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David Ayala
Kim Jaxon
English 130PI
26 March 2013
Comparing Sources: Cybercrime
“Cybercrime” is criminal activity or a crime that involves the Internet, a
computer system, or computer technology. Since the introduction of the Internet there has
been cybercrime, but in recent years it has evolved and become a popular crime all over
the world. These are organized crimes todays which are not only done to break through
secure network systems, but obtain valuable information such as bank account. I myself
have wondered, if someone can really steal my bank account or general information.
Who does this, and how does someone do this or is it just portrayed in movies. To get to
the bottom of this I did some research on cybercrime and here you will see what I found.
Unlike other articles I read, this is my favorite summing up everything in a
nutshell. According to an article titled “Cybercrime” by the Interpol, cybercrime is one of
the fastest growing areas of crime exploiting the speed, convenience that modern
technologies offer to commit a serious range of criminal activities. In past years these
cyber crimes were committed by small groups of individuals and now it has grown to
much larger groups of professionals working in an organized manner. By working
together these criminals have become very successful using their resources and expertise
towards these crimes.
Another article I discovered was written by Caitlin Fitzsimmons titled “The
New Cyber Threat.” Similar to the article of the Interpol this Arthur talks about
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cybercrime evolving from hackers wanting to gain fame for breaching high security
networks to now stealing money and data. The article then continues by talking about
Earthwave, a company from Australia that provides service for corporate networks.
This article states these crimes are being committed by criminals that do not
want to be seeing or caught. At the same time motives and techniques are changing. Your
traditional firewalls and antivirus programs do not work anymore because hackers have
now learned to get around these obstacles. By encrypting malware hackers can now
launch attacks with bonnets. Then it goes claiming, IT experts also claim most people do
not even know they are being attacked and can sometimes have hackers in their networks
for months at a time. I would agree with them because many of us do not even know
what an infected device is. I myself have an idea, but usually when my computers starts
acting up I blame it on the age.
According to NBCNEWS.com one of these crimes occurred in 2008 when
$70 million dollars were stolen from the payroll account of 400 Americans. According to
the article titled “University Professor help FBI crack $70 million cybercrime ring,”
written by Richard Engel. Engels article is about a professor from the University of
Alabama named Gary Warner who helped the FBI capture a group of hackers who were
using computers from the comfort of their home to send out Trojan virus. By doing so
these individual were able to obtain bank accounts through the Americans digital devices.
The article then claims Warner discovered a link between the virus that was gathering
information and he informed the FBI. Warner then traced the hackers all the way back to
the Ukraine where they and their mules were caught. This seems unreal how much
money can be stolen and what people can do with technology. I would also think the web
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made it easy for these hackers to commit this crime halfway across the world and may be
almost impossible to find, but Warner somehow was able track them from the comfort of
his office. In this case I am sure Warner would argue that there is no anonymity. This
leaves me thinking so what about our virus protectors and firewalls.
"There's no such thing as data protection – you can assume that you either
have been breached or will be in the near future and once you accept that, all that is left is
detection and response," says Carlo Minassian, founder of Earthwave. Since it is virtually
almost impossible to stop these hackers companies main concern now is early detection.
In extremes cases I have now learned that there has been hackers in corporate network for
as long as seven years before anyone realized something was wrong. According to
Fitzsimmons, Earthwave is dedicated to provide services to have early detection for
corporate networks reselling security tools from vendors including McAfee, Juniper,
EMC and Cisco.
This leads me to my next article titled “Navy Battles Cyber Threats: Thumb
Drives, Wireless Hacking, & China,” written on April 4 2013 by Sydney J. Freeberg Jr.
The article starts off talking of Americas Forces and how we have had some of the most
advanced technological advantages since the first Gulf War. The article then states the
Navy has started to look into the dependence of their computer networks. Part of the
reason is because technology has and is growing at a rapid pace, especially when there
are advancements that may have not been around three years ago. The issue was raised
when the Navy realized it was a horrible idea to add USB ports and serial ports to all
ships. Original these ports were added to aircraft as well, for maintenance reason, said
Rear Adm. William Leigher. Leigher’s job is to keep up with technological advances for
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the Navy. At the time the Navy added these ports it seemed smart, I guess they never
thought about someone getting on board or tricking someone to hook up a thumb drive
full of viruses. The main concerns now are wireless devices, which do not need to
physical hook up to a port in order to cause chaos.
Today almost all devices have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, which transmits radio
waves back and forth. I would agree with Freeberg, at home almost everything I use has
Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. I myself have all my devices hooked up at home so I can open the
same file from any of them. Freeburger then states that every time our devices transmit,
they reveal our presents and position. They are also a gateway to for hacker. Meanwhile
military’s around the world have been detecting, disrupting and deceiving radio waves
since WWII called Radio Warfare. This means there has been enough time to perfect the
interception of these waves which are constantly being used by new devices. The fears of
having one of Navy's ships being homed in was introduced during the cold war when the
Navy spent a lot of effort on emission control (EMCON). Fortunately they stopped after
1991 even though the navy started using even more wireless signals. To reduce the
chance of a virus entering the Navy's networks they plan to change from Shipboard Wide
Area-Network (SWAN) to Consolidated Afloat Network (CANES) This would make it
much more difficult for a hacker to get in. Minassian would argue that if a group of
hackers wanted to get through they would do so.
This recurring theme of stealing information and hacking networks has
become a problem. Deb shinder of TechRepublic would differ and emphasize that some
departments do not want to enforce laws governing online crimes, because it is more
difficult to enforce than traditional laws. This is most likely why the majority of people
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who are attacked by hackers live on the other side of the world. According to her article
“What makes cybercrime laws so difficult to enforce.” Shider claims Computer forensics
has become far more advance, and there are tools available to investigators that allow
them to examine digital evidence without tampering with for future court cases. The
problem that gets raised is when criminals are living across the world and there is
different jurisdiction in their country.
“Examining the Forces Shaping Cybercrime Online” by Thomas J. Holt.
Holt would also argue that there is a rise of crimes on the Internet. Holts article claims
malicious software is increasing by the use of hacker and attacker through the Internet.
Through these uses, criminals are able to obtain sensitive information and compromise
various devices. Many of these attacks on our devices are from hackers living in
countries as far away as China, Russia, and Eastern Europe. These attacks of malware
include viruses, Trojan horse programs or the use of botnets where hackers are able to
establish a stable network of infected computers throughout the world. This makes it
possible for computers with these botnet to perform automated tasks without owners
knowing. It also mentions that this leads to huge loss for companies ranging anywhere
from $40,000 to $400,000 each year due to viruses and other forms of botnet infections.
The article then continues talking about hackers being able to gain personal information
and sell it online.
For not working very hard these online criminals can make a living by buying and
selling resources to enable attacks or sell information they have stolen. On the online
marketplace, the average Joe can buy stolen data, and hacking tools. The sales that are
being put up on these markets are then being bought regularly. The tools sold to
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individuals make it seem like they are professional at work by letting them creating more
malware. Some of the information being bought includes credit cards, pin numbers, and
general customer information from victims worldwide. Other services done are cash out
services and in return they are able to obtain funds from electronic accounts or automated
teller machines offline. At the same time seller offer the distribution of denial service.
These services are usually done on compromised networks, which means one or more
computers may be infected with botnets.
focus: repetition
am i doing it right
Works cited
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"Cybercrime." / / Crime Areas / Internet / Home. INTERPOL, n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.
Engel, Richard. "University Professor Helps FBI Crack $70 Million Cybercrime
Ring."NBC News. NBCNEWS, 21 Mar. 2012. Web. 02 Apr. 2013.
Fitzsimmons, Caitlin. "The New Cyber Threat." BRW, 35.4 (2013): 42-44.,
Freedberg, Sydney J., Jr. "Navy Battles Cyber Threats: Thumb Drives, Wireless Hacking,
& China." AOL Defense. Intel & Security, 4 Apr. 2013. Web. 07 Apr. 2013.
Holt, Thomas. "Examining the Forces Shaping Cybercrime Markets Online." Social
Science Computer, 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
Shinder, Deb. "What Makes Cybercrime Laws so Difficult to Enforce." TechRepublic.
IT-Security, 26 Jan. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2013.