Examples of cyber crime include unauthorized access, Email bombing, data diddling denial-of-service attacks.Traditional crimes facilitated through the use of computers include Nigerian 419 frauds (e.g., hacking,phishing, identity theft, child pornography, online gambling, etc. Cyberstalking (harassment) is an example of a traditional crime that has taken a new form.
Unauthorized access to computer systems or networks is commonly referred to as hacking. This includes theft of information stored in computer hard disks.
Email bombing refers to sending a large number of emails to the victim resulting in the victim's email account or mail servers crashing.
Data diddling involves altering raw data just before it is processed by a computer and then changing it back after the processing is completed. Electricity Boards in India have been victims to data diddling programs inserted when private parties were computerizing their systems.
Denial of Service attack involves flooding a computer resource with more requests than it can handle. This causes the web server to crash thereby denying authorized users the service offered by the resource.
Virus / worm attacks are programs that attach themselves to a computer or a file and then circulate themselves to other files and to other computers on a network. They usually alter or delete the data on a computer.
The VBS_LOVELETTER virus was reportedly written by a Filipino undergraduate. In May 2000, this deadly virus struck one in every five personal computers in the world. The original VBS_LOVELETTER utilized the addresses in Microsoft Outlook and emailed itself to those addresses. The e-mail, which was sent out, had "ILOVEYOU" in its subject line. The message in the e-mail was "kindly check the attached LOVELETTER coming from me". Losses incurred during this virus attack were estimated at US $ 10 billion.
Web jacking occurs when someone forcefully takes control of a website (by cracking the password and later changing it). The actual owner of the website does not have any more control over what appears on that website.
Life is about a mix of good and evil. So is the Internet. For all the good it does us, cyberspace has its dark sides too. Awareness is important and any matter should be reported at once. Until laws become more stringent or technology more advanced users must guard against electronic information sharing on their computers.
*************
No comments:
Post a Comment