LESSON 2: CYBERCRIMES

What is Cyber?
It is the Characteristics of the culture of computers, information, technology and virtual reality.
Cybercrime is defined as a crime in which a computer is the object of the crime (hacking,
phishing, spamming and child pornography) is used as a tool to commit an offense.
Cybercriminals may use computer technology to access personal information, business trade
secrets or use the internet for exploitative or malicious purposes.

Republic Act No. 10175 Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 is a law in the Philippines approved
on September 12,2012 which aims to address legal issues concerning online interactions and
internet.

Republic Act No. 10173 Data Privacy Act of 2012 is an act protecting individual personal
information.

COMMON FORMS OF CYBERCRIMES:

a. Copyright
The exclusive legal right, given to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform, film, or
record literary, artistic, or musical material, and to authorize others to do the same.
Copyright infringement is the violation, piracy or theft of a copyright holder's exclusive rights
through the unauthorized use of a copyrighted material or work.
b. Plagiarism
An act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author
without authorization.

c. Computer Addiction
• Offline: generally used when speaking about excessive gaming behavior, which can be
practiced both offline and online.
• Online: Also known as “Internet Addiction”, gets more attention in general from
scientific research than offline computer addiction, mainly because most cases of
computer addiction are related to the excessive use of the Internet.
*Virtual Self -The persona you create about yourself virtually.

CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES
a. Hacking
 • Unauthorized access of or interference with computer systems, servers, or other
information and communication systems
• Unauthorized access to corrupt, alter, steal, or destroy electronic data using computers or
other information and communication systems without the computer or system owner’s
knowledge and consent
• The introduction of computer viruses resulting in the corruption, alteration, theft, or loss
of such data
• Illegal Access
• Illegal Interception
• Data Interference
• System Interference
• Misuse of Devices
• Infection of IT Systems with Malware – if the act is committed against critical
infrastructure of the Philippines the, penalty is between 12-20 years reclusion temporal
• Six years up to twelve years of imprisonment also known as prison mayor.

b. Computer-related forgery, fraud and/or identity theft

• An attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit
card details and (indirectly money), often for malicious reasons.
• Phishing
• Pharming
• Spam
• Maximum of Php 200,000 fine or prison mayor
c. Electronic theft
• Illegal Downloading
• Obtaining files that you do not have the right to use from the internet.
• Digital Piracy
• Practice of illegally copying and selling digital music, video, computer software, etc.
• Copyright Infringement
• Penalty of Php 50,000 – 500, 000 and or prison mayor
d. Cyberbullying
• The use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending a message
of an intimidating or threatening nature.
• The Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 (RA 10627)
 e. Cybersex
• Willful engagement, maintenance, control, or operation, directly or indirectly of any
lascivious exhibition of sexual organs or sexual activity with the aid of a computer
system for favor or consideration.
• There is a discussion on this matter if it involves “couples” or “people in relationship”
who engage in cybersex.
• Penalty at least Php 200,000 and or prison mayor
f. Child Pornography
• Is a form of child sexual exploitation.
• Unlawful or prohibited acts defined and punishable by Republic Act No. 9775 or the
Anti- Child Pornography Act of 2009, committed through a computer system.
• Penalty of 12-20 years of imprisonment or reclusion temporal

g. Cyber Defamation
• Is an unprivileged false statement of fact which tends to harm the reputation of a person
or company.
• Penalty of 6-12 years of imprisonment or prison mayor.

LESSON 3: INTERNET THREATS

Hacking
Hacking is a term used to describe actions taken by someone to gain unauthorized
access to a computer. The availability of information online on the tools,
techniques, and malware makes it easier for even non-technical people to
undertake malicious activities.
The process by which cyber criminals gain access to your computer.

What it can do:

• Find weaknesses (or pre-existing bugs) in your security settings and exploit them in order to
access your information.
• Install a Trojan horse, providing a back door for hackers to enter and search for your
information.
 Malware
Malware is one of the more common ways to infiltrate or damage your computer.
Malicious software that infects your computer, such as computer viruses, worms,
Trojan horses, spyware, and adware.

What it can do:

• Intimidate you with scareware, which is usually a pop-up message that tells you your
computer has a security problem or other false information.
• Reformat the hard drive of your computer causing you to lose all your information.
• Alter or delete files.
• Steal sensitive information.
• Send emails on your behalf.
• Take control of your computer and all the software running on it.

Pharming
Pharming is a common type of online fraud.
A means to point you to a malicious and illegitimate website by redirecting the
legitimate URL. Even if the URL is entered correctly, it can still be redirected to a
fake website.
What it can do:
• Convince you that the site is real and legitimate by spoofing or looking almost identical to
the actual site down to the smallest details. You may enter your personal information and
unknowingly give it to someone with malicious intent.

Phishing
Phishing is used most often by cyber criminals because it's easy to execute and can
produce the results they're looking for with very little effort.
Fake emails, text messages and websites created to look like they're from authentic
companies. They're sent by criminals to steal personal and financial information
from you. This is also known as “spoofing”.

What it does:
• Trick you into giving them information by asking you to update, validate or confirm your
account. It is often presented in a manner than seems official and intimidating, to encourage
 you to take action.
• Provides cyber criminals with your username and passwords so that they can access your
accounts (your online bank account, shopping accounts, etc.) and steal your credit card
numbers.

Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malware that restricts access to your computer or your
files and displays a message that demands payment in order for the restriction to
be removed. The two most common means of infection appear to be phishing
emails that contain malicious attachments and website pop-up advertisements.
What it can do:
• There are two common types of ransomware:
• Lockscreen ransomware: displays an image that prevents you from accessing your computer
• Encryption ransomware: encrypts files on your system's hard drive and sometimes on shared
network drives, USB drives, external hard drives, and even some cloud storage drives,
preventing you from opening them
• Ransomware will display a notification stating that your computer or data have been locked
and demanding a payment be made for you to regain access. Sometimes the notification
states that authorities have detected illegal activity on your computer, and that the payment
is a fine to avoid prosecution.
What you can do:
• Do not pay the ransom. These threats are meant to scare and intimidate you, and they do not
come from a law enforcement agency. Even if you submit payment, there is no guarantee
that you will regain access to your system.
• If your computer has been infected (i.e. you are unable to access your computer or your files
have been encrypted), contact a reputable computer technician or specialist to find out
whether your computer can be repaired and your data retrieved.
• In order to lessen the impact of a ransomware infection, be sure to regularly back-up your
data with a removable external storage drive. It's possible that your files might be
irretrievable; having an up-to-date backup could be invaluable.
Spam
Spam is one of the more common methods of both sending information out and
collecting it from unsuspecting people.
 The mass distribution of unsolicited messages, advertising or pornography to
addresses which can be easily found on the Internet through things like social
networking sites, company websites and personal blogs.

What it can do:

• Annoy you with unwanted junk mail.
• Create a burden for communications service providers and businesses to filter electronic
messages.
• Phish for your information by tricking you into following links or entering details with too-
good- to-be-true offers and promotions.
• Provide a vehicle for malware, scams, fraud and threats to your privacy.

Spyware (Spyware & Adware)

Spyware and adware are often used by third parties to infiltrate your computer.
What it is:
Software that collects personal information about you without you knowing. They
often come in the form of a ‘free' download and are installed automatically with or
with viruses.
without your consent. These are difficult to remove and can infect your computer
What it can do:
• Collect information about you without you knowing about it and give it to third parties.
• Send your usernames, passwords, surfing habits, list of applications you've
downloaded, settings, and even the version of your operating system to third
parties.
• Change the way your computer runs without your knowledge.
• Take you to unwanted sites or inundate you with uncontrollable pop-up ads.

Trojan Horses
A Trojan horse may not be a term you're familiar with, but there's a good
chance you or someone you know has been affected by one.
A malicious program that is disguised as, or embedded within, legitimate
software. It is an executable file that will install itself and run
automatically once it's downloaded.

What it can do:

• Delete your files.
• Use your computer to hack other computers.
• Watch you through your web cam.
• Log your keystrokes (such as a credit card number you entered in an online purchase).
• Record usernames, passwords and other personal information.

Viruses
Most people have heard of computer viruses, but not many know
exactly what they are or what they do. Malicious computer programs
that are often sent as an email attachment or a download with the
intent of infecting your computer, as well as the computers of
everyone in your contact list. Just visiting a site can start an automatic
 download of a virus .

What they can do:

• Send spam.
• Provide criminals with access to your computer and contact lists.
• Scan and find personal information like passwords on your computer.
• Hijack your web browser.
• Disable your security settings.
• Display unwanted ads.
• When a program is running, the virus attached to it could infiltrate your hard drive
and also spread to USB keys and external hard drives. Any attachment you create
using this program and send to someone else could also infect them with the virus.

How will you know if your computer is infected?

Here are a few things to check for:
• It takes longer than usual for your computer to start up, it restarts on its own or
doesn't start up at all.
• It takes a long time to launch a program.
• Files and data have disappeared.
• Your system and programs crash constantly.
• The homepage you set on your web browser is different (note that this could be
caused by Adware that has been installed on your computer).
• Web pages are slow to load.
• Your computer screen looks distorted.
• Programs are running without your control.
• If you suspect a problem, make sure your security software is up to date and run it
to check for infection. If nothing is found, or if you are unsure of what to do, seek
technical help.

Wi-Fi Eavesdropping
 WiFi eavesdropping is another method used by cyber criminals to capture
personal information.
Virtual “listening in” on information that's shared over an unsecure (not
encrypted) WiFi network.
What it can do:
• Potentially access your computer with the right equipment.
• Steal your personal information including logins and passwords.

Worms

Worms are a common threat to computers and the Internet as a whole.

A worm, unlike a virus, goes to work on its own without attaching itself to files or programs.
It lives in your computer memory, doesn't damage or alter the hard drive worms are a
common computer and the internet as a whole a company of the internet itself.

What they can do:

• Spread to everyone in your contact list.
• Cause a tremendous amount of damage by shutting down parts of the Internet,
wreaking havoc on an internal network and costing companies’ enormous amounts
of lost revenue.

References
• http://www.mccc.edu/~virtcoll/Netiquette
• http://ecampus.matc.edu/student_support/pdfs/7-essential-rules-of-netiquette.pdf
https://www.getcybersafe.gc.ca/cnt/rsks/cmmn-thrts-eng.aspx