Category: Cyber Crimes

Crime happens every day. When you are online you become vulnerable to any form of cybercrime. According to the textbook Go! All in One: Computer Concepts & Applications, cybercrime is “criminal activity on the internet” (Gaskin, Vargas, Geoghan and Gravett 110). Cybercrime is one of the top crimes committed in the United States. National crime agencies, like the FBI, now have areas to stop it. According to the Law Offices of Elliot and Kanter “over 143 million Americans have been affected by computer crimes in the last year, with 80% of those surveyed reporting they or someone they knew had been victimized” (Kanter 2018). There are many different types of cybercrimes; many people have fallen as a victim to them. The different types and most common types are malware, cyberbullying, identity theft, phishing, hacking, and child soliciting and abuse.

Malware is “a type of software that has been particularly designed to gain access to or damage a computer, mostly without the knowledge of the owner” (Raymond 2018). How malware typically happens is when the user clicks on something on the Internet that seems to be trustworthy. This is usually done through different pop-ups online or through email. When malware is installed it takes over the computer and in turn, the computer starts acting very weird. The easiest way to recognize that malware has been installed is if your computer starts getting slower and slower. This is something that is the easiest to recognize. The best way to avoid downloading malware is to make sure what you are downloading to your computer is safe. Word to the wise do not download anything random.

Cyberbullying is the most common type of cybercrime for young adults and teenagers. Many people have been affected by this. Cyberbullying is “bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2018). This type of bullying has become very popular because people can stay behind a screen and do not need to do it face-to-face. Also, for a person to be bullied, they do not have to be mentioned in any posts. Unfortunately, from personal experience, there is nothing a person can do to prevent it. The best way to help prevent cyberbullying is to keep the amount of social media pages to a minimum. There are seven ways to keep track of it “notice, talk, document, report, and support” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2018). For parents, this will be hard but try to make sure you have access to your child’s social media pages. Two personal experiences for myself have made cyberbullying something that I can get behind to work towards stopping it. With social media becoming more for younger kids, this is happening more and more often.

Identity theft is happening more and more often. “Identity theft happens when someone steals your personal information to commit fraud” (United States Government 2019). Unfortunately, this type of cybercrime is becoming more and more common than it was years ago. There are three main types of identity theft. The first is tax identity theft. Tax identity theft is when “someone uses your Social Security number to falsely file tax returns with the IRS or your state” (United States Government 2019). This is very common come tax season. According to Huntington Bank, the best ways to keep yourself safe are to “file your taxes early, be aware of any phishing scams, and safeguard your social security and other personal information” (Huntington Bank 2019). Using these tips for tax season will help identity theft during tax season. Another high identity theft area is medical identity theft. Medical Identity theft is when “someone steals your Medicare ID or health insurance member number. Thieves use this information to get medical services or send fake bills to your health insurer” (United States Government 2019). The worst part of medical identity theft is that you usually do not know it happening until you get the bill for being at a doctor or hospital and that person was not you. The best way to combat this type of identity theft is to check medical bills and report anything questionable. The final main type of identity theft is social identity theft. The easiest way to explain this one is when “someone uses your name and photos to create a fake account on social media” (United States Government 2019). This is becoming more and more common. The best way to make sure someone cannot have access to your account is to make the password hard. This would mean making it longer than you normally would as well as adding special characters and numbers (United States Government 2019). Something that goes for all identity theft is to report everything that you know you did not do yourself.

Phishing on the other hand is more common than someone would think. Phishing is the “use of email messages or IMs that appear to be from those you do business with, such as your bank, credit card company, social network, auction site, online payment processor, or IT administration” (Gaskin, Vargas and Geoghan 111). Many people fall for these scams because usually they look like they are from a reputable site that you have interacted with in the past. Sometimes suspicious emails do end up in your junk mail, but other times it seems to have come from a reputable source. The best way for anyone to make sure they are getting the correct information is by double checking the whole email or message. Sometimes they are obvious other times they are not as obvious.

Hacking has been around for years when it comes to computers. The definition of hacking is “to break into a network, computer, file, etc., usually with malicious intent” (Harper 2010). There are good and bad hackers out in the world. The bad hackers are the ones who get on your computer or device and sometimes put malicious software on it, or they go through your computer to add something that is not good. Then there are good hackers. In 2006 the FBI, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has started a new division. This division is called “FBI can respond with a range of investigative assets, including the little-known Cyber Action Team (CAT)” (Federal Bureau of Investigation 2019). The Cyber Action Team has been a great asset when it comes to hacking, the right way. The best way this is shown is in the tv show “Criminal Minds”. Though it is not very accurate when it comes to portraying the FBI, there is one person who hacks almost every episode. Penelope Garcia, an IT Specialist on the show, is always hacking into other systems during each episode (Davis). Garcia always does the good version of hacking. This is what the FBI does to combat hackers.

Child soliciting is very common on the internet. The definition is “Child solicitation in the United States is the crime of soliciting or luring, or attempting to lure, regardless of the outcome, a child into sexual activity with an adult. The definition of a child about this offense will vary somewhat between states according to different ages of consent” (IAC Publishing, LLC 2019). Each state has different laws regarding the age of a child. The state of Ohio is thirteen years of age for a child. Many pedophiles will use online chat rooms or the more modern version of using direct messages through social media outlets. For young kids they do not know the dangers. The best way to make sure your child is not taking part in this is to keep a close eye on their social media accounts or not let them have social media until they are a certain age.

In conclusion, cybercrime is a nasty topic to talk about. The internet is a dangerous place. Everyone that has either accessed, has current access, or will access the internet is at risk for coming across a form of cybercrime. There are many types of cybercrimes but the seven listed above are the most common. There are task forces with the FBI that were made just to investigate cybercrimes. In February 2013 the United States alone had 355,341 cyber attacks (Dubai Website Design Company). This figure alone is a major amount for a short period of time. In the end cybercrime has not gone down and as anyone can see does not seem to be slowing down.

Works Cited

1. Criminal Minds. By Jeff Davis. Perf. Kristen Vangsness. 2005. TV.
2. Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2019. web. 15 March 2019.

Cybersecurity is a growing field, where there are always new advances being made. Security forces continue to rapidly evolve in our technological world. Cybersecurity is the way of protecting electronic data which can be accessed through various networks and technology. Cybersecurity also protects from the access of unauthorized users from our email passwords, internet network, and the bank’s security on online banking. The reliance on electronic systems and networks has accelerated throughout history. We are in a digital era where is it important to be knowledgeable about how to protect ourselves and others. However, no one is immune to cyber-attacks and we must acknowledge this. Anyone can be attacked at any time. Users and companies need to be diligent in updating their information and keeping people aware. Three breaches occurred in the 21st century that made history in the cybersecurity world. These attacks occurred to three big-time corporations. They were Adobe in 2013, TJX in 2006, and lastly Enron in 2001. Data breaches can happen to anyone at any time.

Adobe is an American computer software company. Their company was attacked on October 3, 2013. This breach caused about 3 million credit card records to be stolen along with the data login information from tens of millions of users (Krebs on Security, 2013). Adobe was reluctant at first to announce the true number of users impacted and did not inform authorities at the time of the breach. Their company made a report that only three million users had been affected. However, the real number was around 38 million. The breach involved the thefts of security codes on various Adobe platforms. These platforms were the Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader, ColdFusion, and Adobe Photoshop. It was determined that Adobe was aware that the security protection their company was using at the time was very poor. “Adobe used the same encryption key for all passwords’ (Krebs on Security, 2013). They had never updated their encryption system and had never dismantled their old server. Because Adobe made this careless mistake “US District Judge Lucy Koh rejected Adobe’s request to dismiss the action because the impact on users was ‘very real’ despite the plaintiff’s inability to prove Adobe failed to inform them of the breach fast enough” (Pauli, 2015). This old server was how the hackers found their way into the Adobe system. The security breach was discovered by a security blogger who had found an anonymous post on a hacking forum (BBC, 2013). These forums can occur on the black web where hackers sell people’s information for a profit. After the attack had occurred Adobe made contact with users whose information was stolen. Adobe just urged its users to change their passwords. Adobe needs to be diligent on these types of updates and protecting its customer’s information. There was no sign that there was unauthorized activity on affected user’s accounts. Adobe had offered a years’ worth of credit monitoring to users whose credit card data was breached in response to the attack. However, it was discovered that there was a chance that the data that was corrupted could allow for hackers to “allow programmers to analyze how Adobe’s software works and copy its techniques” (BBC, 2013). For the future Adobe requires a subscription model. This model would require credit information in order for a user to be eligible for upgrades. This update created a second form of security for users. Adobe was able to update its security force to recover from this attack. However, Adobe had to pay close to 1.8 million dollars (Pauli, 2015) in attorney fees. Adobe agreed to settle the legal battle for an undisclosed amount of money.

TJX is an American company known for its low-price department store shopping. They had a data breach that occurred in mid-2005. The stores that were affected were T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods. However, at first, this company refused to divulge the true size of its data breach. TJX kept their security information breach for more than two months. No one was identified or arrested for this data breach. TJX should have notified the users that were attacked immediately. The information that was breached was very crucial. If users were identified earlier, it could have saved private information from being stolen. The user could have stalled and notified their banks. The company announced that around 94 million (Vijayan, 2007) credit/debit card numbers were stolen from one of their systems. The data breach was noticed when there was a suspicious software installed on their computer systems. This is how the hacker was able to gain information from the shoppers. This data breach was extraordinary. Data was stolen from various users from multiple countries. These countries include the United Staes, Canada, Puerto Rico, United Kingdom, and Ireland. It allowed for access to user’s credit information. “The depositions say fraud-related losses of Visa cards range from $68 million to $83 million and will rise as thieves continue to use data from compromised cards” (Swartz, 2007). This attack caused banks of the users to block and reissue thousands of payments. The attack pushed TJX to update their security systems. They began to mask credit PIN data. They also frequently check transaction information to make sure there is no suspicious activity is occurring. TJX faced numerous lawsuits in conclusion to this data breach. The company paid $5 million (Vijayan, 2007) concerning the breach. However, it is unknown the total amount of money the company was ordered to pay.

Myspace who is an American social networking service, found themselves a victim of a historical attack in 2013. There were around 360 million (Bicchierai, 2016) user account was leaked and sold on the dark web. The data that was breached included email addresses, passwords, and usernames. Myspace wasn’t aware of the attack, so it is unknown when the data was exactly stolen. However, when Myspace was notified of the hack users were kept in the dark for a while. The hackers were identified as Peace and an operator of LeakedSource. The data was uploaded on the black web where it was traded and sold to numerous individuals. “Peace was asking for 6 Bitcoin (roughly $2,800) for the stolen passwords and emails” (Bicchierai, 2016). The passwords were hashed with the ‘SHA1 algorithm’ (Bicchierai, 2016). However, this algorithm is known to be weak and easy to crack. Myspace also did not salt their passwords making it easier to hack. Salting is used in password hashing which makes it harder for hackers to gain access and information. Myspace ordered their user to change their passwords after the attack. The company also updated their algorithms to stop future attacks and started to salt their passwords. In the future, Myspace should be diligent on keeping their users informed when attacks occur. This would create the user to take action and protect their private information.

Data breaches can occur at any moment and to any person. With increasing technology, hacking is becoming more prominent. As we can see, cyber-attacks can be detrimental and has everlasting effects. Information like passwords, credit card access, login IDs, and email passwords can be stolen in the blink of an eye. Big-time corporations must keep up with their security systems. Individuals want to be able to trust companies with their personal information. It is important that we as users are aware of these attacks and that changing our passwords and information can help reduce the impact of the attacks. Adobe who was hacked in 2013 but made great strides to gain the trust of its users again. They updated their security forces and required future subscriptions to be made to gain access to accounts. Companies like TJX updated their PIN data as well as frequently checking transaction history for suspicious activity. Myspace updated their algorithms so it wouldn’t be easy for a hacker to gain access to users’ personal information. These three companies took hard hits to their security forces. But they took action in correcting their mistakes and updating their security for their users. These companies need to admit to their failures and learn from them. We can use these hacking experiences and learn from them for the future. Companies can use these examples to create protective steps and measure when an attack occurs. They should have backup plans created to follow when attacks are made. However due to the technological advances being made daily; cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly important topic. Cyberattacks are becoming more prominent due to access to technology and information. Users need to be aware of in order to protect themselves.

Cain and Abel Software is a hacking tool. It is for both the good and bad sides. In this, you can check any network host, such as the incoming and outgoing network activity of any device. I’m going to be covering the password-cracking abilities with Cain and Abel. This tool is capable of wireless hacking via PC. It has the ability to crack any password.

Features of Cain and Abel Software:

1. Networking sniffing
2. Password Cracking
3. Hack sites
4. Using Linux
5. Use various Tools
6. Box pwning

How to download Caine and Able Software:

In this software, we can use network sniffing. Through this software, you can watch the activity of the user connected to the network. So I’ll show you how to do it. You can download and use this software from here.

How to use Caine and Abel Software:

1. Its interface is very simple and easy. This software breaks passwords. It has the power to crack simple passwords. In which all websites and applications need a password. It has access to this information in any type of data.
2. All this happens through a hacking process known as a sequel injection. In this regard, hackers can exploit flaws and coding designs to gain access to the database. Here we will talk about Cain and Abel Software hacking.
3. Some of the most popular types of hashing algorithms are NTLM, md5, and sha-1. You will find the password one of the more popular types of password-cracking programs is Cain and Abel. We are going to focus on is under the cracker tab which used for cracking passwords on the left.
4. You will see a list of different types of hashing algorithms. Let’s select NTLM hashes. What windows use to encrypt passwords to import hashed passwords? Click on the plus sign. Select the first option to import hashes from all the users on your current computer.
5. You can import hashes from a text file or a database file. You click the next list of all the accounts. The system will show the popup window. Our area of interest will be the NT password column.
6. If it says empty that means there isn’t a password on the account if it’s blank then it has a password. So right-click on the account. If you wish to crack and it will give you different cracking options dictionary.

These options are as under.

• Dictionary Attack
• Brute-force
• Cryptanalysis attacks

Dictionary Attack:

• It reads from a file of preset passwords.
• You can download the large password file

Password Complexity:

In this half, the passwords on the web are lowercase letters and 6 characters long.

On an above-average computer, this will take only 30 seconds to crack.

Brute-Force Attack:

• The next fastest way is through a method called brute force. It is a method of trying all possible combinations, numbers, and/or symbols and hashing them. It finds a matching combination.
• This is where the complexity of your password pays off on average more than half the passwords. On the Internet are lowercase letters and six characters in length on my laptop. It only takes 30 seconds to crack.
• So if that’s you and someone breaks into LinkedIn or Twitter’s databases. You’re screwed to use brute force and Cain and Abel. You right-click on the user select brute force and then select NTLM hashes.
• It will bring up a new window with criteria of password complexity. You can see adding one number. Your password rises the crack time to four minutes.
• Adding a number in uppercase letters takes more than an hour then throwing a symbol into the mix bumps. It is up to about five hours still this is a very short amount of time. When it comes to your security.
• You include all those characters and then increase the length of your password to say ten the time to crack. It increases in this case. It’ll take about eighteen thousand years now. That’s more like brute force is the most common means of password cracking

Cryptanalysis Attacks:

• There’s a third option called cryptanalysis. Which is the study of cryptography to see? It can adopt this method of crypt analysis attacks. That is called rainbow tables without getting complicated. A rainbow table can be a long string of millions of hashes.
• Then the rainbow table will take a smaller pattern. The original hash is knowns as a reduction function and search for. Instead of searching the entire hash. It can be a lot faster assuming. You have enough memory to store all the hashing functions.
• You can find rainbow tables to use by searching for them on Google. You have three different options to try and crack other hashing algorithms.

Conclusion:

Cain and Abel Software is a password recovery tool for all types of Windows. It allows easy recovery of various kinds of passwords through sniffing. The network cracking translated passwords using a dictionary, brute force, and cryptanalysis attacks.

The internet is a no man’s land. The whole world has melted into a global village as the internet permeates offices, homes, and mobiles. Cyber security is the practice of protecting networks technological systems, and programs from data breaching, digital attacks, data infringement, and unauthorized access. These attacks mainly focus on accessing, changing, or in other words perishing important information, and extorting money from users and organizations. To understand why cyber security is needed and crucial, an understanding of cybercrime is very necessary. Cybercrime is any illicit operation that is performed on the net or any network-based appliance. These crimes include identity theft, viruses, supplanting, cyberstalking, and phishing.

The main motive of cyber security is to protect information and systems from major cyber threats. Creating and maintaining effectual cyber security measures is challenging because globally, there are more devices than humans and attackers are increasingly skilled at modifying to known security measures. The biggest risk and threat for the cyber community of the world has to be hackers and spammers. Even the strongest security measures have not been able to catch these groups of people. Thus, increasing the need to secure and develop security measures to ensure the protection of everybody using the internet. Cyber threats keep evolving every single day. Increasing use of the internet throughout the globe coupled with globalization has increased the intricacy of cyber threats. Cybersecurity threats continue to increase in frequency and diversity. This has led to major security threats. Hence, the need for the installation of better security measures to avert the occurrence of these types of threats. Typically, the threats could be classified into three;

1. malicious codes
2. network abuses
3. network attacks

Malicious codes consist of worms, viruses, spyware, worms, trojan horses, logic bombs, adware, backdoor programs, bots, and key loggers.

According to Cavelty (2008), network abuses include worm propagation, email viruses, denial of service attacks, unsolicited bulk email (UBE or spam), phishing scams, child pornography, and copyright infringement.

Lastly, network attacks include Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, password attacks, SQL injection attacks, intrusions, and web defacement.

Local and global infrastructure is built on connected technology, and ensuring the security of this network is important for the productivity and safety of forever online society.

The three components of the CIA triangle are confidentiality, integrity, and availability. They are considered the three most important elements of cyber security.

• Confidentiality

It’s important these days for everyone to secure their, private data from unauthorized parties. Confidentiality is all about protecting the revelation of information to unauthorized parties. But in precise words, it tries to ensure the identity of authorized access engaged in holding and sharing information is private as well unknown. Making sure the engaged parties’ identity is confidential just completes the CIA triad. Protecting confidentiality is subjected to having to determine and accomplish secure access levels for data.

Several frequent means that are used to handle confidentiality involve volume & file encryptions and access control lists.

• Integrity

It maintains the authenticity of data over its complete life cycle by ensuring the unauthorized party is not able to interfere or tamper with it. This is a major element of the CIA Triad. It makes sure when an authorized person modifies information that shouldn’t have been modified, the loss can be managed. It also makes sure that information is not breached due to unintentional hardware or software malfunctions. Standard efforts to assure integrity comprise cryptographic checksums, access controls, backups, and uninterrupted power supplies

• Availability

This is the last element and it speaks about the availability of your information. In rigorous terms, it facilitates the condition where authorized participants are able to access the data whenever required. Access channels, systems, and authentic devices all must work adequately for the data they protect and make sure it’s accessible when it‘s needed. Information unavailability is a result of malicious activities like DDoS attacks or software/hardware failure or insufficiency of bandwidth or other resources.

Therefore, the three main goals of the CIA Triad of Security are-

1. Keeping sensitive information secure and private.
2. Having the ability to recover data that has been damaged, lost, or compromised.
3. Ensuring authorized users can freely access the systems, networks, and data needed to perform their daily tasks.

References:

1. Goutam, R. K. (2015). Importance of Cyber Security. International Journal of Computer Applications
2. Myriam Dunn Cavelty (2008). Cyber-Security and Threat Politics.
3. Singer, P. (2014). What Do We Mean By Security Anyway? Brookings Institution. 

I was the first among my friends and neighbors to get a computer around the age of 10. I can recall the glee and childish exuberance surrounding every aspect of my being on that morning my mother arrived from England. I was just elated seeing the Hewlett parked logo at boot up, then the black screen with white lettering long before I knew it was called dos loaded. This was my first experience with anything called computing and from day one I fell in love with this object that became the center of my attraction. Today that love and desire to advance in my knowledge and fulfill my passion has not abated.  

Since my first interaction with the computer until now, I am constantly intrigued by the capabilities, advancement, and rate of change within computer systems and networks. My passion in computing is to improve business processes and systems by utilizing applications, devices, smart integration through API, etc. to enhance productivity. This trend stirred me to study Management Information Systems for my undergraduate degree. I studied courses like Applied program development, Database Management, Enterprise Architecture, and System Analysis Methods. These helped me gain a solid understanding of computer systems in the enterprise.  

I was hired as an assistant project manager for a doctor’s office and I was tasked with digitizing paper records. This project was part of a larger organizational conversion to an electronic medical records system which I ended up inheriting and piloting to the end. I later took the position of health information manager and I documented and trained staff for this purpose. This job gave me an opportunity to practice what I was studying.  

I have worked as a Field Engineer and Technical operations lead for a myriad of projects in local government, medical, and SMB.   

However, in the enterprise, I quickly learned that such smart processes preclude the element of security and the threat of breach and hacking is still a major concern.  I developed an ardent interest in this area, and I sought to understand the methods behind the breaches, how to counter them, and how to prevent future occurrences.  

As a Messaging Engineer with Smith and Nephew Inc., I was responsible for URL security and web browser protection. This brought me front and center with the prevalent threat of phishing and other emerging internet threats. This required constant research, analysis, and documentation for training level 1 and 2 support and also for reporting to my superiors. Another aspect of my job required me to team up with information security, Microsoft Engineers, and ForcePoint Engineers to formulate and program DLP and other security policies for Office 365. This inoculated me against the work-alone mentality and allowed me to interact with colleagues, senior management, and High-level engineers alike. It also helped me to accept new challenges and I gain expertise in problem-solving by harnessing existing resources, talents, and everyday concepts. 

Now my desire is to matriculate and undertake a study in Cyber Security and Leadership for my next frontier. I will be greatly honored if I am offered the opportunity to join this program. As a Level 3 Network Specialist for a US local government agency, I believe this program will provide me with the armamentarium to successfully combat and thwart current emerging threats facing us today. I also desire to take this knowledge back home to Ghana where I will set up a consultancy firm to facilitate sharing this knowledge among young students and proctor them to the world stage. Thank you for your consideration. 

Log analysis is the term used by analyzers to analyze computer-generated records to help organizations or businesses mitigate different risks. Log analysis helps network engineers to manage different applications and infrastructures. Security analysts solve security problems. This process helps companies comply with security policies, audits, or regulations, and understand service troubleshooting. System and understand the behavior of online users. Website administrators often extract web server logs to study customer profiles and learn more about their behavior and other marketing-related tasks. 

To track visitors to your site/platform and understand the number of visitors to your site, the pages on which they spent the most time, and why the number of visitors has changed, patterns like this will help you identify opportunities including when to post a new version or product, sending a mailing, the right time to offer discounts, etc. For HTTP Errors: A common use of log analysis is searching for HTTP errors. Through your analysis, you’ll be able to understand your HTTP errors, and on what pages they occurred so you can fix the problem and essentially prevent yourself from losing potential clients. The system operator will use operational logging to take useful information such as notification of failure or potentially actionable conditions. Application and system developers who use application debug logging which is a specific type of logging disabled in production systems but can be enabled on request. 

Troubleshooting the application: 

Logging data helps technical staff quickly Identify areas of poor performance, Application Status Assessment and Troubleshooting, Diagnostics, and Identification of Application Root Cause and Runtime. A security administrator From a security point of view, a newspaper aims to serve as a red flag in case of a problem. As the SANS Institute says, ‘Journaling can be the best friend of a security administrator. It’s like an administrative partner who is always at work, who never complains, who is never tired, and who is always on top. If instructed, this partner can provide the time and place of each event that occurred on your network or system. ‘ A business analyst (BA) Newspaper data usually contains a wealth of commercial information. Critical business information can be derived from log data and alerts when specific business objectives are met or achieved. 

• Business Process Health 
• Transactional data (transactions / s, etc.) 
• SLA clients 
• The income per hour Marketer 

Log file analysis can be a strategic advantage for digital marketers to gather information and analyze their impact on visibility, traffic, conversions, and sales. 

• Understand which pages are useful and unnecessary 
• Reveal pages that Google searches and those they do not see. Purchase information requests online
• Determine which groups of visitors are most likely to convert to customers, members, or subscribers 
• Define visitor groups based on the content they read, the actions they perform, and even the original URL. 
• Optimize conversions 

Conclusion 

Computers, networks, and other computer systems generate records that document the activities of the system. Organizations use it to mitigate various risks and comply with regulations. Technical and non-technical people will use the result of the log analyses to Understand and deal with data breaches and other security incidents To troubleshoot systems, computers, or networks To understand the behavior of your users Forensic science However, log analysis also saves companies time when they try to diagnose problems, solve problems, or manage their infrastructure or applications. 

Cyber-attacks may not seem tangible in the digital world, but they can cause real damage. Technology and the internet join all countries together with the potential to be an asset or a weapon. A cyber-attack can reach a global level easily with low risk and the ability to cause damage on a high scale. Any nation that wants to cause damage to the United States in a quick and efficient way would use hacking If infrastructure is hacked it can cause physical issues such as blackouts, and the stop of operations, not allowing people to have access to their money, or shutting down power grids so that hospitals are unprepared for the lack of power, and even the failure of military equipment. There is also the issue of stealing information from public and private companies such as intellectual property and unpatented information, or the theft of national secrets to sell them or leak them, as well as personal information that is valuable and sensitive. They can disrupt communication networks or paralyze systems. That is why the most immediate threat to the U.S. during the next ten to fifteen years is cyber-attacks on infrastructure unless we find a way to protect its foundation.

The infrastructure of the U.S. can easily become compromised by a hacker in any part of the world. Many jobs, companies, and people depend on the organization and disposition of the framework of the U.S. and its institutions and expect them to be reliable. If a fraction of infrastructure is compromised, it can mean disarray on a wide scale, for example, Frank Cilluffo, the Director of the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security stated, “critical infrastructure such as U.S. banks and the energy sector (oil and gas) are primary targets for cyber-attacks and cybercrimes… (they) hold the potential to undermine trust and confidence in the system itself” (Cilluffo 3). These essential institutions are key factors for the advancement of the U.S. economy and so their cybersecurity is far more susceptible to an attack. Any nation-state that wishes to damage the U.S. from the inside out can do so by damaging the economy it relies on, and from any location.

The cybersecurity of infrastructure could be an improbable threat because there are concerns to U.S. national security that seem more immediate. For example, terrorism is unpredictable and causes more casualties at the moment. Most cyber-attacks could be preventable if proper cyber security were implemented and there have not been any catastrophic deaths from a cyber attack. It is also difficult to negotiate with terrorists where as most advanced nation-states with cyber capabilities can be dissuaded from using the information they have against the U.S.

The reason I believe this to be the most important threat is because it is one of the biggest liabilities for the United States. Other countries do not compare to the military or economic level of the U.S. but they can infiltrate our systems through network hacking and affect the advantage that the nation holds over the rest of the world. It will also be a big problem to deal with because there are so many large corporations and industries that are connected to power grids and networks and they do not have the appropriate cybersecurity upgrades to keep up with the advanced technology that they use. Although terrorism causes casualties there are many instances where cyber attacks have led to deaths and if not taken care of can reach catastrophic rates. Terrorists are likely to use cyber attacks as a means to cause a physical attack, making the threat of cyber attack all the more likely. Technology affects the daily lives of Americans and if it is compromised it can have significant effects on the U.S. economy, public health, and safety, so cyber threats have the capability to affect the functioning of life as we know it, not just because of the physical attacks but also due to the informational attacks. The problem alone is widespread but it is also hard to deal with because they can come from anywhere in the world, making the attack difficult to deter.

Cyberattacks are hard to prevent since they can be launched from anywhere in the world. Intelligence agencies can collect information on the nation states and private companies with the most motive to attack and the highest cyber hacking abilities, such as their ability to infiltrate our network and figure out what kind of resources and tactics they are using so that we can be put into a position to retaliate with a physical attack if necessary. Intelligence agencies should also focus on the information security of all major infrastructures that are determined to be important for public safety, health, or a corporation that has an economic significance for the U.S. The information security in this case would be digital and includes cybersecurity and, network security which is the identification of malware and viruses and their prevention.

The solution posed could be non-viable because it is not finding the specific attacker, it is simply finding who is most likely to commit an attack. However, if we are collecting information on all transgressors it will be easier to decrypt the kind of malware or encryption they have used to hide their location. The basis of the solution is also prevention so that the attack does not occur in the first place. This can be used whether it be a nation-state or nonstate actor. If we wait to act until after we have been hacked, it will be a bigger problem and harder to deal with. If countries are already collecting data on us we should justifiably be doing the same thing to them.  

Cybercrime has become more prevalent in recent years. Discuss three different cybercrimes which were prevalent in 2018.

When a crime is committed in the cyber world with the purpose to destroy, hacking the data system, or earning ransom is known as Cybercrime. For example:

Network and data breach: It can be done via hacking a network system (Captures the data by hacking SSL tunnel-Secure Sockets Layer tunnel between a server and client, data generally transmitted in encrypted form but can be decrypted with keys). It happens while the user is accessing Internet banking and social network sites. Another way to achieve such crime is Key-Logger software. With the help of a key-logger, it is feasible to note down the pattern used to type passwords in Internet Banking Password mainly. So it is always recommended to use Virtual-Keyboards to access Internet banking sites.

Three listed famous cybercrime attacks:

1. WannaCry Cyber Attack: 

In May 2017, the WannaCry ransomware cybercrime attack happened worldwide by the WannaCry ransomware cryptoworm, the purpose of the attack was to target computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system by encrypting the data, and attackers demanded ransom payments in the crypto-currency such as Bitcoins.

RCA (Root cause analysis) report: Vulnerability in Microsoft Windows security called EternalBlue. Shadow brokers, a hacker group were involved in this crime.

Tax-calculator system software was designed and propagated on the internet by email, and malicious USB drives. This isolated the systems of users who interacted with software and infected their data which was made encrypted and could only be decrypted by paying ransom to the attackers. Active and unpatched (not updated) were infected during WannaCry Attack. (Cisco Systems, 2018)

2. FormJacking Cyber Attack: 

In 2018, Formjacking was the latest cybercrime attack by hackers to target e-commerce, and banking sites to collect the payment information of users. Hackers’ main target was to hack the payment card details of users. Big firms like British Airways, Ticketmaster, Kitronik (British Electronic retailer), and Vision Direct (A contact lens seller) were targeted during this attack.

RCA (Root cause analysis) report: A Java script was injected into web browsing when users were interacting with third-party customer support via Chabot. It loaded a malicious code into the user’s system with the aim to get the payment details of users.

(Symantec Corporation, 2019) (Symantec Corporation, 2019)

3. Mirai – Distributed denial of services attack (Internet of things – IoT): 

A malware attack specially designed to target network device that runs on Linux-based operating system(Designed by ARC – Argonaut RISC Core- “Organization introduced 32-bit central processing unit embedded systems) such as Routers. This was an IoT attack.

RCA (Root cause analysis) report: Mirai malware injected a botnet in Linux-based networking devices such as Routers and IP Cameras which were left unpatched. It turned the router into a network of remotely controlled BoTs known as a botnet. This botnet is commonly used for D-DOS attacks. These botnets were capable to take full control of devices. (Symantec Corporation, 2019)

Cyber Security an Invisible War

The guard of our Nation has customarily been finished by using physical people as ground power. These ground powers push their way through foe lines to accomplish their destinations. As our reality changes and advances as new technology is presented, so do our ground powers. This is accepting structure as people keeping an eye on PCs searching for adversary warriors to get through our guards, our cyber safeguards. Today, an ever-increasing number of troops are being pulled off the forefronts for the utilization of technology. This comes as cyber-assaults and the utilization of automatons. These two elements may not appear to be connected, in any case, they are interlaced in the manner in which our country safeguards ourselves and our partners.

The United States military has discovered that cybersecurity is such a danger, that each part of the administration has built up a lifelong field in this profession. The Air Force Specialty Code is 3D0X2, Cyber Systems Operations. The armed force Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) code is 25D, Cyber Network Defender. The Navy rating is an Information Systems Technician. At last, the Marines’ MOS is 0689, Cyber Security Technician. PC frameworks are such a huge piece of what we do and use today, that each branch is expected to set up a method for securing these PC frameworks as they see fit. I will separate each assistance profession to show how they are utilizing the present technology to thwart assaults against our national protection PC frameworks.

As per Powers (2014), 3D0X2, Cyber Systems Operations AFSC is authoritatively settled on November 1, 2009. The rising need to make another profession field was obvious as increasingly more cyber-assaults began occurring on Air Force frameworks and software.

As indicated by the Air Force site (n.d.),

The Air Force depends vigorously on cutting-edge PC and software frameworks, so it is principal to protect those frameworks. It’s the activity of Cyber Systems Operations masters to configure, introduce and bolster our frameworks to guarantee they work appropriately and stay secure from outside interruption. These specialists upgrade our capacities and give us the best and most secure frameworks so we can remain on the ball in all that we do.

This statement of purpose sets the establishment of what the professionals are centered around pushing ahead. As technology is progressed, so will the manners in which our foes find to assault our frameworks. These experts should likewise adjust to help keep this from occurring. The Army’s form of cybersecurity is even more current. Vergun (2014) expressed, Once Soldiers get an endorsement to turn into a 25D and afterward get the essential preparation, they will have the MOS 25D, starting Oct. 1 this year. The U.S. Armed force (n.d.) states, Soldiers serving in MOS 25D will secure against unapproved movement in cyberspace space and perform evaluations of dangers and vulnerabilities inside the system condition. This is a less tedious variant of the Air Force definition, custom-fitted obviously, to the Army.

The United States Navy and Marine Corps additionally have their rating and MOS, individually, with regard to cybersecurity. The Navy rating of Information Systems Technician manages the Navy side, and the Cyber Security Technician manages the Marine Corps side. The Navy (n.d.) separates their rating as pursues:

Information technology (IT) assumes a significant role in everything from electronic mail frameworks to shipboard control frameworks to Special Intelligence (SI) frameworks. Naval force Information System Technicians (IT experts) are Enlisted Sailors who take part in an expansive scope of obligations including system organization, database management, and PC hardware and software usage. Their duties include:

• Operating and keeping up Navy worldwide satellite media communications frameworks
• Serving as administrator on centralized computer PCs and nearby and wide region systems
• Implementing miniaturized scale PC frameworks all throughout the Fleet
• Serving as a significant piece of the Information Dominance Corps in its strategic addition a profound comprehension of the inward activities of enemies and creating unparalleled information on the battlespace during wartime.

The last projectile of the Navy’s appraising is the thing that we have centered around, attempting to make sense of what our enemies will do next on the information matrix. The Marines (2015) breakdown their MOS as pursues:

Cyber Security Technicians are liable for all parts of guaranteeing Marine Corps information frameworks information accessibility, trustworthiness validation, privacy, and non-revocation. PC Network Defense Specialist actualizes and screens security measures for USMC Communication Information Systems Networks, and prompt the officer that frameworks and faculty cling to built-up security guidelines and legislative necessities for security on these frameworks.

The Marines make it one stride more distant than the Navy and coordinate a PC arrange protection authority into their workplace who practices on the edge side of the cyber world, which is the side we are keen on. As should be obvious, cybersecurity has become such an applicable danger, that the four parts of the military felt it was important to execute new vocation fields to battle this. There have been a few occasions in the United States Government and specifically the Department of Defense, where there have been ruptures in the cyber safeguard of our country. A portion of these ruptures have been little, others enormous and possibly disastrous for people looking for work. We will presently take a gander at a few occasions where cybersecurity didn’t have what it takes and demonstrate expensively.

There have been a few ruptures in cybersecurity since the PC and the web have become integral factors in practically all parts of current life. The biggest and latest of these breaks was the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) rupture that happened a year ago. As indicated by an OPM Frequently Posed Inquiry site (n.d.), OPM accepts the primary interruption in its frameworks that happened in December 2014 and got aware of the episode in April 2015. OPM then got aware of a second interruption in its frameworks in May 2015. A similar site refers to that a huge number of people were influenced, however no unmistakable number. What is frightening here, is the way that it took four months for OPM to see this huge of an information break. This rupture influenced a huge number of Americans and a huge number of administration individuals. While the OPM is certainly not an immediate arm of the Department of Defense, administration individuals’ information still courses through the OPM. As indicated by Larter and Tilghman (2015), Some military authorities accept the ongoing hack focusing on the regular citizen-run OPM held onto information from a huge number of Standard Form 86s, which are required for all help individuals and regular folks looking for security and freedom. That incorporates administration individuals from all positions, officials, and enrolled, in a wide scope of occupation claims to fame and assignments.

To have a break to this extent on administration individuals’ recognizable information is cataclysmic. The OPM is a regular citizen-run office that has total oversight of each administration laborer’s close-to-home information. I accept with the hamburger up in cybersecurity over the four parts of the military, this information ought to be compartmentalized to each help branch to deal with their very own assistance by and by recognizable information. This by itself can help diminish the number of people influenced by a rupture. On the off chance that a break was to occur, odds are it would transpire of the compartmentalized regions, and be halted there moving forward without any more ruptures in different zones. To summarize, how I would split the information, OPM would be accountable for nonmilitary personnel government representatives just, while each help division would be responsible for their separate assistance individuals.

Changing gears to military-explicit occurrences, most likely one of the most noticeably awful cyber-assaults on the military came in 2008. Stewart (2010) expressed Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said the assault occurred after a contaminated glimmer drive was embedded into a U.S. military workstation at a base in the Middle East, transferring malevolent PC code onto the Central Command arrange. He proceeded to state, that code spread undetected on both characterized and unclassified frameworks, setting up what added up to an advanced foothold from which information could be moved to servers under remote control. He recalls when he previously joined the military, they could connect convenient hard drives, thumb drives, and CDs to the PC without anybody giving it a second thought. It was likewise a significant work component as execution reports must be composed, for the most part, on-off time. The administrator would take a shot at the report somewhat at work and move it to a thumb drive so they could deal with it at home during the end of the week. At the point when Monday moved around, they would appear, plug the thumb drive in, and transfer the report to keep taking a shot at it. It was standard practice. I recollect when this specific episode happened because the automatic response was to not enable anything to be connected to the PC that wasn’t at that point some portion of the PC. This caused a great deal of nervousness among laborers who had these reports to compose and were on a cutoff time. Thinking back, it was the best possible automatic response. Our military information frameworks contain a great deal of information about our troop developments and depictions and driving specifics on activities, which must be protected no matter what.

As indicated by Alternet (n.d.), this rupture was terrible to the point that the occurrence filled in as a wake-up for the Pentagon and incited significant changes in how the division dealt with computerized dangers, including the arrangement of another cyber military direction. This ties straightforwardly into the production of cybersecurity professions in the four fundamental parts of the military. This blaze drive episode features the requirement for a top-to-bottom thorough security application that can distinguish when information is being moved out of the fundamental framework to another. These kinds of uses should have the option to advance, as our foes do.

Numerous nations attempt to enter our cyber guard’s various occasions on some random day. Sanger (2013) expressed that, While some ongoing assessments have more than 90 percent of cyberespionage in the United States starting in China, the allegations handed off in the Pentagon’s yearly report to Congress on the Chinese military capacities were astounding in their unequivocal quality. China has the assets and individuals to be an imposing enemy in the cyber warfare field. Their technology is getting up to speed with our own quicker than we can pull away from them. A similar article expresses that China is putting resources into its electronic warfare capacities. With China putting such a great amount into their capacities, and with the apparent thought that they are our essential wellspring of cyber assaults, the U.S. military needs to keep in front of pace in shielding our national safeguard techniques from the hands of Chinese authorities. Presently, China isn’t our lone foe in this issue, notwithstanding, they are the predominant power in cybersecurity matters.

To help battle these cyber assaults, the Department of Defense has distributed the DoD Cyber Strategy. As indicated by this methodology, there are five fundamental key objectives. They are, construct and keep up prepared powers and capacities to lead cyberspace tasks; guard the DoD information organize, and secure DoD information and relieve risks to DoD missions; be set up to safeguard the U.S. country and U.S. fundamental interests from problematic or ruinous cyberattacks of huge result; construct and keep up feasible cyber choices and plan to utilize those alternatives to control struggle acceleration and to shape the contention condition at all stages; and manufacture and keep up vigorous universal collusions and associations to deflect shared dangers and increment global security and steadiness (Carter, 2015). These objectives are widely inclusive of the cybersecurity profession field destinations. In this procedure manage under the second vital objective, Carter states, While DoD can’t safeguard each system and framework against each sort of interruption – DoD’s all-out system assault surface is too enormous to even consider defending against all dangers and too tremendous to even think about closing all vulnerabilities – DoD must find a way to distinguish, organize, and protect its most significant systems and information so it can do its missions viably. This is indicating that the DoD is utilizing the criticality of various systems to determine which ones are imperative to assurance. While losing any system is awful, the passing of a basic system or framework could be calamitous for military activities around the globe.

Taking everything into account, the security of the military’s cyber system and frameworks is of most extreme significance to national security. There have been different endeavors to increase unwarranted access to the United States military information frameworks using hacking and other cyber-assaults. The ones referenced above are the ones that have had or will have enduring impacts for quite a long time to come. While a portion of the responses by government authorities are knee-yank in nature, they demonstrate that the information assembled unlawfully by our foes is basic to our country. The United States has been battling a war, not on the ground, yet in cyberspace. To be effective in this war, our military needs to proceed to improve and propel our advances in cybersecurity to keep up an upper hand over our adversaries. These new advancements should have the option to develop as our adversaries do and can distinguish when something is out of order in the system. For whatever length of time that PCs keep on being a significant piece of our lives and what we do, this war in cyberspace will proceed.

References

1. Aviation-based armed forces. (n.d.). Cyber Systems Operations. Recovered from https://www.airforce.com/professions/detail/cyber-frameworks tasks/
2. Alternet. (n.d.). The most exceedingly terrible Cyber Attack on US Military Came using Flash Drive: US. Recovered from http://www.alternet.org/rss/breaking_news/271139/worst_cyber_attack_on_us_military_came_via_flash_drive%3A_us
3. Carter, A. (2015, April). The Department of Defense Cyber Strategy. Recovered from http://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/highlights/2015/0415_cyber-system/Final_2015_DoD_CYBER_STRATEGY_for_web.pdf
4. Larter, D., Tilghman, A. (2015, June 18). Military leeway OPM information rupture ‘outright catastrophe’. Recovered from http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2015/06/17/sf-86-security-freedom rupture troops-influenced pm/28866125/
5. MOS Manual. (2015, May 19). Cyber Security Technician. Recovered from http://mosmanual.com/pages/mos/06/0689.php
6. OPM FAQ. (n.d.).General Information on the OPM Breach. Recovered from http://www.secnav.navy.mil/OPMBreachDON/html_pages/FAQs.htm
7. Forces, R. (2014, December 15). Aviation-based armed forces Enlisted Jobs: 3D0X2, Cyber Systems Operations. Recovered from http://usmilitary.about.com/od/airforceenlistedjobs/a/3d0x2.htm
8. Sanger, D.E. (2013, May 6). The U.S. Accuses China’s Military Directly for Cyberattacks. Recovered from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/world/asia/us-denounces chinas-military-in-cyberattacks.html?_r=0
9. Stewart, P. (2010, August 26). Spies Behind 2008 Cyber Attack, U.S. official says. Recovered from http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-assault idUSTRE67P00X20100826
10. U.S. Armed Forces. (n.d.). MOS 25D, Cyber Network Defender. Recovered from http://www.armyreenlistment.com/reclass-25d.html
11. U.S. Naval Force. (n.d.). Information Systems Technician. Recovered from http://www.navy.com/professions/information-and-technology/information-technology.html#ft-key-obligations
12. Vergun, D. (2014, Aril 14). Cyber Network Defender MOS is presently open to NCOs. Recovered from http://www.army.mil/article/123328/Cyber_Network_Defender_MOS_now_open_to_NC

According to DC. Latham an Assistant Secretary of DCCCI, “Over the past decade there has been an incredible growth in the amount of classified information stored in computers” (Warner, M., 2012). This data is stored in cyberspace which constitutes of many optic wires, routers, servers, and computers which are interconnected (Purpura, P., 2007). With the start of the 21st century, many technological developments and improvements in the workplace as taken place but challenges and issues are inevitable (F. Mohammadi et, al. 2014). These technical problems are not new in this area, a first disaster occurred in 1988 which made thousands of computers crash and created disruptions in many software. Minor loopholes can cause major damage which directly or indirectly impacts companies’ performance and customers’ trustworthiness (DeNardis, L., 2007). These threats to the security of data lead to a new term called “Cyber Crime”. In a brief sense, Cybercrime means the mishandling of data. The most frequent threats are thefts, child pornography, cyber terrorism, and diffusion of malware (de Leeuw, K.M.M. and Bergstra, J. eds., 2007).

Literature analysis

In all businesses, data plays a very crucial role and if this data breaches it can cause fatal damage to the companies. The world has witnessed, the UK suffered 93% of data loss in large organizations and 87% of data loss in small and micro-enterprises. About 40 million credit card numbers and 70 million addresses, contact details, and other personal information of customers were disclosed in the USA. The expertise suggests by analyzing these incidents and giving a theory that, security management should be divided into two contexts, i.e. Technical and Managerial. The technical aspect cannot be fulfilled without the support of the managerial part while managers alone cannot guard the whole information system. Management must take care of software and hardware installations, security rules and regulation, organizing awareness campaigns, internal control, and data decisions. These activities control the different ways of data loss both internally and externally. Humans have a critical role in protecting information. Most of the scenarios of data loss are partly due to the blunders of employees. One of the many ways in which data loss can occur internally is the stealing of data for malicious intentions by the employee of the organization. Management controls this type of threat by implementing mandatory participation of employees in these awareness and training programs. The threat to information security also impacts the lifecycle of a business. The top-level employees or board of directors should implement the protection of data in the business strategies. Social media is also part of the insider threat to information security. As social media benefits us with unlimited information sharing and anytime and anywhere accessible options, but it rifts the trust of organizations in data protection (Soomro, Z.A., Shah, M.H. and Ahmed, J., 2016).

The different types of threats that cybercriminals can cause on a company’s system are Malware, Trojan Horse, and Vishing. These threats can be commonly defined as online fraud and hacking of systems. Cybercriminals use social and emotional techniques rather than technical tricks to deceive people. They send emails that contain malware in the form of attachments or hyperlinks, or they misguide public attention by fake website names such as Paypal and Paypal, where people may add their personal information, and this information is misused by fake website hosts (Shaikh, A.N., es, A.M. and Hossain, M.A., 2016).

Current Practice Section

According to Karen A. Frenkel, ransomware is the biggest threat to an unpredictable situation where companies are unprepared to deal with the attack. Ransomware is the cheapest and very convenient way for cybercriminals to hack data and earn huge profits. The numbers say that almost the worth of 5 billion-dollar in damages were caused by ransomware in 2017. The author says in a different article that, big companies or large organizations are fighting this situation by giving their employees adequate training and defining the future causes of problems to their employees instead of enforcing strict policies. The author also notes a positive point on these attacks, these cybercrimes are inspiring companies to strengthen their cyber data and create a strong defense system. Companies have shifted their way to tackling the problem, in the past organizations used to spend huge investments in solving the problem, but in today’s world, these businesses are investing large amounts of investments in protecting the data and selecting the precise security tool.

The European Union has initiated General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which states that companies even which are not located physically in Europe but deal with European customers, must protect their personal information, appoint a data protection officer and follow specific guidelines while communicating with them (Samuel Greengard., 2017).

Internet is secured by country laws and enforcements, defensive products, and international co-operations and regulation. (Tonge, A.M., Kasture, S.S. and Chaudhari, S.R., 2013).

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the information security safeguard can be controlled by the integration of technical and managerial. When both technical and non-technical departments are in line and adopt a comprehensive approach to include whole business management then information can be safeguarded.