Cyber Security plays an important role in the field of information technology
securing the information have become one of the biggest challenges in the
present day. When ever we think about the cyber Security the first thing that
comes to our mind is 'cyber crimes' which are increasing immensely day by Day.
Various Governments and companies are taking many measures in order to prevent
these cyber Crimes. In this paper, we provide an overview of Cybercrime and
present an international perspective on fighting Cybercrime.
Introduction
Internet, which is open for exploration, unfortunately, has the potential to
lead to
exploitation. It may be used for stealing and destroying valuable information.
The confidentiality, which is the most important aspect of various commercial
and financial transactions, may easily be breached on Internet. Intellectual
property rights in the digital world, especially in the field of trademarks,
copyright, designs and computer software can easily be trampled upon without
sufficient support available to aggrieved owner. It is very difficult to
overcome these problems. Firstly, there are no sufficient rules and regulations
for Internet commerce. (1)
Marc M Goodman says that a Computer crime can be classified into three main
Categories (i) as crimes where the computer is the Target:
- Crimes where computer is the tool of the Crime and
- Crimes where the computer is Incidental .(2)
This work gives a brief overview of cyber-crime, explains why people are
involved in cyber-Crime, look at those involved and the reasons for their
involvement, we would look at how best to Detect a criminal mail and in
conclusion, proffer recommendations that would help in checking the Increasing
rate of cyber-crimes and criminals. These guides provide general outlines as
well as Specific techniques for implementing cyber security (3)
Methodology
This study was carried out purposely to explain clearly the concept of
Cybercrime and Cybersecurity and provide adequate and sufficient ways of getting
out of these problems in the Present days of internet usage and applications.
Consequently, the information gathered through all the above instruments were
analysed and The approach towards ameliorating these phenomenon were proffered
for both the government and Corporate bodies for implementation. In summary, the
core of cyber criminology involves the examination of offending and
victimization in cyberspace from a behavioural theoretical perspective (Jaishankar,
2010; Ngo & Jaishankar, 2017). However, social scientists do not necessarily
have the expertise in relevant technologies and thus they need assistance from
computational scientists (Bossler, 2017).
Cybercrime and cybersecurity are
therefore fields drawing on a variety of disciplines, including computer
science, information technology, electrical engineering, criminology, criminal
justice, sociology, philosophy, law, psychology, and others. Given the very
fragmented state of current scholarship, a clearer picture of the entire
cybercrime and cybersecurity landscape is needed to guide future research and
facilitate novel interdisciplinary collaborations.
Review of literature
Cybercrime is often used as an umbrella term, encompassing a range of criminal
activities that take place over the internet or within a computer system by
taking advantage of flaws in complex information systems or infrastructures (Finklea
& Theohary, 2012; Phillips et al., 2022). The rapid expansion of online business
and services, financial transactions, telecommuting, and social media platforms
have all contributed to unprecedented criminal opportunities in cyberspace (Ye &
Leipnik, 2013; Ye et al., 2019). Direct information regarding the scope and
prevalence of cybercrime remains limited (DeTardo-Bora & Bora, 2016), but
cybersecurity market growth is anticipated to grow by 12-15% yearly through 2025
(Morgan, 2019).
Cybercrime and cybersecurity issues victimize individuals and
organizations at all levels and are detrimental to privacy, personal safety,
financial health, and national security (Curtis & Oxburgh, 2022). Cybercrime is
also rapidly becoming the world's most costly form of crime. The 2020 Internet
Crime Complaint Center (IC3) report issued by Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), the lead U.S. federal agency for cybercrime investigation, revealed a
total loss of $4.2 billion from 791,790 complaints filed by cybercrime victims,
which represented a substantial increase in the number of complaints and
estimated loss as compared with the 2019 report (FBI, 2021).
The global COVID-19
pandemic worsened data breaches in workspaces as well as scams against
individuals and organizations exploiting the situations in the pandemic (Panda
Security, 2020). The cyberspace chaos ushered in by the pandemic culminated in
high-profile ransomware attacks paralyzing major U.S. energy infrastructures
(Wade, 2021). These far-reaching consequences of cybercrimes and security issues
suggest the urgency to understand their dynamics and improve policies in
cybercrime detection, investigation, and more importantly, prevention (Collier
et al., 2022; Gottschalk & Hamerton, 2022).(4)
What Is Cyber Crime?
Cyber-crime by definition is any harmful act committed from or against a
computer or Network, it differs according to McConnell International, "from most
terrestrial crimes in four ways: They are easy to learn how to commit, they
require few resources relative to the potential damages Caused, they can be
committed in a jurisdiction without being physically present in it and fourthly,
They are often not clearly illegal. Another definition given by the Director of
Computer Crime Research Centre (CCRC) during An interview on the 27th April,
2004, is that "cyber-crime ('computer crime') is any illegal behaviour Directed
by means of electronic operations that targets the security of computer systems
and the data Processed by them.
In essence, cyber-crime is crime committed in a
virtual space and a virtual space Is fashioned in a way that information about
persons, objects, facts, events, phenomena or processes Are represented in
mathematical, symbol or any other way and transferred through local and global
Networks. From the above, we can deduce that cyber crime has to do with wrecking
of havoc on Computer data or networks through interception, interference or
destruction of such data or systems. It involves committing crime against
computer systems or the use of the computer in committing Crimes [5]
Discussion:
Even among these countries, crimes are not Treated uniformly. In some,
unauthorized access is a Crime only if harmful intent is present; in others,
data Theft is a crime only if the data relates specifically to An individual's
religion or health, or if the intent is to Defraud. Laws tend to be biased in
favour of protecting Public sector computers, but do not provide Reciprocal
protection to private sector computers.(6)
Anti-Virus Software:
Antivirus software is a computer program that Detects, prevents, and takes
action to disarm or Remove malicious software programs, such as Viruses and
worms. Most antivirus programs Include an auto-update feature that enables the
Program to download profiles of new viruses so That it can check for the new
viruses as soon as They are discovered. An anti virus software is a Must and
basic necessity for every system.
Causes Of Cyber-Crime:
There are many reasons why cyber-criminals commit cyber-crime, chief among them
are these
Three listed below:
™ Cyber crimes can be committed for the sake of recognition. This is basically
committed by Youngsters who want to be noticed and feel among the group of the
big and tough guys in the Society. They do not mean to hurt anyone in
particular; they fall into the category of the Idealists; who just want to be in
spotlight.
™ Another cause of cyber-crime is to make quick money. This group is greed
motivated and is Career criminals, who tamper with data on the net or system
especially, e-commerce, e-banking Data information with the sole aim of
committing fraud and swindling money off unsuspecting Customers.
™ Thirdly, cyber-crime can be committed to fight a cause one thinks he believes
in; to cause threat And most often damages that affect the recipients adversely.
This is the most dangerous of all The causes of cyber-crime. Those involve
believe that they are fighting a just cause and so do Not mind who or what they
destroy in their quest to get their goals achieved. These are the
Cyber-terrorists.
Data and Method
The dataset used in this study is collected from Science Citation Index Expanded
(SCIE) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) publications in the Web of
Science Core Collection database. The publication search strategy is: Title= (cybercrime
OR cybersecurity) OR Abstract= (cybercrime OR cybersecurity) OR Author Keywords=
(cybercrime OR cybersecurity). Each publication that contains any of these
keywords and their variants (with ) in the title, abstract, or keyword list is
included.
For each publication, published year, title, authors and their
institutional affiliations, keywords, and cited references were collected. The
time frame of the search was set as "until now" (the data collection date was
September 19, 2021). The search query resulted in a total of 3,815 records.
Among them, 180 records are excluded from the current study due to the lack of
critical information, such as the published year. As a result, this bibliometric
study examined 3,635 cybercrime and/or cybersecurity publications between 1995
and 2021. Synonymous terms from the keyword pool were standardized as to improve
the author keyword analysis results.
First, cybercrime is arguably one of the most critical challenges facing law
enforcement today. The elusive nature of cybercrime translates into a need for
high levels of expertise in investigating cybercrime and security issues.
Further, cybercrime and cybersecurity demand unique knowledge in law enforcement
service and management, from responding to calls for service, arrest and
apprehension, investigation, to evidence collection and preservation (Nodeland
et al., 2019; Stambaugh et al., 2001).
Explorations of these areas are very
limited in existing literature, even though they are critical for guiding policy
to increase police capabilities for handling and preventing cybercrime (Bossler
& Holt, 2012). Similarly, interactions between cybercriminals or cyber victims
and the justice process are extremely understudied (Smith et al., 2004; Abu-Ulbeh
et al., 2021).
Such information is pivotal for developing better policies for
processing criminals and serving victims in all stages of the justice system,
including prosecution, adjudication, sentencing, corrections, and reentry.
Therefore, there is a need to broaden the horizon of cybercrime and
cybersecurity research - even within the discipline of criminal justice. Second, cybercrime and cybersecurity are widely recognized as interdisciplinary fields,
encompassing criminology, victimology, sociology, psychology, computer science,
information management, and data science, among others (Jaishankar, 2018).
Computer scientists have acknowledged that cybercrime and cybersecurity have a
pronounced human dimension, along with a technological dimension (Gordon & Ford,
2006). Similarly, criminologists believe that cybercrime should be addressed as
an interdisciplinary topic because the nature of cybercrime is "a technological
problem, a crime problem, a social issue, a business concern" (Payne &
Hadzhidimova, 2020). Criminologists also realized the importance for social
scientists to seek an effective way to collaborate with computational and
technology specialists (Bossler, 2017). However, current cybercrime and
cybersecurity research is very compartmentalized, and therefore separately
conducted by social scientists (predominantly criminologists) and computational
scientists (predominantly computer scientists).
On one hand, cyber criminology
is still to some extent marginalized and neglected by mainstream criminology,
and some conventional criminologists may not necessarily acknowledge cyber
criminology as a distinct discipline. Similarly, other conventional
criminologists may have no interest or expertise in technologies/methods and
laws/policies related to cyber forensics and information security. Many
conventional criminologists are "digital immigrants,": People born before 1985
who adopted digital technology later in life (Prensky, 2001).
In such cases,
limited exposure to technology could have hindered efforts to research cybercrime (Holt et al., 2015). On the other hand, computer scientists have
traditionally focused little on the human element of cybercrime due to limited
social science exposure or training. In both cases, barriers can be created due
to the lack of a "common language" (Holt, 2017) or different epistemic values,
research methods, and standards of evidence between social and computer
scientists (Hofman et al., 2021).
In addition, a practical challenge to true
interdisciplinary collaboration is a lack of funding opportunities for
interdisciplinary teams and joint grant-seeking efforts by such teams. Internal
and external grants jointly applied for, and secured by, social scientists and
computational scientists are pivotal to warrant such collaboration. Only when
both criminologists and computer scientists begin to embrace an outward mindset
and operate outside their silos can they start to build a collaborative
relationship. Otherwise, cybercrime and cybersecurity research will continue to
exist in separate silos, thus missing out on the opportunity to meaningfully
integrate key insights.(7)
Role Of Social Media In Cyber Security
As we become more social in an increasingly Connected world, companies must
find.New Ways to protect personal information. Social Media plays a huge role in
cyber security and will contribute a lot to personal cyber threats. Social media
adoption among personnel is Skyrocketing and so is the threat of attack. Since
Social media or social networking sites are Almost used by most of them every
day it has Become a huge platform for the cyber criminals For hacking private
information and stealing Valuable data. In a world where we're quick to give up
our Personal information, companies have to ensure They're just as quick in
identifying threats,
Responding in real time, and avoiding a breach Of any kind. Since people are
easily attracted by These social media the hackers use them as a bait To get the
information and the data they require. Hence people must take appropriate
measures Especially in dealing with social media in order To prevent the loss of
their information. The ability of individuals to share information With an
audience of millions is at the heart of the Particular challenge that social
media presents to Businesses.
In addition to giving anyone the Power to
disseminate commercially sensitive Information, social media also gives the same
Power to spread false information, which can be Just being as damaging. The
rapid spread of False information through social media is among The emerging
risks identified in Global Risks 2013 report. \
Though social media can be used
for cyber Crimes these companies cannot afford to stop Using social media as it
plays an important role In publicity of a company. Instead, they must Have
solutions that will notify them of the threat In order to fix it before any real
damage is done. However companies should understand this and Recognise the
importance of analysing the Information especially in social conversations And
provide appropriate security solutions in Order to stay away from risks. One
must handle Social media by using certain policies and right Technologies.
Phishing Personal Experience
Phishing is a social engineering scam that involves luring unsuspecting users to
take a cyber-Bait much the same way conventional fishing involves luring a fish
using a bait. Phishing deceives Consumers into disclosing their personal and
financial data, such as secret access data or credit card Or bank account
numbers, it is an identity theft. Identity theft schemes take numerous forms and
May be conducted by e-mail (phishing), standard mail, telephone or fax.
Thieves
may also go Through trash looking for discarded tax returns, bank records,
credit card receipts or other records That contain personal and financial
information so as to use someone's personal data to steal his or Her financial
accounts 8].In their paper "why phishing works" Rachna et al [9] came up with
the fact that good Phishing websites fooled 90% of users and existing anti
phishing browsing cues are ineffective. On daily basis, the number of fraudulent
mail s being received is totalling around twenty five. The figures below show
most of the received mails.
Suggestions
- Protect Your Accounts With Strong Passwords:
Securing your devices and online accounts with passwords is one of the most effective ways to keep your data safe — unfortunately, it's also become a weak spot hackers use to break into your profiles and steal sensitive data.
- Always Verify the Email Sender Before Clicking on Any Attachments or Links:
Phishing is one of the most popular scamming methods used to steal your vulnerable information or gather a company's data. Hackers create very generic messages implementing scare tactics to encourage you to click on a link or download an attached file. As soon as you comply with such a request, you give scammers easy access to your device and the data it holds by downloading malware that immediately infiltrates the network. It's now estimated that there are over 3.4 billion phishing emails sent out every day.
- Connect Only to Secure WiFi Networks:
As more companies are implementing Cloud storage, employees are allowed to perform their tasks from the comfort of their own home or a public space, like a cafe or library. However, remote work removes any cyber protection applied in your workplace and makes you an easier target for cyberattackers.
- Be Aware of Possible Insider Threats:
When talking about cyber security threats, many guides focus mainly on hackers trying to break in from the outside, but that's not always the case. It's really common for cyber attacks to originate internally with research showing that 30% of hacking attempts are now carried out by current or former employees.
Conclusion
Until recently, we as a community paid little Attention to cyber-crime.
Information technology is Making profound inroads into the very fabric of our
Society and our economy as a nation in the global Community. In a very real
sense, the "Information Superhighway" has become the economic lifeblood Of our
nation. While leading the world into the Information Age, at the same time we
have become Uniquely dependent on information technology –Computers and the
global network that connect them Together. This dependency has become a clear
and Compelling threat to our economic well-being, our Public safety, and our
national security. (10)
Cybercrime and Cyber security has become a subject of great concern to all
governments of The world. Nigeria, representing the single largest concentration
of people of Africa decent has an Important role to play. This situation has
almost reached an alarming point, according to various Studies and countries
which neglects and /fail to respond timely and wisely, will pay very dearly for
It. It has been deduced from this study that reliance on terrestrial laws is
still an untested Approach despite progress being made in many countries, they
still rely on standard terrestrial laws To prosecute cyber crimes and these laws
are archaic statutes that have been in existence.
References:
- Josh A Gold Foot
- Marc M Goodman, "Why the Police don't Care About Computer Crime?" 10 Harvard Journal of Law and Technology 468(997)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wikiCyber_security
- International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, Vol. 6, Iss. 1, Page. 5-28, Publication date: March 2023.
- Aaron J. Burstein. Towards a culture of cybersecurity research. Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, 22:230_240, 2008.
- 12 Carblanc and Moers: Pattern of global cyber war And crime. September 2003
- International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, Vol. 6, Iss. 1, Page. 5-28, Publication date: March 2023.
- Http://www.irs.ustreas.gov
- http://netsecurity.about.com/b/2005/02/20/nigerianbank-scam-meets-phishing-attack.htm
- 15 Masaaki Kotabe: "Global Security Risks and International Competitiveness" Journal of International Management, Vol. 11, Issue 4 (2005).
Written By: Sneha Swami
(Bhagat phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya) Sonipat
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