MODULE 2 & 3: THREATS, HARMS AND VULNERABILITIES

The Cyber Security Threat

The world is now more reliant on technology than ever before. The emergence and growth of technology has
had a positive impact on human life, but the convenience has, however, come with the risk of cyber-attacks. If
you use a tech device for whatever reason, then you’re highly likely to be exposed to a cyber-attack. You’ll need
to be protected, and that’s where cyber security comes in.

Cyber security is the protection of electronic data and information. It’s the defense of electronic systems on
devices, like computers, cell phones, servers, and networks, from malicious attacks. Regardless of who you are,
it’s important to keep your data safe from unauthorized access.

What are the Risks to Having Poor Security?

There are many risks, some more serious than others. Among these dangers are malware erasing your entire
system, an attacker breaking into your system and altering files, an attacker using your computer to attack
others, or an attacker stealing your credit card information and making unauthorized purchases. There is no
guarantee that even with the best precautions some of these things won't happen to you, but there are steps
you can take to minimize the chances.

Why Cyber Security is Crucial?

Cybersecurity is important because it protects you or your company from potential cyber threats. The
advancement of technology has left many people vulnerable to cybercriminal activities, such as hacking, data
theft and damage, and industrial espionage. Cybercrime rate is increasing; hence, without cyber security, you
could lose sensitive information, money, or reputation. Cyber security is as important as the need for
technology.

Here are some reasons why cyber security is crucial:

1. There Are Different Types of Cyber Attacks. No one is safe from the threat of cyber-attacks. These
attacks include malware, phishing, man-in-the-middle, and drive-by attacks. Scary right? Wait till you
hear about crypto-jacking. This is where criminals could compromise your computer and use it to steal
resources, such as Bitcoins and other digital currencies. If they can get to your computer, then they
could easily steal your data. You need cyber security if you want to stand a chance against these threats.

2. Increase In Cybercrimes. The fast development of technology, such as fast broadband, better gadgets,
and cloud computing, has led to an increase in the number of connected devices. According to some
surveys, there’ll be about 21.1 billion networked devices in the world in 2021. This, with the
development of the dark web, has created a fertile ground for cybercrime activities. Cyber security can,
nonetheless, minimize your exposure. This link explains some ways of reducing risk in organizations.
 3. Tech Users Are Vulnerable. The fact that almost everyone on this planet is now more reliant on
information and communication technology means, for cybercriminals, that there’s a booming criminal
opportunity. Factors like the enhancement of cloud storage and social media growth have left many
exposed to cyber-attacks. This makes cyber security more important than ever.

4. Cloud Storage Needs Protection. Sensitive information, like banking details and passwords, can now be
stored on the cloud, increasing their risk of theft. Also, the growth of social media has led to an increase
in identity fraud. The truth is that whether you’re an individual, a small business, a large organization, or
even a government, you’re at risk of being targeted for cybercrime. You may, therefore, want to
consider cyber security.

5. It Could Save Millions Of Dollars. According to recent studies, the average cost of cybercrimes for an
organization was about USD$13 million last year. Research also revealed a sharp increase in information
breaches, including financial information, health records, trade secrets, personal data, and intellectual
property. You’d rather pay a little for cyber security and save big on your organization’s protection than
lose a fortune through industrial espionage.

6. Enables Credibility. Cyber attacks often make online platforms, like websites, unpleasant or inaccessible.
That could result in a bad reputation, which might be difficult to undo. Cyber security is, hence,
important for the protection of your platform from such risks. It could also help protect customers from
potential hackers.

7. Viruses Can Harm You Or Business. Computer viruses can spread like wildfire. These could cause severe
problems for you and your business if not controlled. Computer viruses are capable of corrupting your
files and systems. It’s essential, therefore, to take cyber security seriously as it could save your computer
systems from viruses.

8. The Dark Web. The growth and development of technology haven’t left the dark web behind. The dark
web is a secret collaboration of Internet sites, and which is only accessible through specialized web
browsers. It’s mainly used for hiding Internet activities and keeping users anonymous and private. The
dark web can be utilized legally, but it has also been known for being the host of numerous illegal
operations. Crimes, like drug and human trafficking, illegal weapons distribution, software distribution,
illegal auctions, piracy, and many more unlawful activities, including the unthinkable, have been known
to use the dark web. As technology has developed, so has the dark web strengthened its sophistication.
It has provided a haven for cybercriminals and resulted in an increased threat on surface Internet use.
These vulnerabilities have heightened the significance of cyber security.

Where do Cyber Threats Come From?

Cyber threats come from numerous threat actors including:

Hostile nation-states
National cyber warfare programs provide emerging cyber threats ranging from propaganda, website
defacement, espionage, disruption of key infrastructure to loss of life. Government-sponsored programs are
increasingly sophisticated and pose advanced threats when compared to other threat actors. Their developing
capabilities could cause widespread, long-term damages to the national security of many countries including
the United States. Hostile nation-states pose the highest risk due to their ability to effectively employ
technology and tools against the most difficult targets like classified networks and critical infrastructure like
electricity grids and gas control valves.

Terrorist groups
Terrorist groups are increasingly using cyber attacks to damage national interests. They are less developed in
cyber attacks and have a lower propensity to pursue cyber means than nation-states. It is likely that terrorist
groups will present substantial cyber threats as more technically competent generations join their ranks.

Corporate spies and organized crime organizations

Corporate spies and organized crime organizations pose a risk due to their ability to conduct industrial
espionage to steal trade secrets or large-scale monetary theft. Generally, these parties are interested in profit
based activities, either making a profit or disrupting a business's ability to make a profit by attacking key
infrastructure of competitors, stealing trade secrets, or gaining access and blackmail material.

Hacktivists
Hacktivists activities range across political ideals and issues. Most hacktivist groups are concerned with
spreading propaganda rather than damaging infrastructure or disrupting services. Their goal is to support their
political agenda rather than cause maximum damage to an organization.

Disgruntled insiders
Disgruntled insiders are a common source of cyber crime. Insiders often don't need a high degree of computer
knowledge to expose sensitive data because they may be authorized to access the data. Insider threats also
include third-party vendors and employees who may accidentally introduce malware into systems or may log
into a secure S3 bucket, download its contents and share it online resulting in a data breach. Check your S3
permissions or someone else will.

Hackers
Malicious intruders could take advantage of a zero-day exploit to gain unauthorized access to data. Hackers
may break into information systems for a challenge or bragging rights. In the past, this required a high level of
skill. Today, automated attack scripts and protocols can be downloaded from the Internet, making sophisticated
attacks simple.

Natural disasters
Natural disasters represent a cyber threat because they can disrupt your key infrastructure just like a cyber
attack could.
Accidental actions of authorized users
An authorized user may forget to correctly configure S3 security, causing a potential data leak. Some of
the biggest data breaches have been caused by poor configuration rather than hackers or disgruntled insiders.

Examples of Cyber Threats

Common cyber threats include:

Malware
Malware, short for malicious software, is software that does malicious tasks on a device or network such as
corrupting data or taking control of a system. It is designed to damage your computer it may be a virus, worm
or Trojan.

Spyware
Spyware is a form of malware that hides on a device providing real-time information sharing to its host,
enabling them to steal data like bank details and passwords.

Phishing attacks
Phishing is when a cybercriminal attempts to lure individuals into providing sensitive data such as personally
identifiable information (PII), banking and credit card details and passwords.

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks

Distributed denial of service attacks aim to disrupt a computer network by flooding the network with
superfluous requests to overload the system and prevent legitimate requests being fulfilled.

Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malware that denies access to a computer system or data until a ransom is paid.

Zero-day exploits
A zero-day exploit is a flaw in software, hardware or firmware that is unknown to the party or parties
responsible for patching the flaw.

Advanced persistent threats

An advanced persistent threat is when an unauthorized user gains access to a system or network and remains
there without being detected for an extended period of time.

Wiper attacks
A wiper attack is a form of malware whose intention is to wipe the hard drive of the computer it infects.
Intellectual property theft
Intellectual property theft is stealing or using someone else's intellectual property without permission.

Theft of money
Cyber attacks may gain access to credit card numbers or bank accounts to steal money.

Data manipulation
Data manipulation is a form of cyber attack that doesn't steal data but aims to change the data to make it
harder for an organization to operate.

Data destruction
Data destruction is when a cyber attacker attempts to delete data.

Man-in-the-middle attack (MITM attack)

A MITM attack is when an attack relays and possibly alters the communication between two parties who
believe they are communicating with each other.

Drive-by downloads
A drive-by download attack is a download that happens without a person's knowledge often installing a
computer virus, spyware or malware.

Malvertising
Malvertising is the use of online advertising to spread malware.

Rogue software
Rogue software is malware that is disguised as real software.

Unpatched software
Unpatched software is software that has a known security weakness that has been fixed in a later release but
not yet updated.

Data centre disrupted by natural disaster

The data centre your software is housed on could be disrupted by a natural disaster like flooding.

Biggest Cyber Threats in 2021

Here's a list of the most pernicious cyber threats you must aware of in 2021.
Covid-19 themed phishing attacks
During a phishing attack, victims are presented with seemingly innocuous emails or websites that are infected
with malicious links. Interacting with these links initiates a credential theft process. These attacks have the
highest success rates when fear is used as a motivator for interaction. Since the coronavirus pandemic, covid-
themed phishing attacks have spiked, preying upon the virus-related anxieties of the public.

The following chart demonstrates the colossal spike in coronavirus-themed website domain registrations since
the pandemic was announced. This is very unusual activity that raises glaring red flags.

Rising trend of Covid-themed domain name registrations - Source: clarivate.com

Insider threats
According to a Verizon report from 2019, 57% of all database breaches involved insider threats. Unlike phishing
attacks, this type of security-bypassing cyber threat cannot be mitigated with a control strategy.

To best defend against insider threats, access to sensitive resources should be restricted to those that
absolutely require it. Securing Privileged Access Management (PAM) can help achieve this.

Ransomware attacks
Ransomware attacks are one of the most frightening cyber threats. During these attacks, a victim's sensitive
data is encrypted and only decrypted if a ransom price is paid. Victims only become aware that they've been
compromised when they're presented with a formidable message announcing the successful attack.

Ransomware attack message examples - Source: ZDNet.com

Sometimes these messages are falsely attributed to law enforcement entities.

Ransomware attackers using fake NSA message - Source: lanworks.com

Polyglot files
Polyglot files that can have multiple file type identities. For example, some polyglot files can be classified as
both PPT and JS and they can be opened by applications that read both file types.

Polyglot files are not hostile by nature. Cybercriminals package malicious code into polyglot files to bypass file-
type security controls. Some applications only permit certain file extensions to be uploaded and/or opened.
These are usually DOC, GIF, and JPEG files.

A Phar-JPEG polyglot file would be permitted with such filters since it's attributed with a JPEG identity, but
when executed, the Phar file can be used to launch PHP object injection attacks.

DDoS attacks
As the adoption rate of IoT devices in both the home and office continue to rise, the risk of DDoS attack rises
accordingly.

During a DDoS attack, cybercriminals direct a high concentration of network requests from multiple
compromised IoT devices at a targeted website. This causes the victim's servers to overload, forcing them
offline.
All forms of DDoSing are illegal, even if it's used to gain an advantage during a friendly online gaming session.

Social engineering
Social engineering, in the context of cyber threats, is an effort to obtain login credentials through manipulation
and trickery. Phishing campaigns are the usual attack vectors of social engineering, but these cyber threats can
also be presented in person. For example, threat actors posing as IT professionals asking for your password.

Malvertising
Malvertising (malicious advertising) is the process of embedding malicious codes into advertisement links.
Malvertising can occur on websites that permit third-party advertising networks and even in social media feeds.

An example of a malvertising attack is the Latin American banking trojan known as MIspadu. In The trojan was
embedded in a Facebook ad campaign for McDonalds coupons. When users interacted with the ad, a zip file
containing the bank credential-stealing trojan was downloaded and installed on their system.

Mispadu malvertising campaign - Source: welivesecurity.com

Zero-day exploits
Zero-day exploits are security vulnerabilities that are exploited by cybercriminals before a patch is released for
them. These exposures are usually associated with ubiquitous software providers. A recent example is a zero-
day exploit impacting Microsoft Exchange servers.

Defending against such threats is difficult because they're usually not discovered until the cyberattacks abusing
them have been discovered.

An attack surface monitoring solution offers advanced awareness of ecosystem vulnerabilities so that they can
be remedied before developing into zero-day exploits.

Malwares

There are multiple other types of malware can infect not only desktops, laptops, and servers, but also
smartphones. Malware categories include the following:

• Virus. Virus is a program written to enter to your computer and damage/alter your files/data. A virus might
corrupt or delete data on your computer. A computer Virus is more dangerous than a computer worm as it
makes changes or deletes your files while worms only replicates itself without making changes to your
files/data. (Refer to Difference Between Malware and Virus)
• Worms. A worm is a standalone program that can self-replicate and spread over a network. Unlike a virus, a
worm spreads by exploiting a vulnerability in the infected system or through email as an attachment
masquerading as a legitimate file. A graduate student created the first worm (the Morris worm) in 1988 as
an intellectual exercise. Unfortunately, it replicated itself quickly and soon spread across the internet.
• Ransomware. As the name implies, ransomware demands that users pay a ransom—usually in bitcoin or
other cryptocurrency—to regain access to their computer. The most recent category of malware is
 ransomware, which garnered headlines in 2016 and 2017 when ransomware infections encrypted the
computer systems of major organizations and thousands of individual users around the globe.
• Trojan Horse. A trojan creates a backdoor in your system, allowing the attacker to gain control of your
computer or access confidential information. It uses false and fake name for mislead users from its true
intent and executing them. Trojan Horses generally install on the system as legitimate and useful software
that can give unauthorized access and control of the system to the hackers. Back orifice, Rootkit and Beast
Trojan are some of the common Trojan horse which is more harmful.
• Scareware. Many desktop users have encountered scareware, which attempts to frighten the victim into
buying unnecessary software or providing their financial data. Scareware pops up on a user's desktop with
flashing images or loud alarms, announcing that the computer has been infected. It usually urges the victim
to quickly enter their credit card data and download a fake antivirus program.
• Adware and spyware. Adware pushes unwanted advertisements at users and spyware secretly collects
information about the user. Spyware may record the websites the user visits, information about the user's
computer system and vulnerabilities for a future attack, or the user’s keystrokes. Spyware that records
keystrokes is called a keylogger. Keyloggers steal credit card numbers, passwords, account numbers, and
other sensitive data simply by logging what the user types.
• Keylogger. Keylogger records everything the user types on his/her computer system to obtain passwords
and other sensitive information and send them to the source of the keylogging program.
• Fileless malware. Unlike traditional malware, fileless malware does not download code onto a computer, so
there is no malware signature for a virus scanner to detect. Instead, fileless malware operates in the
computer's memory and may evade detection by hiding in a trusted utility, productivity tool, or security
application. An example is Operation RogueRobin, which was uncovered in July 2018. RogueRobin is spread
through Microsoft Excel Web Query files that are attached to an email. It causes the computer to run
PowerShell command scripts, providing an attacker access to the system. As PowerShell is a trusted part of
the Microsoft platform, this attack typically does not trigger a security alert. Some fileless malware is also
clickless, so a victim does not need to click on the file to activate it.
• Rootkits. Rootkit is a set of application that is designed to infect a target PC and allow an attacker to install a
set of tools that grant him persistent remote access to the computer. The malware typically pretended itself
as normal files that “hide in plain sight” so your antivirus software overlooks them. It enables administrator-
level access to a computer or computer network. The motive is to steal the identity information from your
computer, often to gain control of a system. It is difficult to detect and remove, requires the specialized
tools to remove.
• Logic Bombs. A logic bomb is a malicious program that uses a trigger to activate the malicious code. The
logic bomb remains non-functioning until that trigger event happens. Once triggered, a logic bomb
implements a malicious code that causes harm to a computer. Cybersecurity specialists recently discovered
logic bombs that attack and destroy the hardware components in a workstation or server including the
cooling fans, hard drives, and power supplies. The logic bomb overdrives these devices until they overheat
or fail.
• Backdoor. A backdoor bypasses the usual authentication used to access a system. The purpose of the
backdoor is to grant the cyber criminals future access to the system even if the organization fixes the
original vulnerability used to attack the system.
• Robots. Bots, or Internet robots, are also known as spiders, crawlers, and web bots. While they may be
utilized to perform repetitive jobs, such as indexing a search engine, they often come in the form of
malware. Malware bots are used to gain total control over a computer. (Refer to Pros and Cons of Bots)
• Zombies. A Zombie is a malicious program that is installed on a device that transforms it into a “zombie”
that attacks other systems. A computer or other device transformed by zombie malware is first infected by
a virus or Trojan. It is then deprived of its intended motivations, and instead acts in the service of the
zombie (or that program’s creator). It then acts as a bot or is joined into a botnet and performs mundane
but harmful automated attacks. Zombie computers and assemblages of them, for example botnets, often
conduct e-mail spam, silent click fraud against pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, theft of financial or
personally-identifiable information (PII), and [distributed] denial-of-service (DDoS, DoS) attacks. A novel
form of zombie that arose in the early 2010s was cryptocurrency-mining malware that transformed host
computers into bitcoin-mining zombies. It hijacked the computing power of laptops, then sufficient to mine
digital currency. The coin was then sent to the zombie’s creator who profited off of others’ competing
power and electricity.

Difference between Malware and Virus

1. Malware :
Malware is a program designed to gain access to computer systems, normally for the benefit of some third
party, without the user’s permission. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, ransomware,
spyware and other malicious programs.

2. Virus :
A virus is a malicious executable code attached to another executable file which can be harmless or can modify
or delete data.

S. Category Virus Malware

No.
1. Full form Vital Information Resources Under Seize Malicious Software

2. Description A Virus is a malicious executable code Malware is a program designed to gain

attached to another executable file access to computer systems, normally for the
which can be harmless or can modify or benefit of some third party, without the
delete data. user’s permission.
3. Types Resident and Non -resident viruses are Malware includes computer viruses, worms,
two types of Virus. Trojan horses, ransomware, spyware and
other malicious programs.
4. Protection Antivirus software are used for Antimalware software are used for
protection against viruses. protection against malware.
5. Relationship Virus is a type of Malware. Malware contains several programs; virus is
one of them.

Pros and Cons of Bots

The Good
One of the typical “good” bot uses is to gather information. Bots in such guises are called web crawlers. Another
“good” use is automatic interaction with instant messaging, instant relay chat, or assorted other web interfaces.
Dynamic interaction with websites is yet another way bots are used for positive purposes.

The Bad

Malicious bots are defined as self-propagating malware that infects its host and connects back to a central
server(s). The server functions as a “command and control center” for a botnet, or a network of compromised
computers and similar devices. Malicious bots have the “worm-like ability to self-propagate,” and can also

• Gather passwords
• Log keystrokes
• Obtain financial information
• Relay spam
• Capture and analyze packets
• Launch DoS attacks
• Open back doors on the infected computer
• Exploit back doors opened by viruses and worms

Bots are usually used to infect large numbers of computers. These computers form a “botnet,” or a bot
network.

Cyber Attacks

Cyber Security is procedure and strategy associated with ensuring touchy information, PC frameworks,
systems, and programming applications from digital assaults. Cyber assaults are general phrasing which
covers enormous number of themes, however, a portion of the famous are:
• Altering frameworks and information put away inside
• Abuse of assets
• Unapproved access to focused on framework and getting to delicate data
• Upsetting typical working of the business and its procedures
• Utilizing ransomware assaults to scramble information and coerce cash from casualties
The assaults are currently turning out to be increasingly inventive and complex that is equipped for disturbing
security and hacking of frameworks. So, it’s trying for each business and security expert to defeat this test
and retaliate with these assaults.

Some basic Cyber attacks are:

1. Phishing :
Phishing is fraudulent action of sending spam emails by imitating to be from any legitimate source.
At its center, phishing abuses human motivations through alluring message or offer. Aggressors as rule
resort to phishing assaults by focusing on huge gatherings and subsequently increment the odds of
probably few targets succumbing to assault. A commonplace case of phishing assault includes
aggressor mimicking individual or foundation and sends messages to clueless targets requesting
prompt assistance with connection appended to correspondence. Guiltless client taps on connection,
which takes them to phony site that appears to be like real site. Individual, uninformed of snare, falls
 into it and winds up offering individual subtleties to aggressor, who at that point ransacks client even
before they understand that they have been assaulted.

Social Engineering Attacks

Figure 1. Social Engineering Attacks. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/types-of-cyber-attacks/

Social engineering is now common tactics used by cybercriminals to gather user’s sensitive
information.
Social designing assaults come in wide range of structures and can be performed in any place where
human collaboration is included. Coming up next are five most basic types of advanced social
designing attacks. Social designing assaults occur in at least one stage. A culprit initially researches
proposed casualty to accumulate fundamental foundation data, for example, likely purposes of
passage and feeble security conventions, expected to continue with assault. At that point, assailant
moves to pick up casualty’s trust and give upgrades to resulting activities that break security
rehearses, for example, uncovering touchy data or allowing admittance to basic assets. Most berated
type of bedeviling utilizes physical media to scatter malware. For instance, aggressors leave trap—
regularly malware-tainted glimmer drives—in prominent territories where potential casualties are
sure to see them (e.g., restrooms, lifts, the parking garage of a focused on organization). Snare has
credible look to it, for example, name introducing it as organization’s finance list.
2. Ransomware :
Ransomware is document encryption programming program that utilizes special hearty encryption
calculation to scramble records on objective framework.
It is particular malware disseminated to blackmail cash from targets and is one of most pervasive and
known instances of cyberattacks. Assailant disseminates malware as infection to get to objective PC’s
hard drive. It, at that point, encodes information and makes PC/information unusable for client until
 they make the payoff installment requested by assailant. It is frequently difficult to decode record’s
substance without anyone else. WannaCry and Maze ransomware are ongoing instances of how
malware could unleash devastation, driving numerous enterprises to dish out bitcoins and cash to pay
for recovering their undermined machines and information.
3. Cryptocurrency Hijacking :
As the digital currency and mining are becoming popular, so it is among cybercriminals. They have
found their evil benefit to crypto-currency mining which involves complex computing to mine virtual
currency like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Litecoin so on.
Hackers have two primary ways to get victim’s computer to secretly mine cryptocurrencies. One is to
trick victims into loading crypto mining code onto their computers. This is done through phishing-like
tactics: Victims receive legitimate-looking email that encourages them to click on link. Link runs code
that places crypto mining script on the computer. Script then runs in background as the victim works.
The other method is to inject script on website or ad that is delivered to multiple websites. Once
victims visit website or infected ad pops up in their browsers, script automatically executes. No code is
stored on the victims’ computers. Whichever method is used, code runs complex mathematical
problems on victims’ computers and sends results to server that hacker controls.
Hackers often will use both methods to maximize their return. “Attacks use old malware tricks to
deliver more reliable and persistent software [to the victims’ computers] as fallback, ” says Alex
Vaystikh, CTO and cofounder of SecBI. For example, of 100 devices mining cryptocurrencies for
hacker, 10% might be generating income from code on the victims’ machines, while 90% do so
through their web browsers.
Some crypto mining scripts have worming capabilities that allow them to infect other devices and
servers on network. It also makes it harder to find and remove; maintaining persistence on network is
in the cryptojacker’s best financial interest.
4. Botnet Attacks:

Figure 2. Botnet Attacks. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/types-of-cyber-attacks/

 Botnets assaults are commonly completed against huge scope organizations and associations because
of its immense information get to. Through this assault, the programmers can control countless
gadgets and bargain them for their shrewd intentions.
Botnet proprietors can approach few thousand PCs all at once and can order them to do malignant
exercises. Cybercriminals at first access these gadgets by utilizing unique Trojan infections to assault
the PCs’ security frameworks, before executing order and control programming to empower them to
do malevolent exercises for huge scope. These exercises can be mechanized to empower however
many synchronous assaults as would be prudent. Various kinds of botnet assaults can include:
a. DDOS assaults that cause impromptu application personal time .
b. Approving arrangements of spilled qualifications (certification stuffing assaults) prompting
account takeovers
c. Web application assaults to take information
d. Giving aggressor admittance to gadget and its association with organization.

In different cases, cybercriminals will offer admittance to the botnet network, now and again known
as “zombie” organization, so different cybercriminals can utilize the organization for their own
malevolent exercises, for example, actuating spam crusade.

Critical Cyber Crime

Cyber crime or computer-oriented crime is a crime that includes a computer and a network. The computer may
have been used in the execution of a crime or it may be the target.
Cyber crime is the use of a computer as a weapon for committing crimes such as committing fraud, identities
theft or breaching privacy. Cyber crime, especially through the Internet, has grown in importance as the
computer has become central to every field like commerce, entertainment and government. Cyber crime may
endanger a person or a nation’s security and financial health.
Cyber crime encloses a wide range of activities, but these can generally be divided into two categories:
1. Crimes that aim computer networks or devices. These types of crimes involve different threats (like
virus, bugs etc.) and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
2. Crimes that use computer networks to commit other criminal activities. These types of crimes
include cyber stalking, financial fraud or identity theft.

Classification of Cyber Crime :

1. Cyber Terrorism –
Cyber terrorism is the use of the computer and internet to perform violent acts that result in loss of
life. This may include different type of activities either by software or hardware for threatening life
of citizens.
In general, Cyber terrorism can be defined as an act of terrorism committed through the use of
cyberspace or computer resources.

2. Cyber Extortion –
Cyber extortion occurs when a website, e-mail server or computer system is subjected to or
threatened with repeated denial of service or other attacks by malicious hackers. These hackers
demand huge money in return for assurance to stop the attacks and to offer protection.
 3. Cyber Warfare –
Cyber warfare is the use or targeting in a battle space or warfare context of computers, online
control systems and networks. It involves both offensive and defensive operations concerning to the
threat of cyber attacks, espionage and sabotage.

4. Internet Fraud –
Internet fraud is a type of fraud or deceit which makes use of the Internet and could include hiding
of information or providing incorrect information for the purpose of deceiving victims for money or
property. Internet fraud is not considered a single, distinctive crime but covers a range of illegal and
illicit actions that are committed in cyberspace.

5. Cyber Stalking –
This is a kind of online harassment wherein the victim is subjected to a barrage of online messages
and emails. In this case, these stalkers know their victims and instead of offline stalking, they use the
Internet to stalk. However, if they notice that cyber stalking is not having the desired effect, they
begin offline stalking along with cyber stalking to make the victims’ lives more miserable.

Prevention of Cyber Crime :

Below are some points by means of which we can prevent cyber crime:
1. Use strong password –
Maintain different password and username combinations for each account and resist the temptation
to write them down. Weak passwords can be easily cracked using certain attacking methods like
Brute force attack, Rainbow table attack etc, So make them complex. That means combination of
letters, numbers and special characters.

2. Use trusted antivirus in devices –

Always use trustworthy and highly advanced antivirus software in mobile and personal computers.
This leads to the prevention of different virus attack on devices.

3. Keep social media private –

Always keep your social media accounts data privacy only to your friends. Also make sure only to
make friend who are known to you.

4. Keep your device software updated –

Whenever your get the updates of the system software update it at the same time because
sometimes the previous version can be easily attacked.

5. Use secure network –

Public Wi-Fi are vulnerable. Avoid conducting financial or corporate transactions on these networks.

6. Never open attachments in spam emails –

A computer get infected by malware attacks and other forms of cybercrime is via email attachments
in spam emails. Never open an attachment from a sender you do not know.
Why is it Necessary to protect Against Cyber Threats?

Cybersecurity risks pervade every organization and aren't always under the direct control of your IT security
team.

Increasing global connectivity, usage of cloud services, and outsourcing mean a much larger attack vector than
in the past. Third-party risk and fourth-party risk is on the rise, making third-party risk management, vendor risk
management and cyber security risk management all the more important for reducing the risk of third-
party data breaches.

Pair this with business leaders making technology-related risk decisions every day, in every department, without
even knowing it. Imagine your CMO trials a new email marketing tool. or even anti-virus software, that has poor
security practices, this could be a huge security risk that could expose your customers' personally identifiable
information (PII) causing identity theft.

Whether you work in the public or private sector, information security cannot be left to your Chief Information
Security Officer (CISO), it must be an organizational-wide initiative.

REFERENCES

• Jonathan Reuvid, “Easy Steps to Managing Cybersecurity” ISBN: 9781787197954, Legend Press, 2018
• Julie Mehan. “Cyberwar, Cyberterror, Cybercrime & Cyberactivism (2nd Edition): An in-depth guide to the
role of standards in the cybersecurity environment”, ISBN: 9781849285735, itgovernance, 2014
• Scott Augenbaum, “The Secret to Cybersecurity: A Simple Plan to Protect Your Family and Business from
Cybercrime”, ISBN: 9781948677080, Forefront Books
• geeksforgeeks.org
• hypr.com
• hakin9.org/8-reasons-cyber-security-is-important/
• us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/tips/ST04-001
• secureworks.com/blog/cyber-threat-basics
• mcafee.com/enterprise/en-us/security-awareness/ransomware/malware-vs-
viruses.html#:~:text=viruses%20is%20an%20important%20one,its%20code%20into%20other%20programs
• norton.com/internetsecurity-malware-what-are-bots.html