Cybercrime Causes And Measures To Prevent It

In day-to-day life, everyone is leading their life with technology. Our daily life depends on technology. So, nowadays everybody knows the internet and is aware of it. The Internet has everything that a man needs in terms of data. So, people are becoming addicted to the Internet. The percentage of the population using the internet are increasing day-by-day. National security is in some way getting dependent on the internet. But the new technologies which have arrived also brought unusual threats and Cyber-Crime is one such concept. Cyber-Crime is a crime that uses a computer for an attack like hacking, spamming, etc. 

Introduction about Cyber-crime:
Cyber-crime is nothing but all illegal activities which are carried out using technology. Cyber-criminals hack user’s personal computers, smartphones, personal details from social media, business secrets, national secrets, important personal data, etc with the help of internet and technology. Hackers are the criminals who are performing these illegal, malicious activities on the internet. Though some agencies are trying to tackle this problem, it is growing regularly and many people have become victims of identity theft, hacking, and malicious software. Let’s find out more about cyber-crimes. 

Causes of Cyber Crime:
To earn a huge amount of money, Cyber-criminals always choose an easy way. Banks, casinos, companies, and, financial firms are the prosperous organizations and their target centers where an enormous amount of money runs daily and has diplomatic information. It’s very difficult to catch those criminals. Hence, the number of cyber-crimes are increasing day-by-day across the globe. We require so many laws to protect and safeguard them against cyber-criminals since the devices we use everyday for businesses and communication might have vulnerabilities that can be exploited. We have listed some of the reasons :

1. Easy to access computers – Since technology is complex, it has become very difficult to protect the computer from viruses and hackers. There are so many possibilities of hacking when we safeguard a computer system from unauthorized access. Hackers can steal access codes, retinal images, advanced voice recorders, etc that can mislead the bio-metric systems easily and can be utilized to get past many security systems by avoiding firewalls.
2. Size to store computer data in comparatively small space – The computer has got a distinctive feature of storing data in a very small space. Due to this, the people can steal data very easily from any other storage and are using this for their purpose.
3. Complexity of Code – The computers can run on operating systems and these operating systems are programmed with millions of codes. There might be mistakes in the code. The human brain is defective so that they can commit mistakes at any stage. The cyber-criminals take advantage of these loopholes.
4. Negligence of the user – Human beings always neglect things. So, if we make any negligence in protecting our computer system which leads the cyber-criminal to the access and control over the computer system.
5. Loss of evidence – Hackers always make sure to clear any evidence i.e log data related to the attack. So, Loss of evidence has turned into an evident problem that disables the law enforcement to go beyond the investigation of cyber-crime.

Types of Cyber Security 

There are many types of cyber-crimes which are explained below:

1. Hacking: It defines that sending illegal instruction to any other computer or network. In this case, a person’s computer is hacked so that sensitive information can be retrieved. The criminal uses a variety of software to break into a person’s computer and the person may not be knowing that his computer is being accessed from a remote location. The government websites are strong prey for hackers. Ethical hacking is different from this and is used by many organizations to check their Internet security protection.
2. Children pornography and their Abuse: The internet is being enormously used to abuse children. This is a type of cyber-crime where criminals exploit minors through chat rooms for the intention of child pornography. The Cyber-security sector of each nation is spending an excess of time supervising chat rooms frequently visited by children with the belief of minimizing and preventing child abuse and soliciting.
3. Plagiarism or Piracy or Theft: This crime happens when a person disobeys copyrights and downloads music, movies, games, and software. There are even peer sharing websites that stimulate software piracy and many of the other websites are now being aimed by the FBI. Nowadays, the judicial system is addressing the cyber-crime and there are so many laws that stop people from illegal downloading. Film producers and directors frequently become a martyr of this crime.
4. Cyber Stalking: This is an online harassment where the victim is exposed to a cascade of online messages and emails. Typically, these stalkers know their victims and instead of offline stalking, they will use the Internet to stalk. Although, if they notice that cyber-stalking is not having the effect which they have desired, then they begin offline stalking along with cyber-stalking to make sure that victim’s survival is more depressed.
5. Cyber Terrorism: Cyber terrorism is also known as information wars and can be defined as an act of Internet terrorism which contains cautious and large-scale strikes and disturbances of computer networks using computer viruses or the physical attacks using malware to strike individuals, governments and other organizations. The aim of terrorists is to produce a sense of terror in the brains of the victims. Maintaining this idea in mind, it enhances a simple way to modify the cyber-attacks for a financial or egotistical and achieve from acts of cyber terrorism. Cyber terrorists drive with the aim of harm and demolition at the forefront of their activities like a vanguard.
6. Identity Theft: This is a major problem with the people who are using the Internet and technology for cash transactions and banking services. In this cyber-crime, a criminal retrieves data about a person’s bank account, credit cards, Social Security, debit card and the other diplomatic information to drain money or to purchase things online in the victim’s name. This can result in vital economic losses for the victim and even in damaging the victim’s credit history.
7. Computer Vandalism: This is a type of malicious action that involves the destruction of computers and data in different ways and certainly disrupting businesses. The computer vandalism involves the installation of malicious programs which are designed to perform damaging tasks such as deleting hard drive data or remove login credentials. Computer vandalism differs from viruses which hold themselves to the existing programs.
8. Malicious Software: This software based on the Internet or programs that are used to disturb a network. The software is used to acquire access to a system to loot diplomatic information or data or causing destruction to the software which is present in the system.

How to prevent Cyber-Crime?

To prevent cyber-crime successfully, set up multidimensional public-private collaborations between law enforcement organizations, the information technology industry, information security organizations, internet companies, and financial institutions. A far apart from the real world, Cyber-criminals do not combat one another for predominance or authority. Rather, they do their tasks together to enhance their abilities and even can help out each other with new opportunities. Therefore, the regular ways of fighting the crime cannot be used against these cyber-criminals. 

There are some ways to prevent cyber-crimes are explained below:

1. By Using Strong Passwords: Maintaining different password and username combinations for each of the accounts and withstand the desire to write them down. Weak passwords can be easily broken. The following password combinations can make password more prone to hacking:
   • Using keyboard patterns for passwords. e.g. – wrtdghu
   • Using very easy combinations. e.g. – sana1999, jan2000
   • Using Default passwords. e.g. – Hello123, Madhu123
   • Keeping the password the same as the username. e.g. – Madhu_Madhu
2. Keep social media private: Be sure that your social networking profiles (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) are set to be private. Once be sure to check your security settings. Be careful with the information that you post online. Once if you put something on the Internet and it is there forever.
3. Protect your storage data: Protect your data by using encryption for your important diplomatic files such as related to financial and taxes.
4. Protecting your identity online: We have to be very alert when we are providing personal information online. You must be cautious when giving out personal ids such as your name, address, phone number, and financial information on the Internet. Be sure to make that websites are secure when you are making online purchases, etc. This includes allowing your privacy settings when you are using social networking sites.
5. Keep changing passwords frequently: When it comes to password, don’t stick to one password. You can change your password frequently so that it may be difficult for the hackers to access the password and the stored data.
6. Securing your Phones: Many people are not knowing that their mobile devices are also unsafe for malicious software, such as computer viruses and hackers. Make sure that you download applications only from trusted sources. Don’t download the software /applications from unknown sources. It is also pivotal that you should keep your operating system up-to-date. Be sure to install the anti-virus software and to use a secure lock screen as well. Otherwise, anybody can retrieve all your personal information on your phone if you lost it. Hackers can track your every movement by installing malicious software through your GPS.
7. Call the right person for help: Try not to be nervous if you are a victim. If you come across illegal online content such as child exploitation or if you think it’s a cyber-crime or identity theft or a commercial scam, just like any other crime report this to your local police. There are so many websites to get help on cyber-crime.
8. Protect your computer with security software: There are many types of security software that are necessary for basic online security. Security software includes firewall and antivirus software. A firewall is normally your computer’s first line of security. It controls that who, what and where is the communication is going on the internet. So, it’s better to install security software which is from trusted sources to protect your computer.

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybercrime