12 Types of Cyber Crime You Should Know - Cybercrime is the other side of cybersecurity, a large spectrum of destructive and illegal activities carried out using computers and the Internet.
Cybercrime is broadly defined as any illegal activity involving computers, other digital devices or computer networks. Examples of cyber crime include cyber security threats such as social engineering, exploitation of software vulnerabilities, and network attacks. But it also includes criminal acts such as harassment and extortion, money laundering, and more.
Cybercrime targets individuals and companies. Typically, attackers target businesses for direct financial gain or to sabotage or disrupt operations. They target individuals as part of a large-scale scam, or to harm their devices and use them as platforms for malicious activity.
To protect yourself, you need to know about the various ways in which computers can be hacked and privacy violated.
Here are the types of cyber crime that need to be known if many activities and parts of life have been integrated with the internet
Types of Cyber Crime You Need to Know
Online Scam
The first types of cyber crime, namely online fraud, are frauds that occur online.It could be a scam to provide personal details online with an ad appearing telling you you've won something and asking for card details to pay for shipping. Unfortunately, you will never receive anything but will start noticing strange transactions coming from bank accounts.
Pishing Scam
The second type of cyber crime is phishing fraud. Phishing scams are fraudsters' attempts to trick them into providing personal information such as bank account numbers, passwords, and credit card numbers. These scammers will contact you out of the blue, via email, text message, phone call or even via social media, pretending to be a legitimate business such as a bank, phone company, or even an internet provider.
Fraudsters might ask to update it on details so they can refresh their system, they might even ask to fill out a survey because you have a chance to win a prize at the end. But this is where scammers can gain access to email addresses, phone numbers and more.
Another way these scammers get information is by telling them that 'unauthorized or suspicious activity has occurred on your account', and they will then ask for your information so they can "resolve".
Malware
Malware is the contraction of malicious software to your system. It is software written with the intention of causing damage to data and devices.
Malware is an umbrella name for various types of viruses such as 'trojan' and 'spyware'. Malware is often carried out through various viruses that will enter the computer and cause havoc, by damaging computers, tablets, phones, so that the perpetrators can steal credit card details and other personal information.
Email Bomb
Email bombing is more of a form of internet abuse. Email bombing is an excess of emails being directed to a single email address, this will cause the person receiving the email server to slow down or even crash. They may not necessarily steal anything from you, but having a sluggish server can be quite a hassle and a lot of work to fix.
Social Media Hacking & Spamming
Social media hacks are often carried out as jokes, such as attacks by people who hacked Burger King's twitter accounts. Many hacked celebrities may end up following people they don't normally like or listing random statuses. While for the average joe seeing a celebrity or brand post weird stuff can be funny, it's an invasion of privacy.
But hackers can also spread unwarranted content that can annoy people viewing this content, it can also cause accounts to be reported and closed.
Social media spamming occurs when someone creates a fake account and becomes friends or is followed by the average person. This then gives fake accounts the freedom to spam with bulk messages, this can be done to spread malware.
Electronic Money Laundering
The large sums of money made illegally must be laundered before it can be used or invested. One way to launder money is to do so electronically via interbank messages known as “wire transfers”.
Previously it seemed impossible to monitor or screen wire transfers as they occurred due to the overwhelming volume of transactions made every day, but the bank suppressed the issue and filed suspicious activity.
Data Diddling
Despite its cute name and seemingly harmless action compared to other cybercrimes on this list, data diddling is the act of skewing data entry in the user's system.
However, the payoff can be huge. They may include adjusting financial numbers up or down marginally, or they can be more complex and render the entire system unusable.
Hacking
In simple terms, hackers are intruders who access computer systems without permission. Hackers do this for a number of reasons, whether it's for greed, fame or power, because it shows people that they are smart enough to do something they shouldn't have.
However, some will be able to break into the system and steal personal banking information and company financial data. Hackers tend to be computer programmers and have an advanced understanding of computers.
Cyber stalking
There are many cases of cyber stalking around the world and it is very common among teenagers and young adults. Usually the victim and stalker know each other.
Victims are usually subjected to online harassment in the form of a barrage of online messages and emails. The purpose of online stalking is to make the victim miserable or to use control as a deviant way of relating to the victim, much like regular stalking.
Cyber Bullying
Cyberbullying is similar to cyber stalking, but the barrage of messages can be harmful, offensive, and downright offensive.
Cyberbullying can also be done by posting pictures and videos online that would offend the victim. It can also exclude people online, create fake accounts to post harmful or depressing content, and again send abusive messages. Overall it is bullying but usually online via social media channels.
Identity Theft
Identity theft is one of the most common types of cybercrime. The main reason identity theft occurs is with the view of creating fraud for financial gain.
Criminals usually steal other people's identifying information such as credit card information, addresses, email addresses and more. With this information, they can pretend to be someone else and create a new bank account.
Ransomware
Ransomware affects many companies and has recently affected the NHS and other large companies around the world.
Ransomware enters a computer network and encrypts files, meaning it doesn't have any access to them. The attacker will send a notification demanding a large amount of money for you to get the data back. The goal of criminals is for them to get enough people to pay the ransom fee to make quick money.
Why You Need to Protect Yourself
Cybercriminals are out there and will do anything to make money and steal useful information. As we become more digital, we open ourselves up to more types of cybercrime.
There are many ways to protect yourself from cyber attacks. Protecting yourself will make you less vulnerable to cyber attacks and therefore prevent you from getting your personal information stolen, robbed, data encrypted, and so on.