Cybercrime

How To Prevent Cyber Crime Prevention will always be your best line of defense against cyber criminals. Like any other criminal activity, those most vulnerable tend to be the first targeted. Ideally, you’ll want to work with a IT security expert to assess your specific needs and vulnerabilities, but there are certainly some universal steps you can take that will greatly reduce your likelihood of attack. Prevention, Step One: Education and Training You wouldn’t let your unlicensed employees drive your company van, would you' Like driving, you and any employees that have access to your business network must have a foundational education before taking the wheel. What are your security policies' Are they well defined' Do all your employees understand the most common hacking tactics, such as phishing, social engineering, or packet sniffing (to name just a few)' Education and awareness across your staff will go a long way to protect yourself against many types of cybercrime. Prevention, Step Two: Securing Computers, Digital Assets, and Networking How safe is your vehicle' Sure, small-business budgets are tight, and finding ways to save is always going to be a priority for small-business owners, but most of us wouldn’t drive without our seat belts securely latched or in a car without basic safety features. There are some things you can’t simply cut corners on—and it will save you an incredible amount of money in the long run when considering the risks. Is all software housed within your network continually up to date' Exploits in software are very common ways hackers gain access to systems and sensitive data. Updating software on network-connected machines should always be a top priority. Do you have business-class antivirus software installed (and up to date) on all office workstations and servers' Leading antivirus software can detect, remove, and protect your machines and network from malware. Do you scan your website or web applications for malware' Many of us are used to checking for viruses and malware on our personal computers, but don’t realize that websites and web applications are just as susceptible. Do you have reliable backups of all of your critical data' Recovering from many types of common cybercrimes often involves restoring your data from a point prior to the event in question. Not having reliable and securely stored backups of your data is a significant liability. Is your network equipped to handle network-specific attacks' Earlier, we mentioned a common type of network attack called a DDOS. Unsophisticated networks are particularly susceptible to these, as DDOS mitigation devices and tools often require enterprise-sized budgets. If you own a small business, this type of luxury wouldn’t normally be practical, financially speaking. However, with the growing adoption of cloud and utility computing services, using a quality cloud-computing partner— one that has already invested the necessary capital to protect its network—is a cost-effective solution. CYBERCRIME: Cybercrime (crime committed using a computer and the internet to steal a person's identity or sell contraband or stalk victims or disrupt operations with malevolent programs) Cybercrime is a term for any illegal activity that uses a computer as its primary means of commission. The U.S. Department of Justice expands the definition of cybercrime to include any illegal activity that uses a computer for the storage of evidence. The growing list of cybercrimes includes crimes that have been made possible by computers, such as network intrusions and the dissemination of computer viruses, as well as computer-based variations of existing crimes, such as identity theft, stalking, bullying and terrorism. There are a number of controversial issues surrounding cybercrime. Opinions differ, for example, as to whether some widespread activities (such as file sharing) should be classified as criminal acts. The U.S. Digital Media Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 stipulates that exchanging files of copyrighted material, such as music or videos, is illegal and punishable by law. In August, 2002, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that they would begin to prosecute cases of peer-to-peer piracy. Since that time, there have been sporadic suits brought against individuals. Such prosecutions please many in the entertainment industries but are less popular with the general public. Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association, has remarked that "If we have 70 million people in the United States who are breaking the law, we have a big issue." Another controversy related to cybercrime is the issue of digital surveillance and its impact on civil liberties. Since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in September 2001, many have deemed it necessary to curtail some individual rights to privacy of information in exchange for greater security. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), government surveillance networks monitor enormous volumes of private communications and apply artificial intelligence (AI) applications to filter out relevant data. Although such extensive surveillance might significantly decrease the possibility of cybercrime, it is nearly impossible to do so without infringing upon individual privacy. Furthermore, because surveillance organizations operate in secret, they are not open to scrutiny. The ACLU suggests that while surveillance can be effectively used to curtail cybercrime, it must be properly overseen to ensure that it is not at the cost of individual rights. Example of Cybercrime: 1 A Facebook account in the name of an Ivory Coast national promises big money, seeks details of passport, driving licence. A scamster from an unknown destination is prying on Facebook users in India including a large numbers of accounts of Keralites. Similar to the Nigerian scam of sending e-mails to unsuspecting Internet users, this Facebook account in the fictitious name of Miss Sofia Williams (Ivory Coast) is flooding inboxes of ‘her friends’ seeking passport details, driving licence, residential address and telephone numbers. Officials say that the modus operandi is to befriend Facebook users and send them a message in the form of a letter stating that she has inherited her late father’s deposit of $3,500,000 which he had deposited in a bank in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. Request goes thus The letter says that her father was a highly reputable businessman, a cocoa merchant and a supplier of agro-allied materials in the capital of Ivory Coast. The letter says he passed away mysteriously in France during one of his business trips in November 21, 2010 and that his sudden death was linked or rather suspected to have been masterminded by her uncle, who travelled with him at that time. Her mother died when she was just four years old. “I am contacting you to assist in repatriating the money before it gets confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where this huge deposit was lodged. I have in my possession the deposit document which the bank gave to my late father when he deposited the fund. I really don’t know what to do,” Soliciting ‘suggestions’ The letter also asks the user to give suggestions and ideas to “honestly and willingly help me as your sister.” “What percentage of the total amount in question will be good for you after the money is in your country' Please, consider this and get back to me as soon as possible with the information so that I can register you at the bank as my foreign partner, trustee and the beneficiary of the money,” the letter says. Malayalam film buff' Quite interestingly, the Facebook user posted her movie likes as Lalettan (Mohanlal) and Jawan of Vellimala (a Mamootty starrer) in the profile. She claims to be a student of Freetown-Lakesville Middle School and hometown is Port Loko, Sierra Leone. The music bands likes posted in the profile are Filipino-American singer Jessica Sanchez and American singer-songwriter Phillip LaDon Phillips and TV show, American Idol. Officials say most e-mail scam crimes are associated with Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Benin, and South Africa. Indians have fallen prey to such fraudsters on many occasions. A Nigerian and a woman from Mumbai were recently arrested by State Crime Branch on charges of an Internet fraud in July 2013. Two years ago, the Thiruvananthapuram city police arrested a Nigerian national on the charge of defrauding a local person of Rs.25,000 posing as a foreign real estate businessman.