Cyber Crime and Cyber Espionage-Free-Samples-Myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Cyber Crime and Cyber Espionage. Answer: Introduction The aim of this report is to provide light on the topics cyber-crime and cyber-Espionage, which can be considered as the most vicious threat to the privacy and the security of an individual in this new era of technology. Cyber-crime and cyber-espionage both are illegal in the eyes of law and both are same in a way as both of them access to the data and information of the population without their authority or permission. However, one is done for personal profit (Cyber-crime), and the government for the benefits of the communities performs another (Cyber-Espionage). This report put emphasis on such intrusions and focuses on certain preventive measures, which can be implemented before and after the attack to protect personal information and data. How the intruders let, these intrusions have also been proposed in this report. Several examples of cyber-crime and cyber-espionage have also been proposed in this report to show that how much an individual, group of individual, an organization or common people be affected by such cyber-crimes. Cyber-Crime Cybercrime is defined as a crime in which a computer is the object of the crime (hacking, phishing, spamming) or is used as a tool to commit an offense (child pornography, hate crimes) (Mc Guire and Dowling 2013). Cybercriminals may use computer technology to access personal information, business trade secrets or use the internet for exploitive or malicious purposes. Criminals can also use computers for communication and document or data storage. Criminals who perform these illegal activities are often referred to as hackers. Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of activities, but these can generally be broken into two categories: Crimes, which target the computer networks or systems. These types of crimes include viruses and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks (Choo and 2013). Crimes that use computer networks to advance other criminal activities. These types of crimes include cyber-stalking, phishing and fraud or identity theft. Most Vicious Cyber-Crime around the Globe The Original Logic Bomb During the cold war in the year 1982,CIAfound a way to disrupt the operation of a Siberian gas pipeline of Russia without using traditional explosive devices likemissiles or bombs. Titan Rain Shawn Carpenter discovered a series of coordinated cyber raids, in what the FBI believed to originated from government-supported cells in China. Moonlight Maze Thiswas actually an accidental discovery, which was made by the US officials and was believed to be conceived by the Russians although they denied their involvement. In this big cyber-attack, the hackers targeted military maps and schematics. Epsilon Although, the targets of the hackers were email addresses that they can use for their criminal activities. This is the fourth biggest cyber-crime in history. In a result of this hacking the data-breach in Epsilon, which is the worlds largest provider of marketing and handling services, has an estimated damage cost that ranged from $225 million to $4 billion dollars. Why this Happens? Botnets and the Rise of the Zombies As with many other industries, up and coming economies, such as China in particular, has become a favored as target for cybercrime in 2015. One significant factor has been a growth in broadband adoption in the last year. In 2013, the Chinese Government announced plans to expand broadband coverage for both rural and urban areas by 2020 (Gray, Cinton and Rinehart 2013). One of the milestones for the multi-pronged strategy aimed to bring fixed broadband connections to 400 million Chinese households by 2015. In addition, prices have been kept low, as broadband speeds have increased. All of this make the country an attractive target for cybercriminals seeking to compromise a fresh source of high-speed, internet-connected computers (Zhang et al. 2012). Security threats Email threats and phishing campaigns Malware and ransomware Mobile malware Advanced Persistent Threats Cloud security Web and application vulnerabilities (Wang and lu 2013) Denial of Service (DoS) attacks leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT) Preventive Measures CEO fraud, or cyber-attacks on C-suite executives, will grow. Techniques such as spear phishing, where cybercriminals hook their victims with a malware-infected email that appears to be from a trusted individual or business, will increasingly be used in this kind of attack. The commoditization of the tools of cybercrime will also increase. Cybercriminals will look to build their businesses by swapping and selling stolen information and prewritten malware, or by offering their skills for hire, on the dark web. State-sponsored cyber espionage will become one of the hottest topics of 2017, as foreign cybercriminals redouble their efforts to digitally infiltrated government and related agencies both with and without the knowledge of their own governing bodies (Dunn Cavelty 2012). Ransomware will continue to pose a real threat. Cybercriminals will focus their efforts on organizations, like legal firms or doctors surgeries, which hold a goldmine of sensitive personal information but are often less secure than many government or private business databases. The paradox of protection will come to the fore. As people become more aware of cybercrime, many will attempt to protect themselves by taking their personal information and professional verification tools offline wherever possible. However, by reverting to offline methods, many individuals and organizations run the risk of leaving personal details vulnerable to being stolen from low-security storage and migrated online. Impact of Cyber-crime Fifty-one percent of people think that over the past five years it has become harder to stay safe and secure online than in the real world. Yet, 689 million people in 21 countries experienced cybercrime within the last year alone. The reason for this staggering number is simple. Most people do not take the right precautions to protect their digital lives (Saini, Rao and Panda 2012). While some are unaware of online dangers, others think it can be dealt with after it happens. The truth remains that cybercrime is evolving rapidly and affecting the daily and digital lives of people. Within the past year, cybercrime victims have spent $126 billion globally and lost 19.7 hours the time it would take to fly from New York City to Los Angeles four times dealing with cybercrime. The number of connected devices has exponentially grown in the last year and there is a constant need to be connected. In fact, people are willing to engage in risky online behaviour in order to access Wi-Fi. People are also known to share their passwords with friends, access financial information via unsecured Wi-Fi connections and click on suspicious links thereby increasing the vulnerability of their connected devices. Eighty percent of the consumers who took a compromising action in response to a potential phishing incident experienced negative consequences, including identify theft, money stolen from bank accounts, credit cards opened in their name and unauthorized apps installed on their device (Lewis and Baker 2013). Cyber-Espionage Cyber espionage or Cyber spying is the act of engaging in an attack or series of attacks that let an unauthorized user or users view classified material. These attacks are often subtle, amounting to nothing more than an unnoticed bit of code or process running in the background of a mainframe or personal workstation, and the target is usually a corporate or government entity (krekel, Adams and Bakos 2012). The goal is typically to acquire intellectual property or government secrets. Attacks can be motivated by greed or profit, and can be used in conjunction with a military operation or as an act of terrorism. Consequences can range from loss of competitive advantage to loss of materials, data, infrastructure, or loss of life. Examples of Cyber-Espionage In December of 2009, Google began to notice persistent cyber-attacks aimed at acquiring information specific to Gmail accounts. The accounts were held by Chinese human rights activists, and Google was not the only target. To the search engine giant's credit, they quickly informed at least 20 other companies that they too were being targeted through a vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer (Nakashima 2013). Preventive measures were taken, and McAfee Labs identified the problem in early 2010 and code-named it Aurora. The Aurora attackers used targeted emails with malware sent to individuals who were judged as good targets because they were likely to have a high level of access to valuable intellectual property. The reaction to this act of cyber espionage varied around the world. Microsoft sent a security breach report and released a security patch. Some companies and governments also switched browsers to help safeguard against future attacks (Center 2013). Why this Happens? For years, corporations have attempted to seek advantages by prying into the business plans of their competitors. One tactic is to send in faux employees who attempt to gain access to data or projects where new technology is being developed. Technology provided an evolutionary path for this activity, and resulted in the birth of cyber spying. The faux employee is still a useful tactic, but now an unsecured workstation is far more attractive. An individual can use a USB stick to upload a worm or virus in a matter of seconds. The goal might be to identify and open a security portal or find an exploit that can be targeted later (Fidler 2013). Business websites can offer the same type of openings, and experienced hackers can use a vulnerable website to execute an attack. Emails that appear to be official may be sent to specific individuals with higher network privileges who could be lured into clicking a link that downloads code to enable later attacks. This type of attack is called spear phishing. Modern browser software is comprised of thousands of lines of code. New lines of code add new features as the software evolves. Sometimes new code, by chance or oversight (or lack thereof) breaks little-known features or works at-odds with security patches that have previously been effective. When a new feature or a new piece of software hits the market, it is analysed, dissected, and backward-engineered by countless individuals and interested parties around the world. Preventive measures While no way is guaranteed to eliminate all attacks, its usually recommended to companies and other organizations that they assess current security and procedures, evaluate risks and develop a security policy or policies that help address vulnerabilities. It may also be wise to define daily procedures and establish a response plan when an attack is detected. Procedures like backups, software and hardware updates, and other security updates should be followed, recorded, verified and audited for compliance. Procedures can also include a mobile device management policy (Skinner 2013). Staff and employees are typically the first line of defence, so educating company personnel is typically recommended. Employees should understand the importance of security protection, like rotating passwords and keeping company confidential information safe. They should also understand how to use company-approved virus and malware protection software. Informing personnel about viruses and malware is important and may help limit further breaches (Fidler 2013). When employees understand the potential for harm, they may be more likely to follow the company security policy, minimizing acts of non-compliance. Impact of Cyber Espionage For most daily Internet uses, the hidden world of international cyber espionage may seem too distant to be of any real importance. To most individual citizens, cyber espionage may not seem to influence their lives very much, but its costs on a nation-state are significant. The impact can vary significantly from monetary loss to physical infrastructure damage to civilian casualties, and the cost can range from insignificant to devastating (Lagazio, Sherif and Cushman 2014). In this section, we will first discuss the different impacts of cyber espionage and their costs on any given society, as well as explore ideas about how nation-state cyber espionage influences the future of international relations and national security. Cost is another factor for this situation. Although the amount and type of cost associated with cyber espionage can vary, in extreme cases it can be very high. When cyber-attacks are coupled with actual warfare, as in Russias preferred strategy, the loss of communication systems can severely restrict the victim nations ability to defend itself and its citizens. In this case, such an attack results in loss of property, infrastructure, and human life (Weissbrodt 2013). When Russia used this strategy on Estonia, Georgia, and Ukraine, the three victim countries lost much of their ability to defend them or to reach out and appeal to the outside world. Coupled with physical strikes, the cost on the victim state can be enormous. Conclusion Based on the above report it can be concluded that privacy and security of an individual is much more important in all aspect that is being destroyed or theft by government and the criminals both. Cyber-crimes are influencing globally now a days and lots of population are being influenced by such intrusions. This unauthorized access does not affect the individuals or the organization by collecting information but have power to affect them in the real world. This report mentioned how these virtual activities can harm the common population and the organizations in the real world and how big its impact could be. Cyber-espionage is no doubt beneficial for the community but the cost of this type of security is the private and secured information of the individuals, whom have the right to choose whom they want to reveal this information by law. Measures that are stated in the above report could help and individual from not being prey of any of the both activities. References: Center, M.I., 2013. Apt1: Exposing one of chinas cyber espionage units. Mandian. com. Choo, K.K.R. and Grabosky, P., 2013. Cyber crime. Dunn Cavelty, M., 2012. Cyber-security. Fidler, D.P., 2013. Economic Cyber Espionage and International Law: Controversies Involving Government Acquisition of Trade Secrets through Cyber Technologies. ASIL Insights, 17(10). Fidler, D.P., 2013. Economic Cyber Espionage and International Law: Controversies Involving Government Acquisition of Trade Secrets through Cyber Technologies. ASIL Insights, 17(10). Gray, D.C., Citron, D.K. and Rinehart, L.C., 2013. 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