Cyber Crime

Criminal activity has followed society online. Cyber crime is any criminal activity or offence carried out in a digital environment — and understanding its forms is the first defence against it.

What makes a crime a cyber crime

In a cyber crime, the computer plays one of two roles:

• the computer itself is the target of the crime, or
• the computer is used as a tool to commit a crime.

Put another way (as the book's note summarises): cyber crime is a crime in which the computer is the medium of crime (hacking, phishing, spamming), or the computer is used as a tool to commit crimes (extortion, data breaches, theft).

Who is attacked, and why

Cyber crimes are carried out against:

• an individual,
• a group,
• an organisation, or even
• a country.

The intent is to cause, directly or indirectly, physical harm, financial loss or mental harassment.

How cyber criminals operate

Typical patterns of attack described in the section:

• A cyber criminal attacks a computer or a network to reach other computers, aiming to disable or damage data or services.
• A cyber criminal may spread viruses and other malware to steal private and confidential data — for blackmailing and extortion.

Two key terms are defined here:

• Computer virus — some lines of malicious code that can copy itself and can have a detrimental effect on computers, destroying data or corrupting the system.
• Malware — software designed specifically to gain unauthorised access to computer systems.

A growing menace

The nature of these criminal activities is increasing at an alarming, day-by-day pace, with frequent reports of:

• hacking …