the usage of computers to do all the classifications of computer crimes.
Classifications of Cybercrimes
Cybercrimes in general can be classified into four categories:
1. Individual Cyber Crimes:
This type is targeting individuals. It includes phishing, spoofing, spam, cyberstalking, and more.
2. Organisation Cyber Crimes:
The main target here is organizations. Usually, this type of crime is done by teams of criminals including malware attacks and denial of service attacks.
3. Property Cybercrimes:
This type targets property like credit cards or even intellectual property rights.
4. Society Cybercrimes:
This is the most dangerous form of cybercrime as it includes cyber-terrorism.
Most Common Cyber Crimes
Now that you understand what cybercrimes are, let’s discuss some common cybercrimes.
1. Phishing and Scam:
Phishing is a kind of social engineering assault wherein an attacker sends fictitious emails and messages to a target system in an attempt to fool them into divulging personal information about themselves or attempt to download malicious software in order to take advantage of it.
2. Identity Theft
Identity theft happens when a cybercriminal obtains personal information, such as credit card numbers or images, from another person and uses it without that person’s consent to perpetrate fraud or other crimes.
3. Ransomware Attack
Cybercrime, including ransomware assaults, is fairly commonplace. This particular kind of malware has the capacity to encrypt user data and demand a ransom to unlock it, so preventing users from accessing any of their personal information on the machine.
4. Hacking/Misusing Computer Networks
This phrase describes the criminal act of gaining unauthorized access to private computers or networks and abusing them by deleting data, manipulating stored data, or using other unlawful methods.
5. Internet Fraud
Internet fraud is a subset of cybercrimes that involves the usage of the internet. It is possible to think of internet fraud as a catch-all word for all crimes committed over the internet, including service theft, financial fraud, spam, and other offenses.
Other Types of Cybercrime
Here are another 9 types of cybercrimes:
1. Cyber Bullying
It is also referred to as cyberbullying. It involves distributing or disseminating damaging and dehumanizing material about other people, which is embarrassing and may contribute to the development of psychological issues. It has become increasingly prevalent lately, particularly among youth.
2. Cyber Stalking
Cyberstalking is the term for when someone targets other people online with unwelcome, persistent content that is intended to control and intimidate them, much as unsolicited, persistent calls and texts.
3. Software Piracy
The unauthorized use or duplication of purchased software in violation of copyrights or licensing limitations is known as software piracy.
When you download a brand-new, unactivated copy of Windows and use “Cracks” to get a legitimate license for Windows activation, it is an example of software piracy. That’s seen as software piracy.
Music, movies, and images can all be downloaded illegally in addition to software.
4. Social Media Frauds
The use of social media fake accounts to perform any kind of harmful activities like impersonating other users or sending intimidating or threatening messages. And one of the easiest and most common social media frauds is Email spam.
5. Online Drug Trafficking
With the rapid advancement of bitcoin technology, it is now simple to carry out drug trades without drawing the notice of law authorities and transfer money in a private, safe manner. Drug marketing on the internet increased as a result of this.
Online sales and trafficking of illegal narcotics, such cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, are quite popular, particularly on the “Dark Web.”
6. Electronic Money Laundering
Also known as transaction laundering. It is based on unknown companies or online business that makes approvable payment methods and credit card transactions but with incomplete or inconsistent payment information for buying unknown products.
It is by far one of the most common and easy money laundering methods.
8. Cyber Extortion
Cyber extortion is the demand for money by cybercriminals to give back some important data they’ve stolen or stop doing malicious activities such as denial of service attacks.
9. Intellectual-property Infringements
It is the violation or breach of any protected intellectual-property rights such as copyrights and industrial design.
9. Online Recruitment Fraud
One of the less common cybercrimes that are also growing to become more popular is the fake job opportunities released by fake companies for the purpose of obtaining a financial benefit from applicants or even making use of their personal data.
Cyber Crimes Examples
- REvil and Kaseya Ransomware
A ransomware-as-a-service organization, REvil is a hacker outfit that speaks or uses Russian. The events of Kaseya happened between July and July 2021.
The event occurred when one of the products made by Kaseya’s corporation spread the well-known SODINOKIBI REvil ransomware to endpoints within its client network, which included over a thousand Kaseya customers globally as its attack surface.
A few hours later, REvil claimed responsibility for the assault and posted on the dark web’s Happy Blog website, demanding $70 million in ransom to unlock a public decryptor that they say can unlock all of the damaged devices.
Because of how significant the incident was, the US government offered $10 million in rewards to anybody with information that may lead to the arrest of members of the Red Devil organization.
Yaroslav Vasinskyi, a 22 years Ukrainian, was charged with conducting the attack and unleashing the ransomware against Kaseya and other companies.
- Stuxnet
One well-known occurrence that occurred in 2010 was the Stuxnet incident. The computer worm (a kind of virus) known by the name Stuxnet is designed to attack SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems.
The Stuxnet worm caused catastrophic harm to Iran’s nuclear energy program. It mostly impacted Microsoft Windows operating systems and propagated via USB sticks.
The virus’s role was to look for computers acting as PLCs (programmable logic controllers), and if such computers were discovered, the malware would update its code via the attackers’ online network.
- Marriott Hotels
Over 500 million customers were impacted by a significant data breach that the Marriott Hotel Group experienced in November 2018.
An unidentified entity gained access to the visitor reservation database. Payment details, postal addresses, passport numbers, and phone numbers for clients were among the details that were compromised.
The Marriott Group promptly put up a contact center and website, as well as working with a team of security professionals to investigate the situation.
Additionally, they provided the impacted clients with free internet monitoring tools and alerts in the event that any proof of sharing personal information is discovered, in addition to sending emails to them.
- RockYou Data Breach
Established in 2005, RockYou is a gaming-related firm led by Lance Tokuda and Jia Shen. The business operated smoothly up until December 2009, when “the biggest data breach of all time” occurred.
More than 32 million user account details from the RockYou database were exposed and leaked as a result of the data breach.
The credentials were being maintained by the corporation in an unencrypted plain text format, which made it simpler for the hacker to have access to all of the passwords. The hacker leaked all of the database’s contents by exploiting a well-known and ancient SQL flaw.
Following this significant breach, hackers began using the whole list of passwords that were disclosed as a highly useful tool for penetration testing.
How to Prevent Cybercrimes?
There are many tips and guidelines to protect yourself and your environment from the risk of cybercrimes such as:
1. Be sure that you are using up-to-date security software like antivirus and firewalls.
2. Implement the best possible security settings and implementations for your environment.
3. Don’t browse untrusted websites and be careful when downloading unknown files, and also be careful when viewing Email attachments.
4. Use strong authentication methods and keep your passwords as strong as possible. You can find in this article tips on how to protect your password.
5. Don’t share sensitive information online or on your social media accounts.
6. Educate your children about the risks of internet usage and keep monitoring their activities.
7. Always be ready to make an immediate reaction when falling victim to cybercrimes by referring to the police.
Conclusion
- In today’s globalized world, cybercrime is a significant and evolving threat, amplified by the internet’s vast reach, which continually provides new opportunities for malicious attackers.
- Prioritizing consumer education, particularly in areas like financial information protection, is crucial. Awareness serves as a potent deterrent against cyber scams and threats.
- The+ defense strategy relies on strong security measures, proactive prevention methods, and vigilant detection techniques. These are essential tools for safeguarding against the dynamic nature of cybercrime.
That’s it for this blog.
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Writers:
· Jayesh Deshmukh
· Shivpriya Deshmukh
· Harshal Dhande
· Manoj Dohale