Today, everyone has access to the internet. It is widely available, and you can buy its services for very cheap. There are more than 358 internet service providers n India, which is remarkable for a developing nation.
The internet has made everyone’s work easier. From school projects to business presentations, everything can be found on the internet. Today, the internet has permeated every facet of our life. It is easily accessible, but like every great invention brings certain drawbacks, so has the internet: the threat of cybercriminals.
What is Cybercrime and Who is a Cybercriminal?
Cybercrime is a criminal activity that involves the use of a computer and a network. The computer can be used as an instrument of crime or can be targeted to do a criminal act. Cybercrime has the potential to cause damage to someone’s security and financial health. The people who carry out this criminal act are known as Cybercriminals. There are different kinds of cybercriminals.
Cybercrimes are usually carried out by an individual or a group of individuals acting as an organization.
What are the Different Types of Cybercriminals?
Here are some different types of Cyber Criminals –
1. Organized Hackers
These types of criminals include hacktivists, cyberterrorists, cybercriminals, and hackers sponsored by the state. Typically, cyber-criminals are a team of skilled criminals targeted on wealth, power, and control. Often these criminals are very well prepared and well funded.
2. Identity Thieves
One of the oldest cyber crimes and most famous type of cybercriminals, Identity Thieves refer to the criminals who try to gain access to a person’s personal information. It can include a phone number, bank account, credit card information, address, name, place of employment, and social security number. This crucial information is then used to make illegal financial transactions.
Today, Identity Thieves have become more powerful than ever due to the development of information technology. They often target government or corporate databases to get their hands on some high volume of individual information.
3. Hackers
The term hacker can often be defined as an individual who uses their technical skills to get illegal access to a system or network to commit some crimes. These hackers can further be divided into three categories – White, Grey, and Black Hat hackers.
- White Hack Hackers
These types of cybercriminals use their programming skills for good and lawful reasons. These hackers often perform network penetration tests to discover any problems which may lead to network vulnerabilities. These problems are then fixed to prevent any further damage in the future.
- Gray Hat Hackers
These kinds of hackers often carry out activities in a very deceptive manner to help an organization to find any loopholes in the system. However, there is no intention to cause any harm.
- Black Hat Hackers
These hackers perform unethical hacking to get access to some personal information and use it to their advantage. Black Hat Hackers are one of the most common cybercriminals in the world.
4. Internet Stalkers
This kind of cybercrime is performed with the help of social networking platforms and malware, which can track someone’s activities with little to no detection. These individuals closely monitor the online activities of their victims to terrorize or to gain some personal information. Internet Stalkers often blackmail individuals or organizations to carry out illegal activities and, if left unaddressed, can cause further damage.
5. Cyber Terrorists
Cyber Terrorism is driven by political motives and is often very well thought and well developed. It is an attack in which the cybercriminal aims to steal data or corrupt government or corporate systems and networks to cause harm to businesses, countries, organizations, and individuals. The main difference between this and other cybercrimes is that the criminals are politically motivated rather than just looking for some financial gain.
They are also one of the most-wanted types of cybercriminals in the world.
Measures to Tackle Cyber Crimes
Different types of measures can be used to tackle cyber crimes. Some of them are as follows-
1. Proxies
It is a security measure that is used to connect users to a remote location which helps to encrypt their data and personal information. This allows users the ability to manipulate their information which enables them to track the hackers with wrong or misleading information.
2. Network Encryption
It is a process of encoding or encrypting data and messages communicated or transmitted over a network. It is a security protocol that only gives limited access to authorized computers.
3. Firewalls
It is a network security device that keeps an eye on incoming and outgoing network traffic, which helps to decide whether to block the traffic or allow full access. Firewalls have been used for over 25 years and are one of the most reliable network security measures.
4. Cyber Liability Insurance
Cyber liability insurance is used to cover a business’s liability for data breach, which can involve sensitive customer information. This includes credit card numbers, account numbers, driving license and health records, etc. With an increase in the use of digital information, Cyber Liability Insurance has become one of the most important security protocols.
Most Wanted Cybercriminals
Here are two of the most wanted cybercriminals in the world-
1. Behzad Mesri
Also known as ‘Skate Vahshat’, Mesri is a hacker based in Iran who hacked HBO’s “Game Of Thrones”. He gained access to all of the unaired episodes, plot outlines, and scripts. Mesri demanded a ransom of $6 million in Bitcoin. “Ballers”, “The Deuce”, and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” are also on the list of his illegal activities. Mesri is one of the most famous cybercriminals of recent time.
2. Kevin Mitnick
Perhaps one of the most famous cybercriminals, Kevin Mitnick, is an American security consultant renowned for stealing computer manuals from Pacific Bell back in 1981. In 1982, he decided to hack the North American Defence Command. In 1989, Kevin hacked the system of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and made copies of the software. It made Kevin famous because DEC was the leading Computer Manufacturers at the time.
During all these hacking, Kevin explained that his intentions were never to cause any harm. He just wanted to show that it was not impossible to hack all those systems. He eventually turned into one of the most famous white hat hackers.
Conclusion
Cybercrimes are one of the common and some of the most wanted kinds of crimes in the world. Over 93,000 cases have been filed against cybercrime over the last three years in India. With that being said, some resilient and reliable security measures can resolve this problem. The number of cybercriminals is only increasing with the advancement in technology. It will be interesting to see the challenges we will face in the future and what developments will happen simultaneously.
Latest Articles