Cyber Crime Central

It could be seen as safe to say that cyber crime has been around from the dawn of the computer, but that is not necessarily true. Computers in their origin were extremely expensive and difficult to come by, and even if one could be attained, they were most definitely not “user friendly.” As a matter of fact, cyber crime did not really start to become a largely seen problem until computers were made less expensive, and marketed for home and personal use. At that point cyber crime was still extremely difficult in that there were very few doors, or windows into computers. This problem was solved with the invention of networks and the internet. When the internet became part of people’s daily routines, hackers who had been in the past merely breaking into phone system’s computers to make long calls without paying found a new area to “play around” as it were. Email gave rise to a new type trouble for its users. The information being sent over the internet could be intercepted, read and fabricated. But this was only the beginning and over the next twenty to thirty years there would be a jump in both the frequency and severity of these crimes.

In the early 2000’s there were large scale attacks on popular web sites such as Yahoo!, and Amazon using Dos. There were also large attacks on companies including Western Union, Apache and RSA Security. Email accounts similarly targeted with what became known as the Sircam virus. According to the CSI/FBI computer crime and security survey, particular areas of cyber crime are increasing and decreasing depend on particular variables. First, the responses for the survey in creased from 494 in 2004 to 700 responses in 2005, with the sample size remaining the same in both years. They credit this increase to the number of reminders sent to each of the sample groups.
            The survey found that virus attacks continue to be the reason for the greatest financial losses. Correspondingly, web site incidents have increased dramatically. Unauthorized access also dramatically increased; bumping “denial of service” off the podium for the silver medal, as the main culprit to computer crime losses in 2005.
The percentage of organizations reporting cyber crime to proper authorities continued its year-by-year decline. The major reason for not reporting to law enforcement is the concern of negative publicity, and of course, loss of the bottom line. Most organizations conduct some form of fiscal evaluation on their security expenditures, with 38 percent using Return on Investment (ROI), 19 percent using Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and 18 percent using Net Present Value (NPV). Over 87 percent of theses organizations also conduct private security audits; up from 82 percent in 2004 survey. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has begun to have an impact on information security in more industry sectors than last year. The majority of respondents view security awareness and training as important. However, respondents also do not believe their particular organization invests enough time or money on them.

With this belief of lacking funding to this department, comes the argument that cyber crime is something that should be fought with “Personal Responsibility,” and that is just what Cyber Security and Communications assistant Secretary Greg Garcia spoke of at the National Cyber Security Awareness convention at the summit. His message was individualized for a couple of reasons. First he stated something that is true with all forms of crime, that where there is opportunity there is continued trouble. Second he said that the stakes of the battle with cyber crime “could not be higher.”

With the continued leaps in technology and the rapid developments in new fields, there is new technologies all over the place that make our technological experiences faster, more convenient and affordable. All of these things are wonderful for users, they come with at a very serious cost, and that cost is security. The ability to chat online is something that has become trivial over recent years because of the sending of personal information, files and the ability to stream from one user to another. Also something that is under heavy scrutiny is the use of new operation systems, and their standardization. With more like systems on networks those who wish to cause harm have much less to learn and a “much larger playing field.”

Something else that is being heavily scrutinized against regardless of its usefulness, is 24/7 connectivity. In the book “Reviewing the History of Cybercrime” the author states that computers connected through broadband networks act like those connected to LANS or Local Area Networks. As a result of this constant stream from server to computer, it is said to be much easier to gain unauthorized access. Also being as the author states “always open for business,” the criminal element is able to mount what they refer to as a “brute force attack” in order to attain your password and possible weak points in you system. In order to limit the amount of damage that intruders can do to your system at high speeds, the download and upload speeds are asymmetric meaning the upload and download speeds are staggered or not equal.

With a good idea of what is to blame for the damage that can be sustained to your system it is important to list some ways to protect yourself from the cyber criminal element. First of all the author advises the disabling of your file and print sharing ability. The other points made by the author used large abbreviations because they are written for those who speak the computer lingo more fluently than I, but they advise disabling IRDP by editing the windows registry, as well as making sure the NIC isn’t bound to both your TCP/IP and the Microsoft Networking Service.

There is only so much you can do besides being aware of the threats that are out there for computer and internet users alike, but there are most definitely forces out there combating the threats. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is one of these forces. There goals seem simple but are outlined in what is like a four point mission statement. First they aim to stop those behind the most malicious code, second to identify and thwart online predators, third to counteract operations that target the U.S. and endanger our national security, and fourth to dismantle organizations that participate in internet fraud.

Their mission is something that has been an ongoing battle, and is one that could never end. With the rapid growth of technology and the determination of the criminal element, there is much doubt that cyber crime will ever be eliminated or stopped completely. But through the efforts of collaborating agencies and the use of personal responsibilities in the battle against cyber crime, it can be fought and hopefully deterred.

Everywhere in the world, there is a constant fear of terrorism and or offenses to be committed against the individual. That fear is reinforced when acts are taken, often because people don’t understand the background or reasoning for the particular attack and perhaps a lack of understanding towards what is being attacked. The growth in technology certainly attributes to this lack of understanding, but also opens often unprotected and dangers doors into our daily lives, and personal records or information. With this being a case there is a necessity for personal responsibility to gain bearing and for all available actions to be taken to ensure safety. When this doesn’t work, the public as well as government corporations need to tread softly and keep an open eye as well as proceed with extreme caution. I’m not saying that we need to live in complete fear just that with our dependence on technology may be something that we regret in the near future with the growing capabilities of the criminal element.

As a result of the advances of technology in recent years we are now facing new fronts of both ability and vulnerability. With these new fronts comes the need for caution. If we do not learn from the mistakes made in the technological industry and its past, we are doomed to repeat our mistakes and may remain vulnerable to all forms of attack.