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Cyber Crime. EMERGING TRENDS AND STATISTICS
Cyber Crime
Contents
TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413168” Introduction PAGEREF _Toc380413168 h 1
HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413169” EMERGING TRENDS AND STATISTICS PAGEREF _Toc380413169 h 2
HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413170” TYPES OF CYBERCRIME PAGEREF _Toc380413170 h 3
HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413171” Financial cyber crimes PAGEREF _Toc380413171 h 3
HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413172” Piracy PAGEREF _Toc380413172 h 3
HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413173” Child Pornography and Cyber-stalking PAGEREF _Toc380413173 h 4
HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413174” Hacking PAGEREF _Toc380413174 h 4
HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413175” Cyber-terrorism PAGEREF _Toc380413175 h 5
HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413176” RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PREVENTING CYBERCRIME PAGEREF _Toc380413176 h 5
HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413177” Back-up and encrypt crucial information PAGEREF _Toc380413177 h 5
HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413178” Keeping firewall on PAGEREF _Toc380413178 h 5
HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413179” Update or install antivirus software PAGEREF _Toc380413179 h 6
HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413180” Update or install antispyware technology PAGEREF _Toc380413180 h 6
HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413181” Update the operating system PAGEREF _Toc380413181 h 6
HYPERLINK l “_Toc380413182” Turn off computer systems PAGEREF _Toc380413182 h 6
Introduction
Technology has been one of the most fundamental pillars of the modern world. It has contributed immensely to the increase of efficiency and effectiveness, as well as quality of service in varied sectors. This should underline the reason as to why governments and other entities have made an enormous or vast amount of investment on technology. Needless to say, the introduction of computers and internet in the world of technology has been one of the most groundbreaking steps in the history of technology. While the upside of computers, internet and technology at large are well recognized, there is no guarantee as to the use of technology for the betterment of the human race. Indeed, there have been concerns as to the use of technology in a manner that endangers the human race. This is especially with regard to cyber crime.
The term cyber crime has been used to underline any criminal act that involves the use of computers and networks including carrying out of traditional crimes such as fraud and gambling through the internet (Brenner, 2010). Cybercrime has been identified as one of the fastest growing facets of crime with an increasing number of criminals exploiting the anonymity, convenience and speed with which modern technologies come in an effort to commit a wide range of criminal activities (Brenner, 2010). Such criminal activities may include but are not limited to attacks against computer systems and date, internet auction fraud, the distribution of images pertaining to child sexual abuse, online financial services penetration, and identity theft, not to mention the employment of spamware, botnets, viruses and email scams such as phishing (Brenner, 2010). Underlining the seriousness of this category of crime is the fact that internet’s global nature has enabled criminals to undertake almost every form of criminal activity at any part of the world. This, in essence, underlines the importance of all countries putting in place domestic offline controls that would eliminate crimes undertaken in cyberspace. On the same note, internet has fallen in the hands of terrorists, who have been using it to recruit and incite radicalization, which poses an incredible risk and threat to international, as well as national security (Brenner, 2010). The threat of terrorism has forced law enforcement authorities to address vulnerabilities pertaining to security, which are associated with information technology infrastructure such as electrical grids, power plants, computer systems and information systems of government and key corporations (Brenner, 2010).
EMERGING TRENDS AND STATISTICS
Looking at the trends pertaining to cybercrime, it is evident that there have been immense changes in the nature and the players or perpetrators of cybercrime. Scholars note that cybercrime, in the past, would be perpetrated by individuals or even small groups of people. This, however, has been changing with a trend emerging where criminally minded technology professionals, as well as traditional organized crime syndicates have started working together and combining their expertise and resources thereby heightening the damage and the cost of cybercrime (Brenner, 2012). Indeed, criminals have found this approach to be extremely effective in perpetrating their criminal activities. Research shows that the cost of cybercrime in the entire world for 2007 and 2008 was more than $8 billion. Even more worrying, especially for corporate entities, is the fact that corporate cyber espionage has allowed cyber criminals to steal intellectual property whose estimated worth is $1 trillion in the entire world (Brenner, 2012).
TYPES OF CYBERCRIMECyber crimes have been categorized in varied groups depending on their nature. Indeed, scholars have used three rationales to categorize cybercrime. The first category involves the use of a computer as a weapon to undertake conventional crime that is seen in the physical world including illegal gambling and fraud (Brenner, 2012). The second category involves the computer of an entity as a target, where computers are attacked through, for example, spreading malware and viruses. The third category involves computers as accessories, where they are used as filing cabinet for the storage of stolen or illegal information.
Financial cyber crimesThese are defined as crimes that disrupt the capacity of a business to carry out e-commerce. Companies have been investing heavily on the enhancement of commercial transactions online. It is worth noting that the development of e-commerce is dependent on public confidence on the security pertaining to information that is stored and processed on computer networks, as well as a predictable environment that acts as a strong deterrent to computer crime (Yar, 2006). The capacity of a business entity to undertake e-commerce is heavily dependent on its capacity to minimize e-risk. Financial cyber crimes include DDOS (distributed denial of service), e-forgery and viruses, e-fraud, e-extortion, as well as stealing of proprietary information.
Piracy
This involves the theft of software and creative works through illegal duplication and faking of genuine works and their distribution while passing them off as genuine. While the software industry has played an immense role in the creation of products that have enhanced the quality of lives in the modern world, piracy or software theft has crippled the global market of software, as well as the capacity to create new products (Yar, 2006). Underlining the seriousness of this crime is the fact that software theft, counterfeiting and illegal distribution resulted in costs of up to US$21 billion for Asia Pacific region in 2011 (Brenner, 2012). This included all packaged software used on computers included system software, business applications, security packages, databases, consumer applications, reference software and PC games. This has crippled creativity and growth in software and creative works development.
Child Pornography and Cyber-stalking
The internet has been used as a powerful tool for exposing children to pornography or even posting naked pictures of underage kids (Brenner, 2010). This has also increased the exposure of children to pedophiles, especially considering the accessibility of porn sites to children from the comfort of their houses.
Cyber-stalking, on the other hand, involves persistent actions of harassment made towards an individual through the use of internet. In some cases, stalking would be followed by violent acts or even verbal attacks on an individual
Hacking
This term underlines the illegal interference, invasion or interruption of a network or computer system done for the thrill of the challenge, to pass a political message, or even out of personal notoriety or for financial reasons (Brenner, 2010). Hackers may siphon money from other accounts through stealing credit card data and transfer the cash to their accounts, or even extort cash from corporations and individuals. The threat from hacking is primarily economic in nature with no real physical danger involved.
Cyber-terrorismThis is defined as the attack meted against a computer network or information that is stored in it thereby leading to violence against property and persons, or at least result in sufficient harm as to generate fear. This does not include attacks that interfere with nonessential services or that are simply a costly nuisance.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PREVENTING CYBERCRIMEScholars have identified varied strategies that may be used to lower the possibility of cyber attacks or even the cost of loss of data in case of an attack.
Back-up and encrypt crucial informationIt is imperative that a schedule for undertaking regular system upgrades and critical data backups is established. This would guard against the loss of critical data in case of a cyber-attack. It is imperative that this data is stored in remote locations away from the office (Brenner, 2012). On the same note, this information should have strong password codes or even be encrypted to increase the difficulty of accessing it. Regular modification of passwords would lower their vulnerability to compromise.
Keeping firewall onFirewall comes in handy in protecting computer networks against hackers that may access and steal sensitive information from the system (Brenner, 2012). Firewalls have been widely recommended especially for single computers and may be bought alongside operating systems, hardware routers or even individually.
Update or install antivirus softwareThese are designed to avert malicious software programs from entrenching themselves to the computer systems. Once they detect a virus or malware, they disarm or delete them automatically (Brenner, 2010). It is imperative that antivirus software are updated regularly to ensure that they protect the computer against new malware.
Update or install antispyware technologyThis technology guards against software installed in one’s computer aimed at collecting information about an individual or his activities without his knowledge and consent. While antispyware technology would protect an individual from spyware, it is imperative that one complements the technology by desisting from downloading software from suspicious sites or even emails (Brenner, 2010).
Update the operating systemOperating systems undergo periodic update so as to align them with emerging technology requirements, as well as fix security holes (Yar, 2006). It is imperative that updates are installed so as to ensure that the computer incorporates the latest protection.
Turn off computer systemsWhile keeping computers on would ensure that an individual is always ready for action, it increases the vulnerability of the systems to hackers and other unwanted attacks. Firewall protection should be complemented by turning computers off as this would sever the attackers’ connection (Yar, 2006).
In conclusion, cyber crime has become extremely common in the recent times. This has resulted in immense losses with 2008 data showing that more than $8 billion was lost to cybercrime (Brenner, 2012). This has undoubtedly increased in the recent years. Cyber crimes are criminal activities that are carried out using computers and internet. The varied types of cybercrimes are financial, hacking, child pornography and piracy, cyber-terrorism and cyber-stalking. Indeed, cyber crimes may result in loss of lives (for example in cyber-terrorism and cyber-stalking), or even loss of finances especially in the case of hacking, piracy and financial crimes such as e-fraud. In most cases, they pose a risk to the security of individuals and firms. This underlines the necessity of putting up measures that would prevent cyber crimes. It is recommended that individuals back up critical data regularly and ensure that the data is encrypted so as to increase the difficulty of cyber attacks on the data (Brenner, 2012). In addition, it is imperative that the systems are updated regularly to ensure they have the capacity to fend off attacks. Antispyware, antivirus and firewalls should be installed, turned on and updated regularly so as to fend off attacks. These should be complemented by turning off computers so as to cut off any connections that may have been established with the attackers.
References
Yar, M. (2006). Cybercrime and society. London: SAGE Publ.
Brenner, S. W. (2010). Cybercrime: Criminal threats from cyberspace. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger.
Brenner, S. W. (2012). Cybercrime: Criminal threats from cyberspace. New Delhi: Pentagon Press.
NATURE ENERGY SNACKS
NATURE ENERGY SNACKS
Institution
Student’s name
Nature energy snacks
Describe the current marketing mix and target audience using the 4P’s
To push the sales of any new or existing product requires apt marketing skills. Marketing involves providing the required product to the appropriate consumers at the right time and place and at an affordable price. The key concepts here are place, price, promotion and product or service (Kitchen, 2006).
The product in this case is an energy snack being sold to college students by a partnership of John and Jayne. They sell the snacks in 8oz. packages for about $2.5 in the colleges’ bookstores and around the environs. The product seems to doing well because of its quality, pricing and convenience. Students have taken into it because of its naturalness. The partnership considered the 4P’s of marketing by ensuring that the products met the expectations of the students and are easily available at an affordable price to the students. They have also diversified the product into 35 varieties after beginning with only three. Since the target market was the college students, John and Jayne did not have to employ massive promotion strategy but have solely relied on word of mouth which is in some way very appropriate in a college setting.
Describe a new marketing mix and target audience that would increase the sales of natural nectars
John and Jayne aim at increasing the sales of natural nectars. Since this is an existing product, they will not have to employ massive promotion strategy but will definitely go beyond the word of mouth advertising. Since the current target market which is the college students in southwestern United States already know this product, they can coalesce with the colleges’ sports departments to have the college teams in various teams promote this product in other colleges not in southwestern. The two therefore will have to provide banners and coupons as well as have the selected teams wear jerseys with their product labels. This technique will help spread the information concerning this product far and wide. John and Jayne will then be forced to open up new stores around the country and establish an elaborate distribution channel. By doing this, they will have cut the cost of promotion significantly as compared to if they had sought the services of media and marketing companies.
Reference
Kitchen, J. P.(2006). A reader in marketing communications. London: Taylor $ Francis Publishers.
Cyber Crime Analysis. to analyse the Internet communication as well as dangers associated with it in the current society
Cyber Crime Analysis
Contents
TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc377139442” Introduction PAGEREF _Toc377139442 h 1
HYPERLINK l “_Toc377139443” Evolution of Communication PAGEREF _Toc377139443 h 1
HYPERLINK l “_Toc377139444” Telecommunication Growth PAGEREF _Toc377139444 h 2
HYPERLINK l “_Toc377139445” Communication Challenges PAGEREF _Toc377139445 h 2
HYPERLINK l “_Toc377139446” Hackers and Cyber Attackers PAGEREF _Toc377139446 h 3
HYPERLINK l “_Toc377139447” Security loopholes PAGEREF _Toc377139447 h 4
HYPERLINK l “_Toc377139448” Cyberbullying PAGEREF _Toc377139448 h 4
HYPERLINK l “_Toc377139449” Software Copyright Infringement PAGEREF _Toc377139449 h 5
HYPERLINK l “_Toc377139450” Malicious Attacks PAGEREF _Toc377139450 h 6
HYPERLINK l “_Toc377139451” Cybercrime complexity PAGEREF _Toc377139451 h 6
HYPERLINK l “_Toc377139452” Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc377139452 h 7
HYPERLINK l “_Toc377139453” Bibliography PAGEREF _Toc377139453 h 8
IntroductionMany individuals currently regard the Internet as the greatest breakthrough in telecommunication field. The Internet is viewed as an important invention that has shaped communication as well as interconnected the whole world. It has changed the way things are handled and improved efficiency at the same time saving the ever-increasing costs. The benefits reaped from the Internet usage are innumerable given that it has revolutionized service delivery, production process, and opened up many opportunities globally. However, the Internet usage has its negatives too that greatly affect the lives of many individuals and organisations. The cost of dealing with negative impacts of technology is increasing as the level of technology rises. Moreover, cyberethics has been compromised extensively because of the increased cyber attackers resulting in increased cybercrimes globally. Statistics shows that issues related to software piracy, Artificial Intelligence (AI), database privacy, intellectual property copyrights, virtual communities, robotics, and cyber stalking are some of the trending topics in the technology world. This paper seeks to analyse the Internet communication as well as dangers associated with it in the current society.
Evolution of CommunicationCommunication is a key element of the current life trends that involve many individuals, governments, and organisations worldwide either on handling official matters or on dealing with informal issues. The online platform has been identified as the most effective, efficient, and fast to conduct communications. This has resulted in inventing communication tools such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google and others. These platforms assemble the online community to a particular meeting point like Facebook to ease the communication process. Likewise, applications that help in fast communication that is affordable have emerged such as Skype, Google video calls, and Whatsapp. The combination of these inventions has boosted the need to communicate and connect to the outside world at the comfort of our daily living.
Telecommunication GrowthTelecommunication industry has significantly grown to height never thought of and raised the standards of living. Furthermore, communication and interaction sowed to new height with the advent of emails, online phone calls in additional to the World Wide Web used for hosting online shopping sites, blogs, websites, discussion forums, music and video sites. On the other hand, this extended communication and interaction of the large online community introduced loopholes for hackers, attackers, and increased cybercrimes significantly. The criminals can mine other individual’s data and use it for personal gains such as fraud, selling it for marketing purposes, cyber stalking, cyberbullying, and hacking purposes. Therefore, there is dire need for the Internet users to be careful in online platforms when dealing with sensitive information. It calls for stricter measures to be devised by developers and increased caution while communication on the Internet.
Communication Challenges
Privacy
Privacy is of utmost need when handling life issues in all areas of operations. In technology world, data privacy is the key factor when dealing with security and user safety issues. Most individuals are concerned with privacy issues and enforce standard measures and policies that guarantee communication is done in safe and secure environment. Hackers and cyber attackers deny users the freedom of communication and engage in cunning strategies to obtain the data conveyed illegally or mine information without users consent. Some organisations with huge online transactions are approached by these evil-minded individuals for the sale of their users’ data without the knowledge of the users. Some compromise individual privacy and earn huge amount of money on data transactions leaving the users to bear the burden of attacks.
Hackers and Cyber AttackersThe hackers and cyber attackers have designed data mining tools that monitor users’ browsing trend as well as provide enticing links that lead to users inputting their data without realizing they are attack strategies. This has led many individuals to problems and some lost huge amount of money in the process. Likewise, hackers have data packets that they use to track online users movements to gain access to their data. They also have tools that are used to access individual, organisation, and governmental databases to retrieve sensitive data. Therefore, security professionals need to be involved in dealing with these crimes because their effects range from individuals losses to governmental institutions collapsing. Neglecting the enforcement of the current security measures and policies poses great challenges to the dealing with cyber warfare.
Security loopholes
Most online transaction websites and financial institutions have tightened their security measures as well as invested in acquiring the best available solutions in the market to ensure safe and secure communication with their clients. Developers have researched on many loopholes that the attackers use to engage in privacy infringement. They have worked to eliminate the loopholes as well as share some of the best approaches through online forums to acquire streamlined communication platforms that guarantee security and uphold privacy standards. The owners of online platforms like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and MySpace have engaged themselves in campaigns against cybercrimes by raising awareness to their users on how to embrace secure policies and practice safe browsing. This reduces the cyber-attacks and nurtures communication for improved satisfaction.
Cyberbullying
Miller claims that it is worth noting that retrieval of available individual information online helps attackers to engage in cyberbullying, a trend that is on the rise currently. Cyberbullying is the deliberate usage of information to intimidate, manipulate, discriminate, control, humiliate or falsely discredit the owner in a disguised manner by another individual. It is mostly done to a known individual by either a known or an unknown person. When done to adults it is referred as cyber stalking for the purposes of threatening victim’s reputation, earnings, employment, in additional to their safety. The effects associated with cyberbullying cyber stalking are more adverse than many people may assume because it tortures physically, psychologically, and at times economically. It is among the cybercrimes that need to be addressed and eliminated. However, most victims suffer lonely and hardly disclose it to anybody because of fear and lack of information.
Software Copyright InfringementOn another note, the increased need to communicate has led to increased computer usage all over the world. This has led to increased demand for software in the technology market. Contrastingly, this has attracted illegal software vendors in the market who offer them at cheaper prices compared with the legal dealers. This has increased the software piracy as well as infringement of copyrights to many developers. Furthermore, it has resulted in sale of counterfeit products that are below recommended standards, introducing an avenue for attackers. This cybercrime has resulted in developers running at losses because they have little market control. Due to insufficiency of information to users, they have been conned and exploited by the conmen and exposed their systems to attacks and threats. The substandard soft wares in the market pose great challenges to the fight against cybercrimes in additional to collapsing the software development industry. Moreover, some system owners do not install antivirus, Internet security, and other security measures to safeguard their devices and this is a major contributor to increased cybercrimes. Security apparatus helps filter spams, unwanted access, unauthorized loggings, and emergence of new spyware or virus to the system. For effective and productive handling of cybercrimes, computer users have to embrace some of the fundamental security policies and practices.
Malicious AttacksFurthermore, technology growth has remarkably helped malicious developers to inventing viruses, malware, spyware, and denial of service attacks. Viruses are manipulative codes that when introduced into computer systems interfere with files consistence by corrupting, deleting, and manipulating file formats. They lead to loss of important data to individuals and organisations. Moreover, viruses are destructive and bypass privacy settings and policies to access restricted information. Some attackers introduce viruses to systems of online users that help them gain control of the information stored in the systems. Some viruses record user’s keystrokes when entering passwords and critical data and send it to the attackers. Likewise, some complex and robust spyware take screen shots and send them to the attackers so that the attackers can monitor the user’s activities that help them to intensify attack strategies. Some spyware with spear phishing attacks can steal sensitive information documents and decrypt the available data for the benefits of the attackers.
Cybercrime complexityThe complexity of the cybercrimes results in many cases happening without being reported to authorities. Statistics shows that approximately 85% of cybercrimes are not reported and it poses a great challenge to the fight against cybercrimes as well as intensifying future attacks. Moreover, given that most attackers disguise themselves anonymously when undertaking attacks; it is hard to identify the real attacker. In the past, this has helped many attackers escape unpunished and aided serious attacks especially to government databases. There also lacks sufficient technical knowledge and skills in handling cybercrimes in the security and legal departments making cyber warfare complicated undertaking However, currently technology is helping identify locations as well as system addresses that have been involved in committing the cybercrimes. This helps in arresting and identifying the attackers and contributes significantly to reducing the crimes trends.
ConclusionIt can be concluded that communication is vital in the current world and dealing with its threats is the only solution to secure safe environment. Business transactions have embraced the digital strategies to evolve their communication processes. Likewise, individuals are switching to online platforms for enhanced communication that is efficient and cost effective. On the other hand, some strategies need to be enforced to curb cybercrimes and reduce attack rates. Strict measures and standards need to be devised for online social platform owners and email service providers to ensure that data security is guaranteed. Likewise, those caught having compromised user privacy right are to be prosecuted and their operations halted because of engaging in unethical business practices.
Reduction of the number of those accessing and handling the data in the institutions holding sensitive data like hospitals, social amenity services, and financial institutions is another viable solution. This raises responsibility for individual data in addition to reducing loopholes exposing the data to attackers. Furthermore, attackers and hackers arrested committing cybercrimes are to be prosecuted and jailed to discourage upcoming hackers and attackers. Software developers need to have strategies that ensure that software are registered online for authentication process to avoid counterfeits. Moreover, individuals need to be informed about the importance of installing computer security measures like antivirus because it helps curb cybercrimes to a remarkable extent. Finally, the legal and security departments need to have special sub department that is well trained and informed about dealing with cybercrimes. If all these steps are practised, the fight against cybercrimes will be intensified leading to reduced cases of attacks and losses.
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