Assignment 3: The Role of the Internet and Crime Strayed universality 170 Introduction Technologies such as cellular phones, pagers, home computers, the Internet, websites, and palm pilots have added another dimension to crime. That dimension involves increased methods at criminals disposal to commit certain crimes along with increased locations in which crimes can occur. Hackers use to look for fame with a splashy, large-scale attack on a network that made headlines.

Today's cybernetics's are quietly taking over vulnerable web sites as part of an elaborate process in the underground economy.A highlighted section is something can change the motivation of hackers. The hackers have moved from hacking attempts that are being done for notoriety to hacking for criminal Intent and fraud. While early hackers wanted to make a big splash by attacking as many computers as possible in a show of genius and ability for taking down network, now criminals do not want to be detected. Takeovers are done in a slow, methodical fashion.

By not being caught, they can use the systems they have taken over for a variety of purposes. How are cybernetics's working today, and what do you need to know to stay on top with your security strategy.Cybernetics's are sneakier, and quite. Mallard Infected systems are used as network of bots for a wide variety of Inappropriate satellites. A program that uses "Bots," can do denial of service attacks, they can be used to send out spam, and to send out pushing data Internet aided criminal activity The internet has aided criminal activity by communicating with each other without having to be near, as well as fraud and identity theft.

The rise of the Internet over the last decade has paralleled some of the greatest milestones In communications history.Along with such great strides In bringing the world together, the frightening aspect of accessing information and propaganda that tests the very limits of the U. S. Constitution has arrived.

The Internet is used to commit various crimes against a person like, transmission of child-pornography, harassment of any one with the use of a computer such as e-mail. The trafficking, distribution, posting, and dissemination of obscene material including pornography and indecent exposure, constitutes one of the most Important criminal activity known today.With Just a few making instructions, and poison recipes; and a plethora of extremist ideologies expressing everything from radical religious cults to clandestine organized crime groups. The internet has aided to criminal activity by providing an increased amount of anonymity for the criminal.

They are able to commit crimes from long distances even from other countries. Most people feel protected because they are not physically near the person they are committing the crime against.People who damage other people's credit for their own gain start a ripple effect towards the decline of consumer confidence and loss of livelihood. Examples of How the Internet has Aided One of the examples is considered as identity theft.

Identity theft is the use of one person's personal information by another to commit fraud or other crimes. The most common forms of identity theft occur when someone obtains another person's social security number, driver's license number, date of birth, and the like and uses it to open a fraudulent bank, cellular telephone, or other account, or to obtain false.Financial fraud consists of money laundering, illegal exports, arms trafficking and counterfeit pharmaceuticals, and consists of crimes such as credit card fraud, which is one of the top reported crimes. The internet has allowed groups like, AAA-Qaeda, ND other radical groups to be able to communicate across vast areas for planning, execution of crimes, recruiting and share other propaganda.

Types of crime Some of the traditional crimes now taking place on computers includes fraud, theft, harassment and child pornography.Computer fraud consists of crimes such as online auction fraud, identity theft, financial and telecommunications fraud, credit card fraud, in addition to various other schemes. Theft crimes, as related to computer crime, include categories such as monetary, service and data theft, and piracy. Harassment offenses include online harassment and cyber stalking. Child pornography crimes include both the transmission of media that exploits children, as well as solicitation to commit sexual crimes against minors.

Cyber stalking is known, as the use of communication technology, mainly the Internet, to torture other individuals. False accusations, transmission of threats and damage to data and equipment fall under the class of cyber stalking activities. Cyber stalkers often target the users by means of chat rooms, online forums, and social networking websites to gather user information and harass the users based on the information gathered. Obscene emails, abusive phone calls and other such serious effects of cyber stalking have made it a type of computer crime.Identity theft is one of the most serious frauds as it involves stealing money and obtaining other benefits by a false identity. It is the act of pretending to be someone else by using someone else's identity as one's own.

Financial identity theft involves the use off false identity to obtain goods and services and a commercial identity theft is the using of someone else's business name or credit card details for commercial purposes. Identity cloning is the use of another user's information to pose as a false user. Illegal migration, terrorism, and blackmail are often made possible by means of identity theft.Role of Viruses, malicious codes, and pushing attacks The Anti-Pushing Working Group, (2004), states that Pushing is carried out through emails or by luring the users to enter personal information through fake websites, numbers, account surnames and passwords, social security numbers.

" Pushing as act of attempting to acquire sensitive information credit card details by disguising as a trustworthy source that has a look and feel of some popular website, which makes the users feel safe to enter their details there.Upon clicking on the link, the victim would enter a site, such as the one below that appears to be a legitimate e-bay website. However, upon closer review, the URL is different. This victim, failing to notice the generic URL, would supply the Fisher with their e-bay surname, password, and e-mail address. Viruses and malicious programs can potentially affect a massive amount of individuals and resources.

These programs are intended to cause electronic resources to function abnormally and may affect legitimate users access to computer resources.Example of a virus, the "Melissa" virus released in early 1999 contaminated 1. Million computers used by U. S. Businesses, affected computer resources throughout the U.

S. And Europe, and is estimated to have created eighty million dollars in damages worldwide (Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section, 2003). Computer viruses are computer programs that can replicate themselves and harm the computer systems on a network without the knowledge of the system users.Viruses spread to other computers through network file system, through the network, Internet or by the means of removable devices like USB drives and CDC.

Computer viruses are after all, forms of malicious codes written with an aim o harm a computer system and destroy information. Writing computer viruses is a criminal activity as virus infections can crash computer systems, thereby destroying great amounts of critical data. Malicious code attacks have become more sophisticated and a significant concern to organizations.A large-scale malicious code attack, often referred to as a malicious code outbreak, can cause widespread damage and disruption to an organization, and necessitate extensive recovery time and effort.

It is therefore crucial to implement adequate preventive measures, such as deploying protection and detection tools, to safeguard an organization from luscious code attacks. It is also important that the organization develop a robust information security incident procedure so that personnel are better prepared to handle malicious code outbreaks in a more organized, efficient and effective manner.