Cybercrime is considered to be any criminal activity taking place in what is defined as cyberspace. Hacking is the most common cybercrime activity people know about and many do not know that this actually started during the sixties. At that point in time, it was not that serious but nowadays it is much more common than it should be.
Every single person that accesses the internet needs to be aware of the existence of cybercrime. This is particularly true for business owners that need to be extremely careful about respecting the law and protecting business data. With this in mind, here are some of the most common cybercrime acts that happen right now, thanks to research done by people at Jacobson Law Harshberger.
Fraud
This is a very general term that describes any cybercrime carried out with the intention of deceiving something. The goal is to gain some important information or data. Fraud is possible through different methods, including destroying, altering, suppressing and stealing information in order to secure an unfair or an unlawful gain.
Hacking
Hacking never went away and it will never disappear. The act involves the complete or partial acquisition of various functions in a network, site or system. In addition, hacking tries to access vital information and data, usually breaching privacy. Hackers tend to attack government and corporate accounts. Various types of hacking procedures and methods are used today and new ones are invented every single month.
Identity theft
This specific type of fraud sees the cybercriminal stealing personal data. Examples of what can be stolen include bank account data, debit card data, credit card data, passwords, social security numbers and more. Identify theft is usually carried out in order to make it easy for the criminal to steal money. The BJS (US Bureau of Justice Statistics) claims that 1.1 million citizens are now identity theft victims.
Scamming
There are various different types of scams that can be highlighted. When referring strictly to cyberspace, scamming is usually carried out through offering network troubleshooting, computer repair or IT support services. This is effective because it makes targets offer sensitive information. That information or the access that is gained can lead to different problems. Usually, payment is required for something that should not have been paid. When there are illegal plans in place to make money, no matter the method used, it is considered as being scamming.
Ransomware
Ransomware is gaining popularity right now because of how effective it can be in terms of getting money from the victim. This type of cybercrime is particularly destructive. It can enter the computer network and then encrypts all the information found. As a result, the victim is forced to pay a ransom to get access to the data that was encrypted.
DDoS Attack
DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service. It is an attack that is a part of hacking. By using it, a network or a server is attacked and forced to stop running. As the system goes online, various functions are compromised in order to make websites unavailable. Usually, the goal is to force businesses or individuals to focus on the attack so that the hacker can do something far more destructive.
Phishing
Phishing works because the phisher acts like a fully legitimate organization or company, like a bank. Email spoofing is often utilized to gain confidential information, like social security numbers, credit card numbers or passwords.
Thousands of complex phishing emails are sent out every single day. They try to get the user to click on a link that is a fake website. The user thinks that the site is legitimate so personal information is entered. As a result, the dishonest party receives the information.
Cyberstalking
Last but not least, this involves an online stalking act in which a person anonymously follows another person. A stalker follows different activities. Usually, the victim is a woman but children and men can also be the targets.
Image by Elchinator