Cyber Crime

INTRODUCTION

Cyber Crime (aka computer crime) is defined as crimes committed on the internet using the computer as either a tool or a targeted victim.

Why learn about it?

Nowadays, internet is accessible to almost everyone. People do not only use it to surf web but also use it for online transactions involving money.

2 types of Cyber Crimes

Type 1
Spam - continuously sending of packets to the destination over the internet

One example of spam is Denial of Service

What is Denial of Service (aka DoS)?
Denial of Service attack is to prevent client from getting a service from a server.

Examples are:

1. Attempts to "flood" a network, thereby preventing legitimate network traffic
2. Attempts to disrupt connections between two machines, thereby preventing access to a service
3. Attempts to prevent a particular individual from accessing a service
4. Attempts to disrupt service to a specific system or person

Does anyone know that Yahoo had been one of the victims of Denial of Service?

Yahoo had been down for more than 3 hours on 7th Feb 2000 due to Denial of Service. People were unable to use all the services provide by Yahoo during this duration. This had caused a lot of inconvenient to the people.

More information on the Yahoo Attack

Can you imagine if all major servers are down, what will happen to us since most of us relay badly on internet nowadays?
But for now the Denial of Service had been solved if not you will still unable to surf Yahoo.


Type 2
Computer Fraud - deceive, misrepresent, destroy, steal information, or cause harm to others by accessing information through deceptive and illegal means over the internet

One example of Computer Fraud

SAN JOSE WOMAN CHARGED WITH FRAUD IN CONNECTION WITH A PROTECTED COMPUTER

Ms. Leatiota was an employee of a company that provides payroll processing services to clients both in and outside of California. Green Waste Recovery was a client of Ms. Leatiota's company. Ms.Leatiota allegedly obtained and used the user names and passwords of other company employees without their knowledge or permission to access her company's computer network to alter the Green Waste payroll records so that Green Waste overpaid her husband, a Green Waste employee.

More information on the incident

I feel that it is a serious issue as money was involved. Nowadays, people tend to do payment online and online banking. If the network had been compromised, it will cause people to suffer loss of money or others confidential data online.

Some Tips :

1. Practice safe online shopping. Know your sellers and use only secure sites.
2. Use secure transactions when transferring sensitive information and make sure you are dealing with a reputable company.
3. Choose strong passwords and keep them safe.
4. Make sure to verify the authenticity of an attachment before you open it. More information on keeping your computer free of malware and unwanted software:
5. Never send your personal information (credit card numbers, passwords, etc.) in an email.

Overall, I feel that new media is still not a safe place for people to do payment or banking. It is because there is always a new way of compromised the network when the old one are solved. For the spamming case, I think that we should try not depend too much on server services as we would not know when it will happen again(example email server).