Cyber Crime

Last Updated : 07 Apr, 2025

Cybercrime refers to criminal activities carried out using computers and

the internet, including hacking, data theft, malware attacks, and financial
fraud. With businesses, governments, and individuals relying heavily on
digital platforms, cyber threats have escalated, leading to billions in
financial losses worldwide. In 2023 alone, cybercrime caused over $8
trillion in damages, impacting online security on a massive scale. From
phishing scams to ransomware attacks, cybercriminals exploit
vulnerabilities to steal sensitive information and disrupt systems.

Cyber Crime

This article explores the types of cybercrime with examples, real-

world cases, cybercrime laws, and effective prevention measures to
stay protected in the digital world.
Table of Content

 What is Cyber Crime?

 Types of Cyber Crime

 Examples of Cyber Crime

 Challenges of Cyber Crime

 Impact of Cyber Crimes

 How to Protect Yourself Against Cybercrime?

 How to Report a Cybercrime

What is Cyber Crime?

Cybercrime refers to illegal activities involving computers,

networks, or the internet as a tool to commit offenses. These crimes
include:

 Identity Theft – Stealing personal information to commit fraud.

 Financial Fraud – Online scams, fake transactions, and credit card

fraud.

 Cyberbullying – Harassment or threats through digital platforms.

 Phishing Attacks – Deceptive emails or websites tricking users

into revealing sensitive data.

 Hacking – Unauthorized access to systems and data breaches.

 Malware Attacks – Spreading viruses, ransomware, and trojans to

damage or steal data.

Cybercriminals target individuals, businesses, and even government

systems, leading to significant financial losses, data breaches, and
security threats.

As the internet becomes an essential part of daily life, from online

shopping to business operations and communication, cybercrime cases
have surged globally. Criminals exploit system vulnerabilities to steal
personal data, manipulate financial transactions, and disrupt critical
services

It's very important to know and protect ourself against the cyber crime.
We can avoid these by use of secure
networks, frequent updating of software, and not to engage in activities
that may appear suspicious online. Cybercrime, especially through the
Internet, has grown as the computer has become central to every field like
commerce, entertainment, and government. Cybercrime may endanger a
person or a nation security and financial health.

Types of Cyber Crime

Cybercrime includes a wide range of illegal activities that exploit

computers, networks, and the internet. These crimes can be categorized
into two main types:

1. Cyber Crimes Targeting Computer Networks or Devices

These crimes involve direct attacks on computers, servers, or digital

infrastructure to steal data, cause disruption, or damage systems. It
involves different threats like- viruses, bugs, etc. and (DoS) denial-of-
service attacks.

 Malware Attacks: This kind of

cyber threat relates to malware viruses, worms, Trojans, etc. for inte
rfering, damaging, or unauthorized access to computer systems.

For example, ransomware encrypts files and then later demands ransom
for decryption.

 Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attacks: Here, the attackers focus on a

system and flood it with high traffic, hence making it inaccessible to
the users. Another dangerous variant of DoS is DDoS, wherein many
compromised systems target one, thus, much difficult to defend
against.

For example, A DDoS attack crashes an e-commerce website by

overwhelming its server with traffic.

 Phishing Attacks: These are masqueraded e-mails or

messages claiming to
be from a formal web but only request that the user grant
access to sensitive information like password points for an account
or credit card numbers. Phishing can be described as an outstanding
one of the most common cyber threats.

For example, A fake PayPal login page that steals your credentials.

 Botnets (Zombie
Networks): A number of hijacked computers can become a
"botnet" of malware that can be used by an attacker for coordinated
attacks or spamming.

For example, Hackers use botnets to send millions of spam emails in a

single day.
  Exploits and Vulnerabilities: The typical area through which
cyber-thieves exploit software weakness is
the application or operating system vulnerability in order to access
it illegally.

For example, Exploiting an outdated banking app to steal user financial

details.

2. Crimes Using Computer Networks to Commit Other Criminal

Activities

These types of crimes include cyberstalking, financial fraud, or identity

thief.

 Cyberstalking: This is considered as that crime in the nature of

threatening or frightening a person on-line and spreading fear and
emotional distress. This can be termed as involving threats,
constant monitoring, or receiving repeated unwanted messages.

For example, Sending threatening messages to a person via email or

social media.

 Financial Fraud: This is an example of a cybercrook manipulating

the victim online to proceed with stealing money, such as fake
investment opportunities, hacking a business email, and using
someone else's credit card details.

For example, A fake online store that steals credit card details without
delivering products.

 Identity Theft: It is normally the identity of people whose

information is stolen with the intention of only acting like them
either to misuse their cash or money from their account or
even to do malicious reasons. It always lowers the credit score of
the victim and in the worst case scenario, misused the account/loan
financially with incorrect transactions.

For example, A hacker using stolen credentials to apply for credit cards
and loans.

 Online Harassment and Hate Crimes: When people use the

internet to discriminate against a particular person based on his or
her racial background, gender, religion, or whatever, which can
psychologically disturb the harassed person.

For example, Cyberbullying campaigns that target individuals based on

race, gender, or religion.
  Intellectual Property Theft: Intellectual property theft refers to
the theft of copyrighted content or business secrets through the
internet, thereby financially and competitively hurting individuals
and companies.

For example, A software company illegally using another firm's source

code to create a competing product.

Also Read:

 Cyber Criminals and its types

Examples of Cyber Crime

Cybercrime includes a wide range of illegal activities that exploit the

internet, computer systems, and networks for financial, political, or
personal gain. Here are some of the most common cybercrime
examples:

1. Cyber Terrorism:

Cyber terrorism involves using the internet to carry out violent threats,
disrupt essential services, or spread fear among people. Cyber
terrorists target critical infrastructure, government systems, or
financial institutions to cause panic or damage.

Example: Hacking into power grids or communication networks to create

widespread disruption

2. Cyber Extortion (Ransomware Attackes):

Cyber extortion happens when hackers attack websites or computer

systems and demand money to stop the attacks. They threaten to keep
attacking unless they receive a large payment.

Example: A ransomware attack on a hospital system, blocking access to

patient records until a ransom is paid

3. Cyber Warfare:

Cyber warfare is when countries use computers and networks as part of

their battles. It includes both attacking and defending against cyber
threats, like hacking and spying.

Example: A government hacking another country's defense networks to

steal classified information.

4. Internet Fraud:
This type of fraud occurs when someone tricks others on internet to steal
money or private information. It involves hiding or giving false information
to deceive people and covers many different illegal actions.

Example: A scam website pretending to sell products but stealing users'

payment details instead

5. Cyber Stalking and Online Harassement

Cyber stalking is a form of online harassment where someone sends

threatening messages or emails to a victim they know. If the stalker feels
it's not working, they may also start following the victim in real life to
make their life more difficult.

Example: An ex-partner repeatedly sending threatening messages and

tracking a victim’s online activity

6. Financial Fraud:

Cybercriminals steal personal and financial data to commit fraud, open

fake bank accounts, or make unauthorized transactions. Phishing
attacks are one of the most common methods used to trick victims into
providing sensitive information.

Example: A phishing email pretending to be from a bank, asking users to

enter their login details on a fake website.

7. Cyber Espionage:

Cyber espionage refers to hacking into government agencies,

businesses, or corporations to steal confidential data or trade
secrets. It is often used by competitor businesses or state-
sponsored hackers.

Example: A company stealing another firm's product designs through

hacking.

Challenges of Cyber Crime

 People are unaware of their cyber rights: The Cybercrime

usually happen with illiterate people around the world who are
unaware about their cyber rights implemented by the government
of that particular country.

 Anonymity: Those who Commit cyber crime are anonymous for

us so we cannot do anything to that person.

 Less numbers of case registered: Every country in the world

faces the challenge of cyber crime and the rate of cyber crime is
increasing day by day because the people who even don't register a
 case of cyber crime and this is major challenge for us as well as for
authorities as well.

 Mostly committed by well educated people: Committing a

cyber crime is not a cup of tea for every individual. The person who
commits cyber crime is a very technical person so he knows how to
commit the crime and not get caught by the authorities.

 No harsh punishment: In Cyber crime there is no harsh

punishment in every cases. But there is harsh punishment in some
cases like when somebody commits cyber terrorism in that case
there is harsh punishment for that individual. But in other cases
there is no harsh punishment so this factor also gives
encouragement to that person who commits cyber crime.

Impact of Cyber Crimes

 Financial Losses: The fraud and theft can cause great losses not
only for the given organizations but for individuals also.

 Reputational Damage: Some people may realize that reputation

becomes an issue they may lose depending on the legal outcomes
resulting from lawsuits.

 Operational Disruption: As will be highlighted later, such an

occurrence leads to a shutdown and consequently a loss of
productivity.

 Legal Consequences: In the cases where clients have been

involved in some legal cases or even regulatory fines, they may
have to go through another phase of legal activities, clients have to
spend considerable amount of money on protecting their data.

How to Protect Yourself Against Cybercrime?

 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.

 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.
 Enable Two-Factor Authentication: Activate two-factor
authentication on your accounts for an extra layer of security, which
requires a second verification step.

 Keep your device software updated: Whenever you get the

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

 Use secure network: Public Wi-Fi are vulnerable. Avoid conducting

financial or corporate transactions on these networks.

 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.

 Software should be updated: operating system should be

updated regularly when it comes to internet security. This can
become a potential threat when cybercriminals exploit flaws in the
system.