M1-02-HowCriminalsPlan.pdf

Introduction to
Cybercrime and Laws
Module 1
Chapter 2

How Criminals Plan Them
●
Introduction
●
How Criminals Plan the Attacks
●
Cybercafé and Cybercrimes
●
Botnets
●
Attack Vector

Introduction
●
Criminals use many methods and tools to locate
the vulnerabilities of their target.
●
The target can be an individual and/or an
organization.
●
Criminals plan passive and active attacks.
– Active attacks are usually used to alter the system,
whereas passive attacks attempt to gain
information about the target.
– Active attacks may affect the availability, integrity
and authenticity of data whereas passive attacks
lead to breaches of confidentiality.

Introduction
●
In addition to the active and passive categories, attacks
can be categorized as either inside or outside.
●
An attack originating and/or attempted within the security,
perimeter of an organization is an inside attack.
– it is usually attempted by an "insider" who gains access
to more resources. than expected.
●
An outside attack is attempted by a source outside the
security perimeter,
– maybe attempted by an insider and/or an outsider, who
is indirectly associated with the organization,
– it is attempted through the Internet or a remote access
connection.

Categories of Cybercrime
●
Cyber crime or Cyber attacks are categorized
into five types, it can be categorized based on
some factors.
– Target of the crime
– Whether crime require series of events or perform
in single events.
●
Cyber Attack Meaning : Attack in which
Cyber criminals can be targeted against person,
property or organization include government,
business and social.

Categories of Cybercrime
●
Crime Targeted to Person (individual)
●
Crime Targeted at Assets
●
Cyber Crime Against Organization
●
Cyber attacks using single event
●
Cyber attacks considering series of event

Crime Targeted to Person
(individual)
●
The cyber criminals exploit human weakness
such as avidity and innocence.
●
This kind of cyber-attack include financial
frauds, copyright violation, harassment, sale
of stolen or non–existing items etc.
●
Latest technology development and growth of
internet, cyber criminals have a new attacking
tools that make them to expand group of
potential victim.

Crime Targeted at Assets
●
In this kind of crime include stealing property
such as mobile devices, laptop, pen drive, CD,
DVD, iPad etc.
●
Sometime attacker may insert harmful program
such as Trojan virus and disturbed function of
hard disk and pen drive.
●
Shortcut virus is one type of Trojan used to steal
information from computer.

Cyber Crime Against
Organization
●
Cyber attacks perform against organization
is also called as Cyber terrorism.
●
Cyber attackers use computer and internet
to perform Cyber terrorism, by stealing
private information or destroying valuable
files, damaging programs file or taking
control of network system.
●
It’s like cyber attacks on banks.

Cyber attacks using single event
●
This type of Cyber attacks perform in single
event from victim point of view.
●
For example, mistakenly open email may
contain virus.
●
Representation of incorrect website called as
phishing and steal valuable financial
information.
●
This kind of attack is also called as hacking
or online fraud.

Cyber attacks considering
series of event
●
Sometime attacker perform series of event to
track victim, interacting with victim.
●
For example attacker perform communication
with victim using phone or chat room establish
connection with victim and then explore or
steel valuable information.
●
Nowadays this kind of attack getting viral so
be aware before accepting friend request in
Facebook or Whatsapp.

How Criminals Plan the Attacks

The following phases are involved
in planning cybercrime
●
Reconnaissance (information gathering) is the
first phase and is treated as passive attacks.
●
Scanning and scrutinizing the gathered
information for the validity of the information
as well as to identify the existing
vulnerabilities.
●
Launching an attack (gaining and
maintaining the system access).

Reconnaissance
●
The literal meaning of "Reconnaissance" is an act of
reconnoitering- explore, often with the goal of finding
something or somebody (especially to gain information
about an enemy or potential enemy).
●
In the world of "hacking," reconnaissance phase begins
with "Footprinting" - this is the preparation toward
preattack phase, and involves accumulating data about
the target's environment and computer architecture to
find ways to intrude into that environment.
●
Footprinting gives an overview about system
vulnerabilities and provides a judgment about possible
exploitation of those vulnerabilities.

Reconnaissance
●
The objective of this preparatory phase is to
understand the system, its networking ports and
services, and any other aspects of its security that
are needful for launching the attack.
●
Thus, an attacker attempts to gather information in
two phases: passive and active attacks.

Passive Attacks
●
A passive attack involves gathering information
about a target without his/her (individual's or
company's) knowledge.
●
It can be as simple as watching a building to identify
what time employees enter the building's premises.
●
However, it is usually done using Internet searches
or by Googling (i,e., searching the required
information with the help of search engine Google)
an individual or company to gain information.

Passive Attacks
●
Google or Yahoo search: People search to locate information about
employees.
●
Surfing online community groups like Orkut/Facebook will prove
useful to gain the information about an individual.
●
Organization's website may provide a personnel directory or
information about key employees, for example, contact details, E-
Mail address, etc. These can be used in a social engineering attack
to reach the target.
●
Blogs, newsgroups, press releases, etc. are generally used as the
mediums to gain information about the company or employees.
●
Going through the job postings in particular job profiles for
technical persons can provide information about type of technology,
that is, servers or infrastructure devices a company maybe using on
its network.
●

Active Attacks
●
An active attack involves probing the network to
discover individual hosts to confirm the information
(IP addresses, operating system type and version, and
services on the network) gathered in the passive attack,
phase.
●
It involves the risk of detection and is also called
"Rattling the doorknobs" or "Active reconnaissance."
●
Active reconnaissance can provide confirmation to an
attacker about security measures in place, but the
process can also increase the chance of being caught or
raise suspicion.

Scanning and Scrutinizing
Gathered Information
●
Scanning is a key step to examine intelligently
while gathering information about the target.
The objectives of scanning are as follows:
– Port scanning: Identify open/close ports and
services.
– Network scanning: Understand IP Addresses and
related information about the computer network
systems.
– Vulnerability scanning: Understand the existing
weaknesses in the system.

Scanning and Scrutinizing
Gathered Information
●
The scrutinizing phase is always called
"enumeration" in the hacking world. The
objective behind this step is to identify:
– The valid user accounts or groups;
– Network resources and/or shared resources
– OS and different applications that are
running on the OS.

Attack (Gaining and
Maintaining the System Access)
●
After the scanning and enumeration, the
attack is launched using the following
steps:
– Crack the password
– Exploit the password
– Execute the malicious command/applications
– Hide the files (if required)
– Cover the tracks - delete the access logs, so
that there is no trail illicit activity.
●

Cybercafe and Cybercrimes
●
Cybercriminals prefer cybercafes to carry out
their activities.
●
The criminals tend to identify one particular
personal computer PC to prepare it for their
use.
●
Cybercriminals will visit these cafes at a
particular time and on the prescribed
frequency, maybe alternate day or twice a
week.

A recent survey conducted in one of the
metropolitan cities in India reveals the
following facts,
●
Pirated software(s) such as OS, browser, office automation
software(s) (e.g., Microsoft Office) are installed in all the computers.
●
Antivirus software is found to be not updated to the latest patch
and/or antivirus signature.
●
Several cybercafes had installed the software called "Deep Freeze"
for protecting the computers from prospective malware attacks.
●
Annual maintenance contract (AMC) found to be not in a place for
servicing the computers; hence, hard disks for all the computers are
not formatted unless the computer is down.
●
Not having the AMC is a risk from cybercrime perspective because a
cybercriminal can install a Malicious Code on a computer and
conduct criminal activities without any interruption.

A recent survey conducted in one of the
metropolitan cities in India reveals the
following facts,
●
Pornographic websites and other similar websites with indecent
contents are not blocked.
●
Cybercafe owners have very less awareness about IT Security and
IT Governance.
●
Government/ISPs/State Police (cyber cell wing) do not seem to
provide IT Governance guidelines to cybercafe owners.
●
Cybercafe association or State Police (cyber cell wing) do not
seem to conduct periodic visits to cybercafes - one of the
cybercafe owners whom we interviewed expressed a view that the
police will not visit a cybercafe unless criminal activity is
registered by fling an First Information Report (FIR).
●
Cybercafe owners feel that police either have a very little
knowledge about the technical aspects, involved in cybercrimes
and/or about conceptual understanding of IT security.
●

●
There are thousands of cybercafes across India.
●
In the event that a central agency takes up the
responsibility for monitoring cybercafes, an
individual should take care while visiting and/or
operating from cybercafe.

Here are a few tips for safety
and security while using the
computer in a cybercafe:
●
Always logout: While checking E-Mails or logging into
chatting services such as instant messaging or using any other
service that requires a username and a password, always click
"logout" or sign out" before leaving the system.
– Simply closing the browser window is not enough, because if
somebody uses the same service after you then one can get an easy
access to your account.
– However, do not save your login information through options that
allow automatic login. Disable such options before logon.
●
Stay with the computer: While surfing/browsing, one should
not leave the system unattended for any period of time.
– If one has to go out, logout and close all browser windows.

Here are a few tips for safety and
security while using the computer
in a cybercafe:
●
Clear history and temporary files: Internet Explorer saves pages
that you have visited in the history folder and in temporary Internet
files. Your passwords may also be stored in the browser if that option
has been enabled on the computer that you have used.Therefore,
before you begin browsing, do the following in case of the browser
Internet Explorer:
– Go to Tools →Internet options → click the Content tab → click Auto
Complete. If the checkboxes for passwords are selected, deselect them. Click
OK twice.
– After you have finished browsing, you should clear the history and temporary
Internet files folders. For this, go to Tools →Internet options again → click
the General tab → go to Temporary Internet Files →click Delete Files and
then click Delete Cookies.
– Then, under history, click clear history. Wait for the process to finish before
leaving the computer.

Here are a few tips for safety and
security while using the computer
in a cybercafe:
●
Be alert: One should have to stay alert and aware of the surroundings while
using a public computer. Snooping over the shoulder is an easy way of getting
your username and password.
●
Avoid online financial transactions: Ideally one should avoid online banking,
shopping or other transactions that require one to provide personal, confidential
and sensitive information such as credit card or bank account details. In case of
urgency one has to do it; however, one should take the precaution of changing
all the passwords as soon as possible. One should change the passwords using a
more trusted computer, such as at home and/or in office.
●
Change password
●
Virtual keyboard: Nowadays almost every bank has provided the virtual
keyboard on their website.
●
Security warnings: One should take utmost care while accessing the websites
of any banks/financial institution.

How to be safe
●
Individual should take care while accessing computers
in public places, that is, accessing the Internet in
public places such as hotels, libraries and holiday
resorts.
●
Moreover, one should not forget that whatever is
applicable for cybercafes (i.e., from information
security perspective) is also true in the case of all other
all public places where the Internet is made available.
●
Hence, one should follow all tips about safety and
security while operating the systems from these
facilities.

Botnets: The Fuel for Cybercrime
●
The dictionary meaning of Bot is (computing) an
automated program for doing some particular
task, often over a network.
●
Botnet is a term used for collection of software
robots, or Bots, that run autonomously and
automatically.
●
The term is often associated with malicious
software but can also refer to the network of
computers using distributed computing software.

●
In simple terms, a Bot is simply an automated
computer program. One can gain the control of
your computer by infecting them with a virus
or other Malicious Code that gives the access.
●
Your computer system maybe a part of a
Botnet even though it appears to be operating
normally.
●
Botnets are often used to conduct a range of
activities, from distributing Spam and viruses
to conducting denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.

●
A Botnet (also called as zombie network) is a
network of computers infected with a malicious
program that allows cybercriminals to control the
infected machines remotely without the users'
knowledge. "Zombie networks" have become of
income for entire groups of cybercriminals.
●
The invariably low cost of maintaining a Botnet
and the ever diminishing degree of knowledge
require to manage one are conducive to the
growth in popularity and, consequently, the
number of Botnets.

●
If someone wants to start a "business" and
has no programming skills, there are plenty
of "Bot for sale” offers on forums.
●
Obfuscation and encryption of these
programs' code can also be ordered in the
same way to protect them from detection by
antivirus tools. Another option is to steal an
existing Botnet.

Figure below explains how Botnets
create business.

One can reduce the chances of becoming part of a Bot by limiting
access into the system.
Leaving your Internet connection ON and unprotected is just like
leaving the front door of the house wide open.
●
One can ensure following to secure the system:
– Use antivirus and anti-Spyware software and keep it up-to-date.
– Set the OS to download and install security patches automatically.
– Use a firewall to protect the system, from hacking attacks while it is
connected on the Internet.
– Disconnect from the Internet. when you are away from your computer.
– Downloading the freeware only from websites that are known and
trustworthy.
– Check regularly the folders in the mail box- "sent items" or
"outgoing"-for those messages, you did not send.
– Take an immediate action if your system is infected.

●
Use antivirus and anti-Spyware software and keep
it up-to-date: It is important to remove and/or
quarantine the viruses. The settings of these
softwares should be done during the installations so
that these softwares get updated automatically on a
daily basis.
●
Set the OS to download and install security
patches automatically: OS companies issue the
security patches for flaws that are found in these
systems.

●
Use a firewall to protect the system, from hacking
attacks while it is connected on the Internet: A
firewall is a software and/or hardware that is
designed to block unauthorized access while
permitting authorized communications.
– It is a device or set of devices configured to permit, deny,
encrypt, decrypt, or proxy all (in and out) computer traffic
between different security domains based upon a set of
rules and other criteria.
– A firewall is different from antivirus protection.
– Antivirus software scans incoming communications and
files for troublesome viruses vis-a-vis properly configured
firewall that helps to block all incoming communications
from unauthorized sources.

●
Disconnect from the Internet. when you are away
from your computer: Attackers cannot get into the
system when the system is disconnected from the
Internet.
– Firewall, antivirus, and anti-Spyware softwares are not
foolproof mechanisms to get access to the system.
●
Downloading the freeware only from websites that
are known and trustworthy: It is always appealing
to download free software(s) such as games, file-
sharing programs, customized toolbars, etc.
– However, one should remember that many free
software(s) contain other software, which may include
Spyware.

●
Check regularly the folders in the mail box- "sent items"
or "outgoing"-for those messages, you did not send: If you
do find such messages in your outbox, it is a sign that your
system may have infected with Spyware, and maybe a part of
a Botnet.
– This is not foolproof; many spammers have learned to hide their
unauthorized access.
●
Take an immediate action if your system is infected: If
your system is found to be infected by a virus, disconnect it
from the Internet immediately.
– Then scan the entire system with fully updated antivirus, and anti-
Spyware software. Report the unauthorized accesses to ISP and to
the legal authorities.
– There is a possibility that your passwords may have been
compromised in such cases, so change all the passwords
immediately.

Attack Vector
●
An "attack vector" is a path or means by
which an attacker can gain access to a
computer or to a network server to deliver a
payload or malicious outcome.
●
Attack vectors enable attackers to exploit
system vulnerabilities, including the human
element.
●
Attack vectors include viruses, E-Mail
attachments, webpages, pop-up windows,
instant messages, chat rooms, and deception.

Attack Vector
●
All of these methods involve programming (or, in a
few cases, hardware), except deception, in which a
human operator is fooled into removing or weakening
system defenses.
●
To some extent, firewalls and antivirus software can
block attack vectors. However, no protection method
is totally attack-proof.
●
A defense method that is effective today may not
remain so for long because attackers are constantly
updating attack vectors, and seeking new ones, in
their quest to gain unauthorized access to computers
and servers.

Attack Vector
●
The most common malicious payloads are viruses
(which can function as their own attack vectors),
Trojan Horses, worms, and Spyware.
●
If an attack vector is thought of as a guided
missile, its payload can be compared to the
warhead in the tip of the missile.
●
In the technical terms, payload is the necessary
data being carried within a packet or other
transmission unit - in this scenario (i.e., attack
vector) payload means the malicious activity
that the attack performs.

Attack Vector
●
From the technical perspective, payload does not
include the "overhead" "data required to get the
packet to its destination.
●
Payload may depend on the following point of view:
"What constitutes it?" To a communications layer that
needs some of the overhead data to do its job, the
payload is sometimes considered to include that part
of the overhead data that this layer handles.
●
However, in more general usage, the payload is the
bits that get delivered to the end-user at the
destination.

How attack vectors are launched
The attack vectors described here are how most of them
are launched.
– Attack by E-Mail
– Attachments (and other files)
– Attack by deception
– Hackers
– Heedless guests (attack by webpage)
– Attack of the worms
– Malicious macros
– Foistware (sneakware):
– Viruses

●
Attack by E-Mail: The hostile content is either embedded in the
message or linked to by the message. Sometimes attacks combine the
two vectors, so that if the message does not get you, the attachment
will. Spam is almost always carrier for scams, fraud, dirty tricks, or
malicious action of some kind. Any link that offers something "free"
or tempting is a suspect.
●
Attachments (and other files): Malicious attachments install
malicious computer code. The code could be a virus, Trojan Horse,
Spyware, or any other kind of malware. Attachments attempt to install
their payload as soon as you open them.
●
Attack by deception: Deception is aimed at the user/operator as a
vulnerable entry point, It is not just malicious computer code that one
needs to monitor. Fraud, scams, hoaxes, and to some extent Spam, not
to mention viruses, worms and such require the unwitting cooperation
of the computer's operator to succeed. Social engineering and hoaxes
are other forms of deception that are often an attack vector too.

●
Hackers: Hackers/crackers are a formidable attack vector because, unlike ordinary
Malicious Code, people are flexible and they can improvise. Hackers/crackers use a
variety of hacking tools, heuristics,and social engineering to gain access to
computers and online accounts. They often install a Trojan Horse to commandeer
the computer for their own use.
●
Heedless guests (attack by webpage): Counterfeit websites are used to extract
personal information. Such websites look very, much like genuine websites they
imitate. One may think he/she is doing business with someone you trust. However,
he/she is really giving their personal information, like address, credit card number,
and expiration date. They are often used in conjunction with Spam, which gets you
there in the first place. Pop-up webpages may install Spyware, Adware or Trojans.
●
Attack of the worms: Many worms are delivered as E-Mail attachments, but
Network worms use holes in network protocols directly. Any remote access service,
like file sharing, is likely to be vulnerable to this sort of worm. In most cases, a
firewall will block system worms. Many of these system worms install Trojan
Horses. Next they begin scanning the Internet from the computer they have just
infected, and start looking for other computers to infect. If the worm is successful, it
propagates rapidly. The worm owner soon has thousands of "zombie" computers to
use for more mischief.

●
Malicious macros: Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel are some of the
examples that allow macros. A macro does something like automating a
spreadsheet, for example. Macros can also be used for malicious
purposes. All Internet services like instant messaging, Internet Relay
Chart (IRC), and P2P file-sharing networks rely on cozy connections
between the computer and the other computers on the Internet. If one is
using P2P software then his/her system is more vulnerable to hostile
exploits.
●
Foistware (sneakware): Foistware is the software that adds hidden
components to the system on the sly. Spyware is the most common form
of foistware. Foistware is quasi-legal software bundled with some
attractive software. Sneak software often hijacks your browser and
diverts you to some "revenue opportunity" that the foistware has set up.
●
Viruses: These are malicious computer codes that hitch a ride and make
the payload. Nowadays, virus vectors include E-Mail attachments,
downloaded files, worms, etc.

This work is licensed under
a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
It makes use of the works of
Kelly Loves Whales and Nick Merritt.

M1-02-HowCriminalsPlan.pdf

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M1-02-HowCriminalsPlan.pdf