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How Is Cybercrime Damaging to The International Community?
Sanaa Manley
English/Communication GEND Program, Harrisburg University
ENGL 200: Advanced Composition and Technical Writing
Prof. Doxsee
September 30, 2020
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Overview and Claim
Cybercrime has been a big issue to the international community. Attacks on private and
government computer networks, as well as utilizing a computer to target individuals or harm
property, are all examples of cybercrime. The most common type of cybercrime is ransomware
attacks. Ransomware attacks are on the rise for the latest cybercrime because cybercriminals are
performing damaging attacks that can wipe out your entire computer. These Cybercriminals use
malicious software that threatens to block access to data on your computer system until a ransom
is paid. Denning (2018), Szucs et al., (2021), and “Cybercrime,” (2021) explain their different
viewpoints on the statistics, why does it happen, and who is behind these attacks.
Ransomware Attacks/Cybercrimes
Most cybercrimes like ransomware attacks have surfaced and continue to develop. The
most difficult part of ransomware is that, in addition to its complexity and large number of pests,
stronger and newer forms appear in the digital world in a very short period (Szucs et al., 2021).
These authors explain the everyday occurrence of ransomware attacks, which jeopardizes the
functioning and security of both small and large businesses. They also give the statistics about
their issue, During the first six months of 2018 and 2019, the number of ransomware attacks
identified increased by 365 percent, with victims paying ransoms in 45 percent of cases and
losing nearly half of their data (Szucs et al., 2021). “Cybercrime,” (2021) viewpoint of this issue
was similar, but their statistics was more recent, the author explained that a recent attack
happened this year in 2021 where a colonial pipeline, a privately owned pipeline network that
serves around 45 percent of the US East Coast's gasoline needs, was the target of a ransomware
attack from a cybercriminal. In 2017 a ransomware attack called “WannaCry” infected many
computer systems in 150 countries (Denning, 2018). After encrypting data on a victim's
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computer, the ransomware demanded payment in bitcoins to regain access. Cybercriminals
demand huge amounts of payments in different forms to retrieve your data or private information
back. As you can see from these three viewpoints significant amounts of ransomware attacks
have been carried out from 2017 to 2021 damaging huge organizations and networks.
The Countries behind The Cyberattacks
There have been many cases of ransomware attacks for the last few years. Many people
want to know who are behind these attacks and who is starting them. According to Denning
(2018) “The countries posing the greatest cyberthreats to the United States are Russia, China,
Iran and North Korea.” North Korea has a team of cybercriminals called the Lazarus group
which is a group of individuals in North Korea who perform cybercrimes. The authors Szucs et
al., (2021) consider a hacker group named “Revil” is the cybercriminals behind these attacks as
well. Revil is a Russia based hacker group that performs damaging ransomware attacks. As I
stated above about the hacking of the colonial pipeline, “Cybercrime,” (2021) indicated that the
hacking group Dark Side was the source of the attack. Darkside is a hacker group based in
Eastern Europe. All authors views on who is behind these attacks are alike, but Denning
provided a stronger argument by going in depth providing us with different countries who
perform these attacks and giving us logic on the names of the attack .These cybercriminals have
made it hard for businesses and organizations to succeed because they end up spending hundreds
of thousands or even millions of dollars repairing the damage from the attack, and it can ruin a
company’s reputation.
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How/Why does it happen?
Malicious software, sometimes known as malware, is used by cybercriminals to attack
private systems and networks. “Cybercrime,” (2021) stated that “Trojan horses, spyware,
rootkits, and backdoors are forms of malware that operate in the background of a computer
system without the consent of the user or owner.” These types of malwares are difficult to detect
for the user, making it easy access for the cybercriminals to gain access. The digital criminals
encrypt your files and add extensions to the data they've stolen, holding it "hostage" until the
ransom is paid. North Korea uses a malware called DDOS, this is a denial-of-service attack that
sends out services to perform cybercrime and disk wiping attacks to delete data on disks. North
Korean hackers work out of sites in China and other countries where their government has sent
or authorized them to work. Most of North Korea ransomware attacks is used to steal money for
the government’s money shortage. “Cybercrime,” (2021) and Szucs et al., (2021) give very few
insights on who is behind these attacks, while Denning (2018) provides a great timeline of
evidence showing how and why these ransomware attacks are happening.
Conclusion
Ransomware is one of the most serious security issues on the internet today, as well as
one of the most common kinds of cyber criminality and it has affected a huge part of our
economy. The authors discuss their differing perspectives on the stats, why these attacks occur,
and who is responsible. These key elements have led to the conclusion that ransomware attacks
are caused by a lack of digital social balance, in which processes are dynamic and non-local, but
data is held in static and local areas in social-functioning systems. Overall, each author had great
viewpoints on this issue. However, Szucs et al., (2021) argument was stronger because their
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study provided logos and ethos behind their viewpoints giving the reader a lot of information to
prove how huge cybercrimes like ransomware attacks can be damaging.
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References
Cybercrime. (2021). In Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Gale.
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/PC3021900045/OVIC?u=huofst&sid=bookmarkOVIC&xid=de72dcd3
Denning, D. (2018). North Korea's growing criminal cyberthreat. In The Conversation (Ed.), The
conversation. The Conversation. Credo Reference:
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/harrisburgu.edu?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.credor
eference.com%2Fcontent%2Fentry%2Fconversqauq%2Fnorth_koreas_growing_criminal
_cyberthreat%2F0%3FinstitutionId%3D3314
Szücs, V., Arányi, G., & Dávid, Á. (2021). Introduction of the ARDS—Anti-Ransomware
Defense System Model—Based on the Systematic Review of Worldwide Ransomware
Attacks. Applied Sciences (2076-3417), 11(13), 6070.
https://doi.org/10.3390/app11136070