Сybercrime

Cybercrime is a criminal activity whose purpose is the misuse of a computer, computer network or network device.

Most (but not all) cybercrimes are committed by cybercriminals or hackers who make money from it. Cybercrime activities are carried out by individuals or organizations.

Some cybercriminals unite in organized groups, use advanced methods and have high technical qualifications. Others are novice hackers.

Cybercriminals rarely hack computers for reasons unrelated to making a profit, for example, for political or personal reasons.

Types of cybercrimes Here are some examples of various types of cybercrime:

Email fraud and Internet fraud Identity fraud (theft and malicious use of personal information) Theft of financial data or bank card data Theft and sale of corporate data Cyberschantage (demanding money to prevent a cyberattack) Ransomware attacks (a type of cyber-sabotage) Cryptojacking (mining cryptocurrencies using other people’s resources without the knowledge of their owners) Cyber Espionage (unauthorized access to data of government or commercial organizations) Most cybercrimes fall into one of two categories

Criminal activity, the purpose of which is the computers themselves Criminal activity in which computers are used to commit other crimes In the first case, criminals use viruses and other types of malware to infect computers and thus damage them or stop their work. You can also use malware to delete or steal data. Cybercrime, as a result of which device owners cannot use their computers or the network, and companies cannot provide Internet services to their customers, is called a denial of service attack (DoS).

Cybercrimes of the second category use computers or networks to distribute malware, illegal information or unauthorized images.

Sometimes attackers can combine both categories of cybercrime. First, they infect computers with viruses, and then use them to spread malware to other machines or throughout the network.

Cybercriminals can also carry out a so-called distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. It is similar to a DoS attack, but criminals use a lot of compromised computers to carry it out.

The US Department of Justice believes that there is also a third category of cybercrime, when a computer is used as an accomplice to an illegal act, for example, to store stolen data on it.

The United States has signed the European Convention on Cybercrime. It names the types of activities using computers that are considered cybercrimes. For example:

illegal interception or theft of data. compromise of computer systems and networks copyright infringement illegal gambling sale of prohibited items on the Internet harassment, production or possession of child pornography