The Cybercrime: Identity Theft - Assignment Example

The Cybercrime. Identity Theft. What is this? How to distinguish this phenomenon and protect oneself against it? Title Date Abstract This work is devoted to the topic of the identity theft, which is one of the top problems in the modern world. The development of the computer systems and internet resources is always accompanied with the development of cybercrimes and computer viruses as the tools for committing this type of crimes. No one has the insurance against being a subject to the cybercrime, but we can learn more about it and protect our information, because currently, computer crime reaches the international scale. This work sums up the information from the well-known websites of Encyclopedia Britannica, Presti and Naegele and Interpol. Also there are citations from such works as Cybercrime: Criminal Threats from Cyberspace by Susan W. Brenner, How organised is organised cybercrime? Global Crime by J. Lusthaus, Digital Evidence and Computer Crime, Third Edition: Forensic Science, Computers, and the Internet by Eoghan Casey and Cyber Criminology: Exploring Internet Crimes and Criminal behavior by K. Jaishankar. The aim of the present work is to study such phenomena as identity theft and computer crime. Keywords: Internet, information, identity theft cybercrime, computer, virus The technological revolution has led to a major social change, the most important of which is the emergence of a new kind of public relations and public resources - information. Since that time there appeared the question of controlling the access to the information, its preservation. Organizational measures, as well as software and hardware protection proved to be ineffective. Most acute shape this problem of unauthorized interference gained in the countries with highly developed technologies and information networks. While many types of cybercrime require a high degree of organization and specialization, there is insufficient empirical evidence to ascertain if cybercrime is now dominated by organized crime groups and what form or structure such groups may take (Lusthaus, 2013). Objects for such criminal attacks may be the hardware, material objects or software and databases; the computer can act as a subject or as an instrument of abuse. There are many types of computer crimes. They are the unauthorized access to information stored in the computer and start the software "logic bombs" that are triggered when the certain conditions are met and partially or completely incapacitate a computer system, also it could be the development and distribution of computer viruses, and theft of computer information. Especially important and one that worth be noted is the computer information, owned by the state or its agents. According to the information, given on the Interpol website, these crimes can be divided into three broad areas: (a) attacks against computer hardware and software, for example, botnets, malware and network intrusion; (b)financial crimes, such as online fraud, penetration of online financial services and phishing; (c) abuse, especially of young people, in the form of grooming or ‘sexploitation’. The most simple reason for hacking is curiosity. Hack "on a bet" - is also a very common case. Contest between two or more hackers on the principle of " too much to hack an account?». Jealousy can also cause cracking page on the social network. Especially as the Internet is full of ads and commercials such as "find out with whom your girlfriend is writing in a social network." The situation becomes more serious when the account has been cracked to blackmail. Its no secret that personal information is available for the circle of elected members. Address, place of work, mobile phone number, references to mutual friends in correspondence - much of it can be the subject of blackmail. The most common example is when in correspondence with your best friend, you mention "fine evening" youve spend on a business trip. You discuss this adventure with all the details, and after some time you get an email or mobile phone message with the threat of telling all about that evening to your wife. Next, you may follow the condition of the provision of any services related to your place of work. For example, to issue a credit for a figurehead, if you take the high chair in the Bank. Sometimes the matter is in giving certain amount of money for the blackmailers silence. Then to get rid of the blackmailer will be very difficult. By the way, sometimes representatives of internal affairs also use such methods in order to find people who are hiding from the long arm of the law. Cracking account of any suspect and identifying his circle of acquaintances, it is possible to find the accomplices or a place the stolen goods are hidden. To protect yourself against federal tax-identity theft, you are advised the following: 1. Do not give out personal information (and the SSN in the case of the US) 2. on the phone, fax or on social media platforms use a shredder to destroy tax related documents after tax time is over and keep the necessary ones in a safe (thieves can look through the trash) 3. For taxpayers planning to e-file their tax returns, it is recommended to use a strong password. Afterwards, save the file to a CD or flash drive and keep it in a secure location. Then delete the personal return information from the computer hard drive. 4. US citizens should show employers their Social Security card at the start of a job, but otherwise do not routinely carry the card or other documents that display their SSN. Additionally, it is recommended not to fill the Social Security number on medical forms and such documents (in case your wallet or purse gets stolen) So, we can say that there are several major types of cybercrime, and they are all committed with the help of the Internet network. Not the least important is also the Digital Piracy which is widely spread in the Europe. Virus programs that can crack the banking system and government sites, all of them are very complex in their structure and are extremely dangerous. Currently, all countermeasures against computer crimes can be divided into: technical, organizational and legal. The technical measures include protection against unauthorized access to a computer system, backup important computer systems, the adoption of structural measures to protect against theft and sabotage, power redundancy, development and implementation of specific hardware and software security systems and etc. Organizational measures include protection of computer systems, recruitment planning, having a plan of the network center recovery after its failure, etc. Legal measures should include the development of liability establishing standards for computer crimes, copyright protection of programmers, improvement of the criminal and civil laws and legal proceedings. Here we can conclude that it is very difficult but very important to protect the information resources from all sides. Network security becomes more important. However, not all the people believe that this is the best solution to the problem of protection. It should be seen globally. It is really necessary to protect information during all its travel from the sender to the recipient. In conclusion we want to stop on the point that the cybercrimes are among the most dangerous crimes in modern world. The identity theft is extremely multifaceted and complex phenomenon. In the world and especially in our country, the technical and institutional issues are in a large number in the list of scientific studies. Many governmental organizations are formed to discover new and better ways of protection against the internet swindlers. Many different ways of defense are available now, and if the society needs to protect their information it should be done on the every level properly. References Jaishankar K. (Ed.) (2011). Cyber Criminology: Exploring Internet Crimes and Criminal behavior. USA: CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group Interpol website. http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Cybercrime/Cybercrime Presti and Naegele - Guard Against Taxpayer Identity Theft http://pntax.com/resource-center/newsletters/ Susan W. Brenner, Cybercrime: Criminal Threats from Cyberspace, ABC-CLIO, USA. 2010, pp. 91 Lusthaus, J. (2013). How organised is organised cybercrime? Global Crime. USA Casey Eoghan (2011). Digital Evidence and Computer Crime, Third Edition: Forensic Science, Computers, and the Internet. Academic Press. p. 840. Read More