Cybercrime encompasses any criminal act dealing with computers and networks. Additionally, cybercrime also includes traditional crimes conducted through the Internet.
Additional resources:
OnGuard Online, www.onguardonline.gov, provides practical tips from the federal government and the technology industry to help you be on guard against Internet fraud, secure your computer, and protect your personal information.
The Internet Crime Complaint Center, www.ic3.gov, gives victims of cybercrime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at the federal, state, local and international level, IC3 provides a central referral mechanism for complaints involving Internet related crimes.
HOW IT HAPPENS:
Viruses - A computer virus attaches itself to a program or file enabling it to spread from one computer to another, leaving infections as it travels. Like a human virus, a computer virus can range in severity: some may cause only mildly annoying effects while others can damage your hardware, software or files.
Worms - A worm is similar to a virus by design and is considered to be a sub-class of a virus. Worms spread from computer to computer, but unlike a virus, it has the capability to travel without any human action. A worm takes advantage of file or information transport features on your system, which is what allows it to travel unaided. The biggest danger with a worm is its capability to replicate itself on your system, so rather than your computer sending out a single worm, it could send out hundreds or thousands of copies of itself, creating a huge devastating effect. One example would be for a worm to send a copy of itself to everyone listed in your e-mail address book. Then, the worm replicates and sends itself out to everyone listed in each of the receiver's address book, and the manifest continues on down the line.
Trojan Horses - A Trojan Horse is full of as much trickery as the mythological Trojan Horse after which it was named. The Trojan Horse, at first glance, will appear to be useful software but will actually do damage once installed or run on your computer. Those on the receiving end of a Trojan Horse are usually tricked into opening them because they appear to be receiving legitimate software or files from a legitimate source. When a Trojan is activated on your computer, the results can vary. Some Trojans are designed to be more annoying than malicious (like changing your desktop, adding silly active desktop icons) or they can cause serious damage by deleting files and destroying information on your system. Trojans are also known to create a backdoor on your computer that gives malicious users access to your system, possibly allowing confidential or personal information to be compromised. Unlike viruses and worms, Trojans do not reproduce by infecting other files nor do they self-replicate.
Zombies - A zombie computer (often shortened as zombie) is a computer attached to the Internet that has been compromised by a hacker, a computer virus, or a Trojan Horse. Generally, a compromised machine is only one of many in a botnet, and will be used to perform malicious tasks of one sort or another under remote direction. Most owners of zombie computers are unaware that their system is being used in this way. Because the owner tends to be unaware, these computers are metaphorically compared to zombies.
Spyware - Spyware is computer software that is installed surreptitiously on a personal computer to collect information about a user, their computer or browsing habits without the user's informed consent.
Botnets - This word is generally used to refer to a collection of compromised computers (usually zombies) running software, usually installed via worms, Trojan Horses, or backdoors, under a common command-and-control infrastructure. A botnet's originator can control the group remotely, usually for nefarious purposes.
Hackers - People committed to the circumvention of computer security. This primarily concerns unauthorized remote computer break-ins via a communication network such as the Internet. Note: Mainstream usage of the term Hacker mostly refers to computer criminals, due to the mass media usage of the word since the 1980s. However, the term Hacker originally was used to describe someone that is a computer programming enthusiast.
SCOPE OF PROBLEM:
Most identity theft involves plain, old-fashioned stealing (e.g., dumpster diving, stealing mail, or stealing a purse). However, the number of victims of cybertheft who report and seek assistance is rising because our reliance as a society on the Internet and other advanced technology continues to increase.
The major scope of the problem is the lack of understanding and education law officials have on this growing issue of cybercrime. According to my research, Law Enforcement Agencies are not provided adequate funding by our government, nor have the manpower to spend on such complex cases which leads to the case being put on the bottom of the stack.
Therefore, it continues which can cost well over 15k for an individual to correct. Of course while it progresses approximately 40% of victims experience more stress in their everyday life. It changes an individual due to frustration and anger causing a its a feeling of disbelief and the inability to trust.
You may ask how I would know. Let's just say you could have fooled me.
