Cyber Crime.

Aag Arrow webzine November 2007
Computers, despite being such high technology devices, are extremely vulnerable. In fact it may be easier to steal national secrets from military computers than to steal "laddoos" from a "mithai" shop.
Cyber crime is an evil having its origin in the growing dependence on computers in modern life. In a day and age when everything from microwave ovens and refrigerators to nuclear power plants is being run on computers, cyber crime has assumed rather sinister implications.
The first recorded cyber crime took place in the year 1820! That is not surprising considering the fact that the abacus, which is thought to be the earliest form of a computer, has been around since 3500 B.C. in India, Japan and China. The era of modern computers, however, began with the analytical engine of Charles Babbage.
In 1820, Joseph-Marie Jacquard, a textile manufacturer in France, produced the loom. This device allowed the repetition of a series of steps in the weaving of special fabrics. This resulted in a fear amongst Jacquard's employees that their traditional employment and livelihood were being threatened. They committed acts of sabotage to discourage Jacquard from further use of the new technology. This is the first recorded cyber crime!
At the onset, let us satisfactorily define "cyber crime" and differentiate it from "conventional Crime". A simple yet sturdy definition of cyber crime would be "unlawful acts wherein the computer is either a tool or a target or both".
There are several types of cyber crime. Financial crimes, Cyber pornography, Sale of illegal articles, Online gambling, Email spoofing, Forgery, Cyber Defamation, Cyber stalking and Intellectual Property crimes are some of them. These would include cheating, credit card frauds, money laundering, pornographic websites; pornographic magazines produced using computers (to publish and print the material), the Internet (to download and transmit pornographic pictures, photos, writings etc), sale of narcotics, weapons and wildlife etc., by posting information on websites, auction websites, and bulletin boards or simply by using email communication, software piracy, copyright infringement, trademarks violations, theft of computer source code etc.
There are millions of websites; all hosted on servers abroad, that offer online gambling. In fact, it is believed that many of these websites are actually fronts for money laundering. A spoofed email is one that appears to originate from one source but actually has been sent from another source. Email spoofing can also cause monetary damage. Counterfeit currency notes, postage and revenue stamps, mark sheets etc can be forged using sophisticated computers, printers and scanners.
This occurs when defamation takes place with the help of computers and / or the Internet. Cyber stalking involves following a person's movements across the Internet by posting messages (sometimes threatening) on the bulletin boards frequented by the victim, entering the chat-rooms frequented by the victim, constantly bombarding the victim with emails etc.
Frequently Used Cyber Crimes
Unauthorized access to computer systems or networks : This activity is commonly referred to as hacking.
Virus / worm attacks : Viruses 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 affect the data on a computer, either by altering or deleting it. Worms, unlike viruses do not need the host to attach themselves to. They merely make functional copies of themselves and do this repeatedly till they eat up all the available space on a computer's memory.
Logic bombs : These are event dependent programs. This implies that these programs are created to do something only when a certain event (known as a trigger event) occurs. E.g. even some viruses may be termed logic bombs because they lie dormant all through the year and become active only on a particular date (like the Chernobyl virus).
Theft of information contained in electronic form : This includes information stored in computer hard disks, removable storage media etc.
Email bombing : Email bombing refers to sending a large number of emails to the victim resulting in the victim's email account (in case of an individual) or mail servers (in case of a company or an email service provider) crashing.
Data diddling : This kind of an attack involves altering raw data just before it is processed by a computer and then changing it back after the processing is completed.
Salami attacks : These attacks are used for the commission of financial crimes. The key here is to make the alteration so insignificant that in a single case it would go completely unnoticed.
Denial of Service attack : This involves flooding a computer resource with more requests than it can handle. This causes the resource (e.g. a web server) to crash thereby denying authorized users the service offered by the resource. Another variation to a typical denial of service attack is known as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack wherein the perpetrators are many and are geographically widespread. It is very difficult to control such attacks. The attack is initiated by sending excessive demands to the victim's computer(s), exceeding the limit that the victim's servers can support and making the servers crash.
Logic bombs : These are event dependent programs. This implies that these programs are created to do something only when a certain event (known as a trigger event) occurs.
Trojan attacks : A Trojan as this program is aptly called, is an unauthorized program which functions from inside what seems to be an authorized program, thereby concealing what it is actually doing.
Internet time thefts : This connotes the usage by an unauthorized person of the Internet hours paid for by another person.
Web jacking : This 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
Theft of computer system : This type of offence involves the theft of a computer, some part(s) of a computer or a peripheral attached to the computer.

Physically damaging a computer system : This crime is committed by physically damaging a computer or its peripherals

Cyber Criminals
Kids (age group 9-16 etc.)
It seems really difficult to believe but it is true. Most amateur hackers and cyber criminals are teenagers. To them, who have just begun to understand what appears to be a lot about computers, it is a matter of pride to have hacked into a computer system or a website. There is also that little issue of appearing really smart among friends. These young rebels may also commit cyber crimes without really knowing that they are doing anything wrong.
Organized hacktivists
Hacktivists are hackers with a particular (mostly political) motive. In other cases this reason can be social activism, religious activism, etc.
Disgruntled employees
One can hardly believe how spiteful displeased employees can become. Till now they had the option of going on strike against their bosses. Now, with the increase independence on computers and the automation of processes, it is easier for disgruntled employees to do more harm to their employers by committing computer related crimes, which can bring entire systems down.
Professional hackers (corporate espionage)
Extensive computerization has resulted in business organizations storing all their information in electronic form. Rival organizations employ hackers to steal industrial secrets and other information that could be beneficial to them.
What are the reasons for the vulnerability of computers? Computers store huge amounts of data in small spaces, ease of access, complexity and human error are some of them. Hackers easily exploit the numerous weaknesses in operating systems and security products. People who guard confidential papers with their lives would not think twice about using simple passwords. Most people don't realize the security implications and ramifications of a simple 'guessable' password.
Vladimir Levin, Johan Helsingius, Kevin Mitnick, Robert Morris, Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson are the World's Most Famous Hackers

Cover Story.
Aag Arrow Webzine.
November 2007 Issue.
www.aagneyam.com/arrow