Why Cybercrime Awareness is Important (week 7)

Cybercrime photo: Courtesy of State of Jersey Police

Cybercrime is any crime that involves a computer and a network whereby the computer may be used to commit a crime or the computer may be the target of an attack. Interpol classifies Internet-related crimes as either advanced cybercrime which involves attacks against the computer hardware/software and cyber-enabled crimes which is the traditional crime being conducted with the aid of a computer.

IT professionals should be concerned with cybercrime because of the impact it has on our day to day life. Although there are a lot of devices connected to the Interconnected networks (Internet), it’s foundation is considered shaky. 

Cybercrime affects the entire society given that the Global Economy is dependent on the proper working of the Internet. Dependence means a vulnerability which can be exploited. Attackers are known to use encrypted methods to communicate amongst each other which makes it difficult for law enforcement to intercept their communication. The Internet also provides a wealth of information for hackers and cyber-terrorists to reference for different cyber-attack methods. This means that hacking pranksters who cause annoyance by taking down popular web sites and also professional hackers who are employed by criminal organizations and rogue states can easily look up how to attack an organization and get the information from the Internet easily. 

Critical infrastructure like the power grid, transportation, financial institutions are at risk and there is no capability to identify where the threat will come from and when it will even take place; the anonymity of the attacks make the battle tougher. Shutting down the power grid, the command and control center, attacks on Federal agencies are just some of the acts of cyber-terror that can be propagated. Terrorists using physical threats like bombs and also information warfare to disrupt emergency response services cause double the havoc.

Cyberattacks on the financial sector can cause the same damage as an actual physical attack on the infrastructure. Some of the major computer facilitated crimes that hit the financial sector include Web auctions, General merchandise frauds, Internet services, pyramid money laundering schemes, credit card fraud, advance fee loans among many others. These same crimes have long been propagated via wire fraud where attackers call up victims to try to con them into a bad deal, but now they are through the Internet as well.

To counter law enforcement, criminals are using police scanners which can track law enforcement activities. These helps them avoid detection and the can also intercept intel and communication that can be used to evade capture.

Conclusion

The Government cannot address cybercrime alone and it seems as though the criminals are always one step ahead in the game. Including teams like Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) should be a common theme as the private sector has a wealth of information and they can bring a different angle and ideas to the table when it comes to trying to stay ahead of attackers. Preventing cybercrime is an all-inclusive game given that the criminals always seem to be one step ahead of the good guys.