Unit:1

1. INTRODUCTION TO CYBERCRIME

List of Topics:
• Introduction
• Cybercrime: Definition and Origins of the Word
• Cybercrime and Information Security
• Who are Cybercriminals?
• Classifications of Cybercrimes
• Cybercrime: The Legal Perspectives
• Cybercrimes: An Indian Perspective
• Cybercrime and the Indian ITA 2000
• A Global Perspective on Cybercrimes
• Cybercrime Era: Survival Mantra for the Netizens

INTRODUCTION

• “Cyber security is the protection of internet-connected systems, including hardware, software and data,
from cyber attacks”.
• “Cybersecurity” means protecting information, equipment, devices, computer, computer resource,
communication device and information stored therein from unauthorized access, use, disclosure,
disruption, modification or destruction.
• Almost everyone is aware of the rapid growth of the Internet.
• Given the unrestricted number of free websites, the Internet has undeniably opened a new way of
exploitation known as cybercrime.
• These activities involve the use of computers, the Internet, cyberspace and the worldwide web (WWW).
• Interestingly, cybercrime is not a new phenomena; the first recorded cybercrime took place in the year
1820.
• It is one of the most talked about topics in the recent years.
• Based on a 2008 survey in Australia, the below shows the cybercrime trend
 Figure: Cybercrime Trend

• Indian corporate and government sites have been attacked or defaced more than 780 times between
February 2000 and December 2002.
• There are also stories/news of other attacks; for example, according to a story posted on 3 December 2009,
a total of 3,286 Indian websites were hacked in 5 months – between January and June 2009. • Various
cybercrimes and cases registered under cybercrimes by motives and suspects in States and Union Territories
(UTs).

CYBERCRIME: DEFINITION AND ORIGINS OF THE WORD

Cybercrime is not a new phenomena. The first recorded cybercrime took place in the year 1820. In 1820,
Joseph Marie Jacquard, a textile manufacturer in France, produced the loom. This device allowed the
repetition of a series of steps in the weaving of special fabrics. This resulted in a fear amongst Jacquard's
employees that their traditional employment and livelihood were being threatened. They committed acts of
sabotage to discourage Jacquard from further use of the new technology. This is the first recorded cyber
crime!

Definition:
“A crime conducted in which a computer was directly and significantly instrumental is called as a
Cybercrime.”

Alternative definitions of Cybercrime are as follows:

1. Any illegal act where a special knowledge of computer technology is essential for its perpetration (to
commit a crime), investigation or prosecution.
 2. Any traditional crime that has acquired a new dimension or order of magnitude through the aid of a
computer, and abuses that have come into being because of computers.
3. Any financial dishonesty that takes place in a computer environment.
4. Any threats to the computer itself, such as theft of hardware or software, damage and demands for money.

5. “Cybercrime (computer crime) is any illegal behavior, directed by means of electronic operations,
that targets the security of computer systems and the data processed by them.”
Note that in a wider sense, “computer-related crime” can be any illegal behavior committed by means of, or
in relation to, a computer system or network; however, this is not cybercrime. The term “cybercrime” relates to
a number of other terms that may sometimes be used to describe crimes committed using computers.
• Computer-related crime
• Computer crime
• Internet crime
• E-crime
• High-tech crime, etc. are the other synonymous terms.

Cybercrime specifically can be defined in a number of ways; a few definitions are:

1. A crime committed using a computer and the Internet to steal a person’s identity (identity theft) or
sell contraband or stalk victims or disrupt operations with malevolent programs.
2. Crimes completed either on or with a computer.
3. Any illegal activity done through the Internet or on the computer.
4. All criminal activities done using the medium of computers, the Internet, cyberspace and the WWW.

According to one information security, cybercrime is any criminal activity which uses network access to
commit a criminal act. Cybercrime may be internal or external, with the former easier to perpetrate. The term
“cybercrime” has evolved over the past few years since the adoption of Internet connection on a global scale
with hundreds of millions of users. Cybercrime refers to the act of performing a criminal act using cyberspace as
the communications vehicle.
Some people argue that a cybercrime is not a crime as it is a crime against software & not against a person (or)
property. However, while the legal systems around the world scramble to introduce laws to combat cyber
criminals, 2 types of attacks are prevalent:
1. Techno-crime: A premeditated act against a system or systems, with the intent to copy, steal, prevent access,
corrupt or otherwise deface or damage parts of or the complete computer system. The 24X7 connection to
the internet makes this type of cybercrime a real possibility to engineer from anywhere in the world, leaving
few, if any, “finger prints”.
2. Techno-vandalism: These acts of “brainless” defacement of websites and/or other activities, such as copying
files and publicizing their contents publicly, are usually opportunistic in nature. Tight internal security,
allied to strong technical safeguards should prevent the vast majority of such incidents.

There is a very thin line between the two terms “computer crime” and “computer fraud”; both are punishable.
Cybercrimes (harmful acts committed from or against a computer or network) differ from most terrestrial crimes
in four ways:
a. how to commit them is easier to learn,
b. they require few resources relative to the potential damage caused,
c. they can be committed in a jurisdiction without being physically present in it &
d. They are often not clearly illegal.

Important Definitions related to Cyber Security:

Cyber terrorism:
This term was coined in 1997 by Barry Collin, a senior research fellow at the institute for Security and
Intelligence in California. Cyber terrorism seems to be a controversial term. The use of information technology
and means by terrorist groups & agents is called as Cyber terrorism.
“The premeditated use of disruptive activities, or the threat thereof, against computers and/or networks,
with the intention to cause harm or further social, ideological, religious, political or similar objectives or to
intimidate any person in furtherance of such objectives.”
(Or)
Cyber terrorism is defined as “any person, group or organization who, with terrorist intent, utilizes
accesses or aids in accessing a computer or computer network or electronic system or electronic device by any
available means, and thereby knowingly engages in or attempts to engage in a terrorist act commits the offence
of cyber terrorism.”

Cybernetics:
Cybernetics deals with information and its use. Cybernetics is the science that overlaps the fields of
neurophysiology, information theory, computing machinery and automation. Worldwide, including India, cyber
terrorists usually use computer as a tool, target for their unlawful act to gain information. Internet is one of the
means by which the offenders can gain priced sensitive information of companies, firms, individuals, banks and
can lead to intellectual property (IP) crimes, selling illegal articles, pornography/child pornography, etc. This is
done using methods such as Phishing, Spoofing, Harming, Internet Phishing, wire transfer, etc. and use it to
their own advantage without the consent of the individual.
Phishing:
Phishing is a cyber attack that uses disguised email as a weapon. The goal is to trick the email recipient
into believing that the message is something they want or need a request from their bank, for instance, or a note
from someone in their company and to click a link or download an attachment.
Phishing is an attempt by an individual or a group to thieve personal confidential information such as
passwords, credit card information from unsuspecting victims for identity theft, financial gain & other
fraudulent activities.
(or)
Phishing is a form of online identity theft that aims to steal sensitive information such as online banking
passwords, credit card information from users etc.

Cyberspace:
This is a term coined by William Gibson, a science fiction writer in 1984. Cyberspace is where users
mentally travel through matrices of data. Conceptually, cyberspace is the nebulous place where humans interact
over computer networks. The term “cyberspace” is now used to describe the Internet and other computer
networks. In terms of computer science, “cyberspace” is a worldwide network of computer networks that uses
the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) for communication to facilitate transmission and
exchange of data. Cyberspace is most definitely a place where you chat, explore, research and play.

Cyber squatting:
The term is derived from “squatting” which is the act of occupying an abandoned/unoccupied space/
building that the user does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use. Cyber squatting, however, is a bit
different in that the domain names that are being squatted are (sometimes but not always) is paid for by the
cyber squatters through the registration process.
Cyber squatters usually ask for prices far greater than those at which they purchased it. Some cyber
squatters put up derogatory or defamatory remarks about the person or company the domain is meant to
represent in an effort to encourage the subject to buy the domain from them. This term is explained here
because, in a way, it relates to cybercrime given the intent of cyber squatting.
Cyber squatting means registering, selling or using a domain name with the intent of profiting from the
goodwill of someone else’s trademark. In this nature, it can be considered to be a type of cybercrime. Cyber
squatting is the practice of buying “domain names” that have existing businesses names.
In India, Cyber squatting is considered to be an Intellectual Property Right (IPR). In India, Cyber squatting is
seen to interfere with “Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy” (a contractual obligation to which all domain
name registrants are presently subjected to).
Cyberpunk:
This is a term coined by Bruce Bethke, published in science fiction stories magazine in November 1983.
According to science fiction literature, the words “cyber” and “punk” emphasize the two basic aspects of
cyberpunk: “technology” and “individualism.” The term “cyberpunk” could mean something like “anarchy Via
machines” or “machine/computer rebel movement.”

Cyber warfare:
Cyber warfare means information attacks against an unsuspecting opponent’s computer networks,
destroying and paralyzing nations. This perception seems to be correct as the terms cyber warfare and Cyber
terrorism have got historical connection in the context of attacks against infrastructure. The term “information
infrastructure” refers to information resources, including communication systems that support an industry,
institution or population. These type of Cyber attacks are often presented as threat to military forces and the
Internet has major implications for espionage and warfare.

CYBERCRIME AND INFORMATION SECURITY

Lack of information security gives rise to cybercrimes. Let us refer to the amended Indian Information
Technology Act (ITA) 2000 in the context of cybercrime. From an Indian perspective, the new version of the
Act (referred to as ITA 2008) provides a new focus on “Information Security in India". "Cybersecurity” means
protecting information, equipment, devices, computer, computer resource, communication device and
information stored therein from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification or destruction.
The term incorporates both the physical security of devices as well as the information stored therein. It covers
protection from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification and destruction.
Where financial losses to the organization due to insider crimes are concerned (e.g., leaking customer
data), often some difficulty is faced in estimating the losses because the financial impacts may not be detected
by the victimized organization and no direct costs may be associated with the data theft. The 2008 CSI Survey
on computer crime and security supports this. Cybercrimes occupy an important space in information security
domain because of their impact. The other challenge comes from the difficulty in attaching a quantifiable
monetary value to the corporate data and yet corporate data get stolen/lost (through loss/theft of laptops).

Because of these reasons, reporting of financial losses often remains approximate. In an attempt to avoid
negative publicity, most organizations abstain from revealing facts and figures about “security incidents”
including cybercrime. In general, organizations perception about “insider attacks” seems to be different than
that made out by security solution vendor. However, this perception of an organization does not seem to be true
as revealed by the 2008 CSI Survey. Awareness about “data privacy” too tends to be low in most organizations.
When we speak of financial losses to the organization and significant insider crimes, such as leaking customer
data, such “crimes” may not be detected by the victimized organization and no direct costs may be associated
with the theft.

Figure: Cybercrime trend over the years

Figure: shows several categories of incidences – viruses, insider abuse, laptop theft and unauthorized
access to systems

The Botnet Menace:

A group of computers that are controlled by software containing harmful programs, without their users'
knowledge is called as Botnet. The term “Botnet” is used to refer to a group of compromised computers
(zombie computers, i.e., personal computers secretly under the control of hackers) running malwares under a
common command and control infrastructure. Below figure shows how a “zombie” works.

Figure: How a Zombie works

• A Botnet maker can control the group remotely for illegal purposes, the most common being
• denial-of-service attack (DoS attack),
• Adware,
• Spyware,
• E-Mail Spam,
• Click Fraud
• theft of application serial numbers,
• login IDs
• Financial information such as credit card numbers, etc.
• An attacker usually gains control by infecting the computers with a virus or other Malicious Code. The
computer may continue to operate normally without the owner’s knowledge that his computer has been
compromised.
• The problem of Botnet is global in nature and India is also facing the same.

• India has an average of 374 new Bot attacks per day and had more than 38,000 distinct Bot-infected
computers in the first half of the year 2009.
• Small and medium businesses in the country are at greater risk, as they are highly vulnerable to Bots,
Phishing, Spam and Malicious Code attacks.
• Mumbai with 33% incidences tops the Bot-infected city list,
 • followed by New Delhi at 25%,
• Chennai at 17% and
• Bangalore at 13%.
• Tier-II locations are now also a target of Bot-networks with Bhopal at 4% and Hyderabad, Surat, Pune
and Noida at 1% each.
• The Internet is a network of interconnected computers. If the computers, computer systems, computer
resources, etc. are unsecured and vulnerable to security threats, it can be detrimental to the critical
infrastructure of the country.

WHO ARE CYBERCRIMINALS?

Cybercrime involves such activities

• credit card fraud;
• cyber stalking;
• defaming another online;
• gaining unauthorized access to computer systems;
• ignoring copyright, software licensing and trademark protection;
• overriding encryption to make illegal copies;
• software piracy and stealing another’s identity (known as identity theft) to perform criminal acts

Types of Cybercriminals:

1. Type I: Cybercriminals – hungry for recognition

• Hobby hackers;
• IT professionals (social engineering is one of the biggest threat);
• Politically motivated hackers;
• Terrorist organizations.
2. Type II: Cybercriminals – not interested in recognition

• Psychological perverts;
• financially motivated hackers (corporate espionage);
• state-sponsored hacking (national espionage, sabotage)
• organized criminals
3. Type III: Cybercriminals – the insiders
• Disgruntled or former employees seeking revenge;
 • Competing companies using employees to gain economic advantage through damage and/or theft.

CLASSIFICATIONS OF CYBERCRIMES:
“Crime is defined as an act or the commission of an act that is forbidden, or the omission of a duty that is
commanded by a public law and that makes the off ender liable to punishment by that law”. Cyber crimes are
classified as follows:
• Cybercrime against individual
• Cybercrime against property
• Cybercrime against organization
• Cybercrime against society

Cybercrime against individual

1. E-Mail Spoofing: A spoofed E-Mail is one that appears to originate from one source but actually has
been sent from another source.

Online Frauds: The most common types of online fraud are called phishing and spoofing. Phishing is the
process of collecting your personal information through e-mails or websites claiming to be legitimate. This
information can include usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc. Often
times the e-mails directs you to a website where you can update your personal information. Because these
sites often look “official,” they hope you’ll be tricked into disclosing valuable information that you normally
would not reveal. This often times, results in identity theft and financial loss.
Spyware and viruses are both malicious programs that are loaded onto your computer without your
knowledge. The purpose of these programs may be to capture or destroy information, to ruin computer
performance or to overload you with advertising. Viruses can spread by infecting computers and then
replicating. Spyware disguises itself as a legitimate application and embeds itself into your computer where it
then monitors your activity and collects information.
2. Phishing, Spear Phishing and its various other forms such as Vishing and Smishing: Phishing is the
process of collecting your personal information through e-mails or websites claiming to be legitimate. This
information can include usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc. Often times
the e-mails directs you to a website where you can update your personal information. Because these sites
often look “official,” they hope you’ll be tricked into disclosing valuable information that you normally
would not reveal. This often times, results in identity theft and financial loss.

Vishing (voice phishing) is a type of phishing attack that is conducted by phone and often targets users ofVoice over
IP (VoIP) services like Skype.
It’s easy to for scammers to fake caller ID, so they can appear to be calling from a local area code or even from an
organization you know. If you don’t pick up, then they’ll leave a voicemail message asking you to Call back.
Sometimes these kinds of scams will employ an answering service or even a call center that’s unaware of the
crime being perpetrated.
Once again, the aim is to get credit card details, birthdates, account sign-ins, or sometimes just to harvest phone
numbers from your contacts. If you respond and call back, there may be an automated message prompting you to hand
over data and many people won’t question this, because they accept automated phone systems as part of daily life now.

Smishing (SMS phishing) is a type of phishing attack conducted using SMS (Short Message Services) on cell
phones. Just like email phishing scams, smishing messages typically include a threat or enticement to click a
link or call a number and hand over sensitive information. Sometimes they might suggest you install some
security software, which turns out to be malware.
Smishing example: A typical smishing text message might say something along the lines of, “Your
ABC Bank account has been suspended. To unlock your account, tap here: https://bit.ly/2LPLdaU” and the link
provided will download malware onto your phone. Scammers are also adept at adjusting to the medium they’re
using, so you might get a text message that says, “Is this really a pic of you? https://bit.ly/2LPLdaU” and if you
tap that link to find out, once again you’re downloading malware.
3. Spamming: People who create electronic Spam are called spammers. Spam is the abuse of electronic
messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unrequested bulk
messages indiscriminately. Although the most widely recognized form of Spam is E-Mail Spam, the term is
applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging Spam, Usenet newsgroup Spam, web search engine
Spam, Spam in blogs, wiki Spam, online classified ads Spam, mobile phone messaging Spam, Internet forum
Spam, junk fax transmissions, social networking Spam, file sharing network Spam, video sharing sites, etc.
Spamming is difficult to control because it has economic viability – advertisers have no operating costs
beyond the management of their mailing lists, and it is difficult to hold senders accountable for their mass
mailings. Spammers are numerous; the volume of unrequested mail has become very high because the barrier to
entry is low. Therefore, the following web publishing techniques should be avoided:
• Repeating keywords;
• use of keywords that do not relate to the content on the site;
• use of fast meta refresh;
• redirection;
• IP Cloaking;
• use of colored text on the same color background;
• tiny text usage;
• duplication of pages with different URLs;

• hidden links;
• use of different pages that bridge to the same URL (gateway pages).
4. Cyber defamation: It is a cognizable (Software) offense. “Whoever, by words either spoken or intended to
be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person
intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such
person, is said, except in the cases hereinafter expected, to defame that person.”
Cyber defamation happens when the above takes place in an electronic form. In other words, cyber
defamation occurs when defamation takes place with the help of computers and/or the Internet. For example,
someone publishes defamatory matter about someone on a website or sends an E-Mail containing defamatory
information to all friends of that person.
5. Cyber stalking and harassment: The dictionary meaning of “stalking” is an “act or process of following
prey stealthily – trying to approach somebody or something.” Cyberstalking has been defined as the use of
information and communications technology, particularly the Internet, by an individual or group of individuals
to harass another individual, group of individuals, or organization. The behavior includes false accusations,
monitoring, transmission of threats, ID theft, damage to data or equipment, solicitation of minors for sexual
purposes, and gathering information for harassment purposes.
As the internet has become an integral part of our personal & professional lives, cyberstalkers take advantage of
ease of communication & an increased access to personal information available with a few mouse clicks or
keystrokes. They are 2 types of stalkers:
Online Stalkers: aim to start the interaction with the victim directly with the help of the internet.
Offline Stalkers: the stalker may begin the attack using traditional methods such as following the victim,
watching the daily routine of the victim.
6. Computer Sabotage: The use of the Internet to stop the normal functioning of a computer system through
the introduction of worms, viruses or logic bombs, is referred to as computer sabotage. It can be used to gain
economic advantage over a competitor, to promote the illegal activities of terrorists or to steal data or programs
for extortion purposes. Logic bombs are event-dependent programs created to do something only when a certain
event (known as a trigger event) occurs. Some viruses may be termed as logic bombs because they lie dormant
all through the year and become active only on a particular date.
7. Pornographic Offenses: Child pornography means any visual depiction, including but not limited to
the following:
1. Any photograph that can be considered obscene and/or unsuitable for the age of child viewer;
2. film, video, picture;
3. Computer-generated image or picture of sexually explicit conduct where the production of such
visual depiction involves the use of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Child Pornography is considered an offense. The internet is being highly used by its abusers to reach and abuse
children sexually, worldwide. The Internet has become a household commodity in the urban areas of the nation.
Its explosion has made the children a viable victim to the cybercrime. As the broad-band connections get into
the reach of more and more homes, larger child population will be using the Internet and therefore greater would
be the chances of falling victim to the aggression of pedophiles. Pedophiles are the people who physically or
psychologically coerce minors to engage in sexual activities, which the minors would not consciously consent
too. Here is how pedophiles operate:
• Step 1: Pedophiles use a false identity to trap the children/teenagers.
• Step 2: They seek children/teens in the kids’ areas on the services, such as the Games BB or chat areas
where the children gather.
• Step 3: They befriend children/teens.
• Step 4: They extract personal information from the child/teen by winning his/her confidence.
• Step 5: Pedophiles get E-Mail address of the child/teen and start making contacts on the victim’s E-Mail
address as well. Sometimes, these E-Mails contain sexually explicit language.
• Step 6: They start sending pornographic images/text to the victim including child pornographic images in
order to help child/teen shed his/her inhibitions so that a feeling is created in the mind of the victim that
what is being fed to him is normal and that everybody does it.
• Step 7: At the end of it, the pedophiles set up a meeting with the child/teen out of the house and then drag
him/her into the net to further sexually assault him/her or to use him/her as a sex object.

8. Password Sniffing: is a hacking technique that uses a special software application that allows a hacker to
steal usernames and passwords simply by observing and passively recording network traffic. This often
happens on public WiFi networks where it is relatively easy to spy on weak or unencrypted traffic. And yet,
password sniffers aren’t always used for malicious intent. They are often used by IT professionals as a tool
to identify weak applications that may be passing critical information unencrypted over the Local Area
Network (LAN). IT practitioners know that users download and install risky software at times in their
environment, running a passive password sniffer on the network of a business to identify leaky applications
is one legitimate use of a password sniffer.

Cybercrime against property

1. Credit Card Frauds: Credit card fraud is an inclusive term for fraud committed using a payment card, such
as a credit card or debit card. The purpose may be to obtain goods or services, or to make payment to
another account which is controlled by a criminal. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI
DSS) is the data security standard created to help businesses process card payments securely and reduce
card fraud. Credit card fraud can be authorised, where the genuine customer themselves processes a
payment to another account which is controlled by a criminal, or unauthorised, where the account holder
does not provide authorisation for the payment to proceed and the transaction is carried out by a third
party. Credit cards are more secure than ever, with regulators, card providers and banks taking
considerable time and effort to collaborate with investigators worldwide to ensure fraudsters aren't
 successful. Cardholders' money is usually protected from scammers with regulations that make the card
provider and bank accountable. The technology and security measures behind credit cards are becoming
increasingly sophisticated making it harder for fraudsters to steal money.
2. Intellectual Property (IP) Crimes: With the growth in the use of internet these days the cyber crimes are
also growing. Cyber theft of Intellectual Property (IP) is one of them. Cyber theft of IP means stealing of
copyrights, software piracy, trade secrets, patents etc., using internet and computers.
Copyrights and trade secrets are the two forms of IP that is frequently stolen. For example,
stealing of software, business strategies etc. Generally, the stolen material is sold to the rivals or others for
further sale of the product. This may result in the huge loss to the company who originally created it.
Another major cyber theft of IP faced by India is piracy. These days one can get pirated version of movies,
software etc. The piracy results in a huge loss of revenue to the copyright holder. It is difficult to find the
cyber thieves and punish them because everything they do is over internet, so they erase the data
immediately and disappear within fraction of a second.
3. Internet time theft: Such a theft occurs when an unauthorized person uses the Internet hours paid for by
another person. Basically, Internet time theft comes under hacking because the person who gets access to
someone else’s ISP user ID and password, either by hacking or by gaining access to it by illegal means, uses
it to access the Internet without the other person’s knowledge. However, one can identify time theft if the
Internet time has to be recharged often, even when one’s own use of the Internet is not frequent. The issue of
Internet time theft is related to the crimes conducted through identity theft.

Cybercrime against Organization

1. Unauthorized accessing of Computer: Hacking is one method of doing this and hacking is punishable
offense. Unauthorized computer access, popularly referred to as hacking, describes a criminal action
whereby someone uses a computer to knowingly gain access to data in a system without permission to
access that data.
2. Password Sniffing: Password Sniffers are programs that monitor and record the name and password of
network users as they login, jeopardizing security at a site. Whoever installs the Sniffer can then
impersonate an authorized user and login to access restricted documents. Laws are not yet set up to
adequately prosecute a person for impersonating another person online. Laws designed to prevent
unauthorized access to information may be effective in apprehending crackers using Sniffer programs.
3. Denial-of-service Attacks (DoS Attacks): It is an attempt to make a computer resource (i.e..,
information systems) unavailable to its intended users. In this type of criminal act, the attacker floods the
bandwidth of the victim’s network or fills his E-Mail box with spam mail depriving him of the services he is
entitled to access or provide. The goal of DoS is not to gain unauthorized access to systems or data, but to
prevent intended users (i.e., legitimate users) of a service from using it. A DoS attack may do the following: a.
Flood a network with traffic, thereby preventing legitimate network traffic.
 b. Disrupt connections between two systems, thereby preventing access to a service.
c. Prevent a particular individual from accessing a service.
d. Disrupt service to a specific system or person.
4. Virus attacks/dissemination of Viruses:
Computer virus is a program that can “infect” legitimate (valid) programs by modifying them to include a
possibly “evolved” copy of itself. Viruses spread themselves, without the knowledge or permission of the users,
to potentially large numbers of programs on many machines. A computer virus passes from computer to
computer in a similar manner as a biological virus passes from person to person. Viruses may also contain
malicious instructions that may cause damage or annoyance; the combination of possibly Malicious
Code with the ability to spread is what makes viruses a considerable concern. Viruses can often spread
without any readily visible symptoms. Viruses can take some typical actions:
• Display a message to prompt an action which may set of the virus
• Delete files inside the system into which viruses enter
• Scramble data on a hard disk
• Cause erratic screen behavior
• Halt the system (PC)
• Just replicate themselves to propagate further harm
5. E-Mail bombing/Mail bombs: E-Mail bombing refers to sending a large number of E-Mails to the victim to
crash victim’s E-Mail account (in the case of an individual) or to make victim’s mail servers crash (in the
case of a company or an E-Mail service provider). Computer program can be written to instruct a computer
to do such tasks on a repeated basis. In recent times, terrorism has hit the Internet in the form of mail
bombings. By instructing a computer to repeatedly send E-Mail to a specified person’s E-Mail address, the
cybercriminal can overwhelm the recipient’s personal account and potentially shut down entire systems.
This may or may not be illegal, but it is certainly disruptive.

6. Salami Attack/Salami technique: These attacks are used for committing financial crimes. The idea here is
to make the alteration so insignificant that in a single case it would go completely unnoticed; For example a
bank employee inserts a program, into the bank’s servers, that deducts a small amount of money (say Rs. 2/-
or a few cents in a month) from the account of every customer. No account holder will probably notice this
unauthorized debit, but the bank employee will make a sizable amount every month.
7. Logic Bomb: A Logic Bomb is a piece of often-malicious code that is intentionally inserted into software. It
is activated upon the host network only when certain conditions are met. Some viruses may be termed as
logic bombs because they lie dormant all through the year and become active only on a particular date.
8. Trojan Horse: A Trojan Horse, Trojan for short, is a term used to describe malware that appears, to the user,
to perform a desirable function but, in fact, facilitates unauthorized access to the user’s computer system.
9. Data Diddling: A data diddling (data cheating) attack involves altering raw data just before it is processed by
a computer and then changing it back after the processing is completed. Electricity Boards in India have
been victims to data diddling programs inserted when private parties computerize their systems.
10. Newsgroup Spam/Crimes emanating from Usenet newsgroup: This is one form of spamming. The word
“Spam” was usually taken to mean Excessive Multiple Posting (EMP). The advent of Google Groups, and
its large Usenet archive, has made Usenet more attractive to spammers than ever. Spamming of Usenet
newsgroups actually predates E-Mail Spam.
11. Industrial spying/Industrial espionage: Spying is not limited to governments. Corporations, like
governments, often spy on the enemy. The Internet and privately networked systems provide new and better
opportunities for espionage. “Spies” can get information about product finances, research and development
and marketing strategies, an activity known as “industrial spying.”
However, cyberspies rarely leave behind a trail. Industrial spying is not new; in fact it is as old as
industries themselves. The use of the Internet to achieve this is probably as old as the Internet itself.
Traditionally, this has been the reserved hunting field of a few hundreds of highly skilled hackers, contracted
by high-profile companies or certain governments via the means of registered organizations (it is said that
they get several hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the “assignment”). With the growing public
availability of Trojans and Spyware material, even low-skilled individuals are now inclined to generate high
volume profit out of industrial spying. This is referred to as “Targeted Attacks” (which includes “Spear
Phishing”).
12. Computer network intrusions: “Crackers” who are often misnamed “Hackers can break into computer
systems from anywhere in the world and steal data, plant viruses, create backdoors, insert Trojan Horses or
change user names and passwords. Network intrusions are illegal, but detection and enforcement are
difficult. Current laws are limited and many intrusions go undetected. The cracker can bypass existing
password protection by creating a program to capture logon IDs and passwords. The practice of “strong
password” is therefore important.
13. Software piracy: This is a big challenge area indeed. Cybercrime investigation cell of India defines
“software piracy” as theft of software through the illegal copying of genuine programs or the counterfeiting
and distribution of products intended to pass for the original. There are many examples of software piracy:
1. end-user copying: friends loaning disks to each other, or organizations under-reporting the number
of software installations they have made, or organizations not tracking their software licenses;
2. hard disk loading with illicit means: hard disk vendors load pirated software;
3. counterfeiting: large-scale duplication and distribution of illegally copied software;
4. Illegal downloads from the Internet: by intrusion, by cracking serial numbers, etc. Beware that those
who buy pirated software have a lot to lose:
• getting untested software that may have been copied thousands of times over,
• the software, if pirated, may potentially contain hard-drive-infecting viruses,
 • there is no technical support in the case of software failure, that is, lack of technical
product support available to properly licensed users,
• there is no warranty protection,
• there is no legal right to use the product, etc.

Cybercrime against Society

1. Forgery: Counterfeit currency notes, postage and revenue stamps, marksheets, etc. can be forged using
sophisticated computers, printers and scanners. Outside many colleges there are miscreants soliciting the
sale of fake mark-sheets or even degree certificates. These are made using computers and high quality
scanners and printers. In fact, this is becoming a booming business involving large monetary amount given
to student gangs in exchange for these bogus but authentic looking certificates.
2. Cyber terrorism: Cyber terrorism is a controversial term. Cyber terrorism is the use of the Internet to
conduct violent acts that result in, or threaten, loss of life or significant bodily harm, in order to achieve
political or ideological gains through threat or intimidation. It is also sometimes considered an act of Internet
terrorism where terrorist activities, including acts of deliberate, large-scale disruption of computer networks,
especially of personal computers attached to the Internet by means of tools such as computer viruses,
computer worms, phishing, and other malicious software and hardware methods and programming scripts.

3. Web Jacking: Web jacking occurs when someone forcefully takes control of a website (by cracking the
password and later changing it). Thus, the first stage of this crime involves “password sniffing”. The actual
owner of the website does not have any more control over what appears on that website.

Crimes emanating from Usenet newsgroup:

By its very nature, Usenet groups may carry very offensive, harmful, inaccurate or otherwise
inappropriate material, or in some cases, postings that have been mislabeled or are deceptive in another way.
Therefore, it is expected that you will use caution and common sense and exercise proper judgment when using
Usenet, as well as use the service at your own risk.
Usenet is a popular means of sharing and distributing information on the Web with respect to specific
topic or subjects. Usenet is a mechanism that allows sharing information in a many-to-many manner. The
newsgroups are spread across 30,000 different topics.

CYBERCRIME: THE LEGAL PERSPECTIVES

• Cybercrime poses a biggest challenge.
 • Computer Crime: As per “Criminal Justice Resource Manual (1979)”, computer-related crime was defined
in the broader meaning as: “any illegal act for which knowledge of computer technology is essential for
a successful prosecution”.
• International legal aspects of computer crimes were studied in 1983.

• In that study, computer crime was consequently defined as: “encompasses any illegal act for which
knowledge of computer technology is essential for its commit”.
• Cybercrime, in a way, is the outcome of “globalization.” However, globalization does not
mean globalized welfare at all.
• Globalized information systems accommodate an increasing number of transnational offenses.

• The network context of cybercrime makes it one of the most globalized offenses of the present and
the most modernized threats of the future.
• This problem can be resolved in two ways.
a) One is to divide information systems into segments bordered by state boundaries (cross-border
flow of information).
b) The other is to incorporate the legal system into an integrated entity obliterating these state
boundaries.
• Apparently, the first way is unrealistic. Although all ancient empires including Rome, Greece and
Mongolia became historical remnants, and giant empires are not prevalent in current world, the partition
of information systems cannot be an imagined practice.
• In a globally connected world, information systems become the unique empire without tangible territory.

CYBERCRIMES: AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

India has the fourth highest number of Internet users in the world. According to the statistics posted on
the site (http://www.iamai.in/), there are 45 million Internet users in India, 37% of all Internet accesses happen
from cybercafés and 57% of Indian Internet users are between 18 and 35 years. The population of educated
youth is high in India. It is reported that compared to the year 2006, cybercrime under the Information
Technology (IT) Act recorded a whopping 50% increase in the year 2007. A point to note is that the majority of
offenders were under 30 years. The maximum cybercrime cases, about 46%, were related to incidents of cyber
pornography, followed by hacking. In over 60% of these cases, offenders were between 18 and 30 years,
according to the “Crime in 2007” report of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB).
Cybercrimes: Indian Statistics:
Cybercrimes: Cases of various categories under ITA 2000: 217 cases were registered under IT Act during the
year 2007 as compared to 142 cases during the previous year 2006, with an increase of 52.8%. 99 cases of the
total 217 cases registered under ITA 2000 were related to obscene publication/transmission in electronic form
known as cyber pornography. There were 76 cases of hacking with computer system which is related to
loss/damage of computer resource/utility. India is said to be “youth country” given the population age
distribution. However from cybercrime perspective, this youth aspect does not seem good as revealed by
cybercrime statistics in India.
Cybercrimes: Cases of various categories under IPC Section: A total of 339 cases were registered under IPC
sections during the year 2007 as compared to 311 such cases during 2006, thereby reporting an increase of
9%.Majority of the crimes out of total 339 cases registered under IPC fall under 2 categories i.e.., Forgery &
Criminal breach of Trust or Fraud.
Incidence of Cybercrimes in cities: 17 out of 35 mega cities did not report any case of cybercrime (neither under
the IT Act nor under IPC Sections) during the year 2007. A total of 17 mega cities have reported 118 cases
under IT Act and 7 mega cities reported 180 cases under various sections of IPC.
The Indian Government is doing its best to control cybercrimes. For example, Delhi Police have now
trained 100 of its officers in handling cybercrime and placed them in its Economic Offences Wing. As at the
time of writing this, the officers were trained for 6 weeks in computer hardware and software, computer
networks comprising data communication networks, network protocols, wireless networks and network security.

CYBERCRIME & THE INDIAN ITA 2000

In India, the ITA 2000 was enacted after the United Nation General Assembly Resolution A/RES/51/162
in January 30, 1997 by adopting the Model Law on Electronic Commerce adopted by the United Nations
Commission on International Trade Law. This was the first step toward the Law relating to E Commerce at
international level to regulate an alternative form of commerce and to give legal status in the area of E-
Commerce. It was enacted taking into consideration UNICITRAL model of Law on Electronic Commerce
(1996).
Hacking and the Indian Laws:
Section Ref. and Title Chapter of the Act Crime Punishment
And Title

Sec.43 (Penalty for Chapter IX Damage to Compensation for

damage to Penalties and computer system Rs. 1 Crore
computer, Adjudication etc.
computer system
etc)

Sec.66 (Hacking Chapter XI Hacking (with intent Fine of Rs. 2 Lakhs &
with computer Offences or knowledge) Imprisonment for 3
system) Years
Sec.67 (Publishing Chapter XI Publication of Fine of Rs. 1 Lakh &
of information Offences obscene material in Imprisonment of 5
which is obscene electronic form years and double
in electronic form) conviction on second
Offence

Sec.68 (Power of Chapter XI Not complying with Fine upto Rs. 2 Lakhs
controller to give Offences directions of & Imprisonment of 3
directions) controller Years

Sec.70 (Protected Chapter XI Attempting or Imprisonment up to

System) Offences securing access to 10 Years
computer of another
person without
his/her knowledge

Sec.72 (Penalty for Chapter XI Attempting or Fine up to Rs. 1 Lakh

breach of Offences securing access to and Imprisonment up
Confidentiality
computer for To

and privacy) breaking 2 Years

confidentiality of the
information of
computer

Sec.73 (Penalty for Chapter XI Publishing false Fine of Rs.1 Lakh or

publishing Digital Offences Digital Signatures, imprisonment of 2
Signature false in years or both
Certificate false certain particulars
in certain
particulars)

Sec.74 (Publication Chapter XI Publishing of Digital Imprisonment for the

for fraudulent Offences Signatures for term of 2 years and
purpose) fraudulent purpose fine of Rs. 1 Lakh

Table: The key provisions under the Indian ITA 2000 (before the amendment)
A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE ON CYBERCRIMES
In Australia, cybercrime has a narrow statutory meaning as used in the Cyber Crime Act 2001, which
details offenses against computer data and systems. However, a broad meaning is given to cybercrime at an
international level. In the Council of Europe’s (CoE’s) Cyber Crime Treaty, cybercrime is used as an umbrella
term to refer to an array of criminal activity including offenses against computer data and systems, computer
related offenses, content offenses and copyright offenses.
This wide definition of cybercrime overlaps in part with general offense categories that need not be
Information & Communication Technology (ICT)-dependent, such as white-collar crime and economic crime.
Although this status is from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) survey conducted in 2005, we
get an idea about the global perspective. ITU activities on countering Spam can be read by visiting the link
www.itu.int/spam (8 May 2010). The Spam legislation scenario mentions “none” about India as far as E-Mail
legislation in India is concerned.
The linkage of cyber security and critical infrastructure protection has become a big issue as a number of
countries have began assessment of threats, vulnerabilities and started exploring mechanisms to redress them.
Recently, there have been a number of significant developments such as
1. August 4, 2006 Announcement: The US Senate ratifies CoE Convention on Cyber Crime. The
convention targets hackers, those spreading destructive computer viruses, those using the Internet for the
sexual exploitation of children or the distribution of racist material, and terrorists attempting to attack
infrastructure facilities or financial institutions. The Convention is in full accord with all the US
constitutional protections, such as free speech and other civil liberties, and will require no change to the
US laws.
2. In August 18, 2006, there was a news article published “ISPs Wary About ‘Drastic Obligations’ on Web
Site Blocking.” European Union (EU) officials want to debar suspicious websites as part of a 6-point
plan to boost joint antiterrorism activities. They want to block websites that incite terrorist action. Once
again it is underlined that monitoring calls, Internet and E-Mail traffic for law enforcement purposes is a
task vested in the government, which must reimburse carriers and providers for retaining the data.
3. CoE Cyber Crime Convention (1997–2001) was the first international treaty seeking to address Internet
crimes by harmonizing national laws, improving investigative techniques and increasing cooperation
among nations. More than 40 countries have ratified the Convention to date.
Cybercrime and the Extended Enterprise:
It is a continuing problem that the average user is not adequately educated to understand the threats and
how to protect one. Actually, it is the responsibility of each user to become aware of the threats as well as the
opportunities that “connectivity” and “mobility” presents them with. In this context, it is important to understand
the concept of “extended enterprise.” This term represents the concept that a company is made up not just of its
employees, its board members and executives, but also its business partners, its suppliers and even its customers.

Figure: Extended Enterprise

The extended enterprise can only be successful if all of the component groups and individuals have the
information they need in order to do business effectively. An extended enterprise is a “loosely coupled, self
organizing network” of firms that combine their economic output to provide “products and services” offerings
to the market. Firms in the extended enterprise may operate independently. Seamless flow of “information” to
support instantaneous “decision-making ability” is crucial for the “external enterprise”. This becomes possible
through the “interconnectedness”. Due to the interconnected features of information & communication
technologies, security overall can only be fully promoted when the users have full awareness of existing threats
& dangers. Given the promises and challenges in the extended enterprise scenario, organizations in the
international community have a special role in sharing information on good practices and creating open and
accessible enterprise information flow channels for exchanging of ideas in a collaborative manner.

CYBERCRIME ERA: SURVIVAL MANTRA FOR THE NETIZENS

The term “Netizen” was coined by Michael Hauben. Quite simply, “Netizens” are the Internet users. Therefore,
by corollary, “Netizen” is someone who spends considerable time online and also has a considerable presence
online (through websites about the person, through his/her active blog contribution and/or also his/her
participation in the online chat rooms). The 5P Netizen mantra for online security is:
a. Precaution
b. Prevention
c. Protection
d. Preservation
 e. Perseverance
For ensuring cyber safety, the motto for the “Netizen” should be “Stranger is
Danger!” If you protect your customer’s data, your employee’s privacy and your own company,
then you are doing your job in the grander scheme of things to regulate and enforce rules on the
Net through our community. NASSCOM urges that cybercrime awareness is important, and any
matter should be reported at once. This is the reason they have established cyberlabs across
major cities in India
More importantly, users must try and save any electronic information trail on their
computers. That is all one can do until laws become more stringent or technology more
advanced. Some agencies have been advocating for the need to address protection of the Rights
of Netizens. There are agencies that are trying to provide guidance to innocent victims of
cybercrimes. However, these NGO like efforts cannot provide complete support to the victims of
cybercrimes and are unable to get the necessary support from the Police. There are also a few
incidents where Police have pursued false cases on innocent IT professionals. The need for a
statutorily empowered agency to protect abuse of ITA 2000 in India was, therefore, a felt need
for quite some time.

Cyber Offenses
How Criminals Plan Them – Introduction, How Criminals Plan The Attacks,
Social Engineering, and Cyber Stalking, Cyber Cafe And Cybercrimes, Botnets:
The Fuel For Cybercrime, Attack Vector Cloud Computing.

Learning Objectives
⦿ Understand different types of cyber attacks.
⦿ Get an overview of the steps involved in planning cybercrime.
⦿ Understand tools used for gathering information about the target.
⦿ Get an overview on social engineering – what and how.
⦿ Learn about the role of cybercafés in cybercrime.
⦿ Understand what cyber stalking is.
⦿ Learn about Botnets and attack vector.
 How Criminals Plan Them –Introduction
• Technology is a “double-edged sword” as it can be used for both good and
bad purposes • People with the tendency to cause damages or carrying out
illegal activities will use it for bad purpose.
• Computers and tools available in IT are also used as either target of offense.
• In today’s world of Internet and computer networks, a criminal activity can
be carried out across national borders.
• Chapter 1 provided an overview of hacking, cyber terrorism, network intrusions, password
sniffing, computer viruses, etc. They are the most commonly occurring crimes that target
the computer.
• Cybercriminal use the World Wide Web and Internet to an optimum level for all
illegal activities to store data, contacts, account information, etc.
• The criminals take advantage of the widespread lack of awareness about cybercrimes and
cyber laws among the people who are constantly using the IT infrastructure for official and
personal purposes.
• People who commit cybercrimes are known as “Crackers”.
Hackers, Crackers and Phreakers

Hacker: A hacker is a person with a strong interest in computers who enjoys learning and
experimenting with them. Hackers are usually very talented, smart people who understand
computers better than others. The term is often confused with cracker that defines someone who
breaks into computers.

Cracker: A cracker is a person who breaks into computers. Crackers should not be confused
with hackers. The term “cracker” is usually connected to computer criminals. Some of their
crimes include vandalism, theft and snooping in unauthorized areas.

Cracking: It is the act of breaking into computers. Cracking is a popular, growing subject on
the Internet. Many sites are devoted to supplying crackers with programs that allow them to
crack computers. Some of these programs contain dictionaries for guessing passwords. Others
are used to break into phone lines (called “phreaking”). These sites usually display warnings
such as “These files are illegal; we are not responsible for what you do with them.”

Cracker tools: These are programs used to break into computers. Cracker tools are widely
distributed on the Internet. They include password crackers, Trojans, viruses, war dialers and
worms.

Phreaking: This is the notorious art of breaking into phone or other communication systems.
Phreaking sites on the Internet are popular among crackers and other criminals.
 • The categories of vulnerabilities that hackers typically search for are the following:
o Inadequate border protection (border as in the sense of network periphery);
o remote access servers (RASs) with weak access controls;
o application servers with well-known exploits;
o Misconfigured systems and systems with default configurations.
• To help the reader understand the network attack scenario, Fig. 2.2 illustrates a small
network highlighting specific occurrences of several vulnerabilities described above.
What Color is Your Hat in the Security World?

A black hat is also called a “cracker” or “dark side hacker.” Such a person is a malicious or
criminal hacker. Typically, the term “cracker” is used within the security industry. However,
the general public uses the term hacker to refer to the same thing. In computer terminology, the
meaning of “hacker” can be much broader. The name comes from the opposite of “white hat
hackers.”

A white hat hacker is considered an ethical hacker. In the realm of IT, a “white hat hacker” is
a person who is ethically opposed to the abuse of computer systems. It is said that the term is
derived from American western movies, where the protagonist typically wore a white cowboy
hat and the antagonist typically wore a black one. As a simplified explanation, a “white hat”
generally focuses on securing IT systems, whereas a “black hat” (the opposite) would like to
break into them, so this sounds like an age-old game of a thief and a police.

Categories of Cybercrime
Cybercrime can be categorized based on the following:
1. The target of the crime and
2. Whether the crime occurs as a single event or as a series of events.
Cybercrime can be targeted against individuals (persons), assets (property)
and/or Organizations (government, business and social).
1. Crimes targeted at individuals: The goal is to exploit human weakness such as greed and
naivety. These crimes include financial frauds, sale of non-existent or stolen items, child
 pornography, copyright violation, harassment, etc. with the development in the IT and
the Internet; thus, criminals have a new tool that allows them to expand the pool of
potential victims. However, this also makes difficult to trace and apprehend the
criminals.
2. Crimes targeted at property: This includes stealing mobile devices such as cell phone,
laptops, personal digital assistant (PDAs), and removable medias (CDs and pen drives);
transmitting harmful programs that can disrupt functions of the systems and/or can wipe
out data from hard disk, and can create the malfunctioning of the attached devices in the
system such as modem, CD drive, etc.
3. Crimes targeted at organizations: Cyber terrorism is one of the distinct crimes against
organizations/ governments. Attackers (individuals or groups of individuals) use
computer tools and the Internet to usually terrorize the citizens of a particular country by
stealing the private information, and also to damage the programs and files or plant
programs to get control of the network and/or system.
4. Single event of cybercrime: It is the single event from the perspective of the victim. For
example, unknowingly open an attachment that may contain virus that will infect the
system (PC/laptop). This is known as hacking or fraud.
5. Series of events: This involves attacker interacting with the victims repetitively. For
example, attacker interacts with the victim on the phone and/or via chat rooms to
establish relationship first and then they exploit that relationship to commit the sexual
assault.

How Criminals Plan the Attacks

• Criminals use many methods and tools to locate the vulnerabilities of their
target. • The target can be an individual and/or an organization.
• Criminals plan passive and active attacks
• Active attacks are usually used to alter the system (i.e., computer network)
whereas passive attacks attempt to gain information about the target.
• Active attacks may affect the availability, integrity and authenticity of data
whereas passive attacks lead to violation of confidentiality.

1. Reconnaissance (information gathering) is the first phase and is treated as

passive attacks.
2. Scanning and scrutinizing the gathered information for the validity of the information
as well as to identify the existing vulnerabilities.
3. Launching an attack (gaining and maintaining the system access).
1. Reconnaissance
• The literal meaning of “Reconnaissance” is an act of finding something or
somebody (Especially to gain information about an enemy or potential enemy).
 • In the world of “hacking,” reconnaissance phase begins with “Foot printing” – this is the
preparation toward pre-attack phase, and involves accumulating data about the target’s
environment and computer architecture to find ways to intrude into that environment.
• Foot printing gives an overview about system vulnerabilities and provides a judgment
about possible exploitation of those vulnerabilities.
• The objective of this preparatory phase is to understand the system, its networking ports
and services, and any other aspects of its security that are needful for launching the
attack.
• Thus, an attacker attempts to gather information in two phases: passive and active
attacks. Let us understand these two phases.
Passive Attacks
A passive attack involves gathering information about a target without his/her (Individual’sor
company’s) knowledge. It can be as simple as watching a building to identify what time employees
enter the building premises? However, it is usually done using Internet searches or by
Goggling (i.e., searching the required information with the help of search engine Google) an
individual or company to gain information.
1. Google or Yahoo search: People search to locate information about employees.
2. Surfing online community groups like Orkut/Facebook will prove useful to gain the
information about an individual.
3. Organization’s website may provide a personnel directory or information about key
employees, for example, contact details, E-Mail address, etc. These can be used in a
social engineering attack to reach the target (see Section 2.3).
4. Blogs, newsgroups, press releases, etc. are generally used as the mediums to
gain information about the company or employees.
5. Going through the job postings in particular job profiles for technical persons can
provide information about type of technology, that is, servers or infrastructure devices a
company maybe using on its network.
Active Attacks
An active attack involves probing the network to discover individual hosts to confirm the
information (IP addresses, operating system type and version, and services on the network)
gathered in the passive attack phase. It involves the risk of detection and is also called “Rattling
the doorknobs” or “Active reconnaissance.” Active reconnaissance can provide confirmation to
an attacker about security measures in place (e.g., whether the front door is locked?), but the
process can also increase the chance of being caught or raise a suspicion.

2. Scanning and Scrutinizing Gathered Information

Scanning is a key step to examine intelligently while gathering information about the target.
The objectives of scanning are as follows:
1. Port scanning: Identify open/close ports and services.
2. Network scanning: Understand IP Addresses and related information
about the computer network systems.
3. Vulnerability scanning: Understand the existing weaknesses in the system.
3. Attack (Gaining and Maintaining the System Access)
After the scanning and enumeration, the attack is launched using the following steps:
1. Crack the password.
2. exploit the privileges.
3. execute the malicious commands/applications.
4. hide the files (if required).
5. cover the tracks – delete the access logs, so that there is no trail illicit activity.

Social Engineering
• Social engineering is the “technique to influence” and “persuasion to deceive”
people to obtain the information or perform some action.
• Social engineers exploit the natural tendency of a person to trust social engineers’
word, rather than exploiting computer security holes.
• It is generally agreed that people are the weak link in security and this principle makes social
engineering possible.
• A social engineer usually uses telecommunication (i.e., telephone and/or cell phone) or
Internet to get them to do something that is against the security practices and/or policies
of the organization.
• Social engineering involves gaining sensitive information or unauthorized access
privileges by building inappropriate trust relationships with insiders.
• It is an art of exploiting the trust of people, which is not doubted while speaking in a
normal manner.
• The goal of a social engineer is to fool someone into providing valuable information
or access to that information.
• Social engineer studies the human behavior so that people will help because of the
desire to be helpful, the attitude to trust people, and the fear of getting into trouble.
• The sign of truly successful social engineers is that they receive information without
any suspicion.
• A simple example is calling a user and pretending to be someone from the service desk
working on a network issue; the attacker then proceeds to ask questions about what the
user is working on, what file shares he/she uses, what his/her password is, and so on…
 Social Engineering Example

Mr. Joshi: Hello?

The Caller: Hello, Mr. Joshi. This is Geeta Thomas from Tech Support. Due to some disk
space constraints on the file server, we will be moving few user’s home directories to another
disk. This activity will be performed tonight at 8:00 p.m. Your account will be a part of this
move and will be unavailable temporarily.

Mr. Joshi: Ohh … okay. I will be at my home by then, anyway.

Caller: Great!!! Please ensure to log off before you leave office. We just need to
check a couple of things. What is your username?

Mr. Joshi: Username is “pjoshi.” None of my files will be lost in the move, right?

Caller: No sir. But we will have to check your account to ensure the same. What is
the password of that account?

Mr. Joshi: My password is “ABCD1965,” all characters in upper case.

Caller: Ok, Mr. Joshi. Thank you for your cooperation. We will ensure that all the files are there.

Mr. Joshi: Thank you. Bye.

Caller: Bye and have a nice day.

Classification of Social Engineering

Human-Based Social Engineering
• Human-based social engineering refers to person-to-person interaction to get
the required/desired information.
• An example is calling the help desk and trying to find out a password.
1. Impersonating an employee or valid user:

• “Impersonation” is perhaps the greatest technique used by social engineers to

deceive people.
• Social engineers “take advantage” of the fact that most people are basically helpful, so it
seems harmless to tell someone who appears to be lost where the computer room is
located, or to let someone into the building who “forgot” his/her badge, etc., or
pretending to be an employee or valid user on the system.
2. Posing as an important user:
• The attacker pretends to be an important user – for example, a Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) or high-level manager who needs immediate assistance to gain access to a system. •
The attacker uses intimidation so that a lower-level employee such as a help-desk worker will
help him/her in gaining access to the system. Most of the low-level employees will not ask any
question to someone who appears to be in a position of authority.
3. Using a third person:
• An attacker pretends to have permission from an authorized source to use a system. This
trick is useful when the supposed authorized personnel is on vacation or cannot be
contacted for verification.
4. Calling technical support:
• Calling the technical support for assistance is a classic social engineering example. • Help-
desk and technical support personnel are trained to help users, which makes them good prey
for social engineering attacks.
5. Shoulder surfing:
• It is a technique of gathering information such as usernames and passwords by watching
over a person’s shoulder while he/she logs into the system, thereby helping an attacker to
gain access to the system.
6. Dumpster diving:
• It involves looking in the trash for information written on pieces of paper or
computer printouts.
• This is a typical North American term; it is used to describe the practice of rummaging
through commercial or residential trash to find useful free items that have been discarded. •
It is also called dumpstering, binning, trashing, garbing or garbage gleaning. • “Scavenging”
is another term to describe these habits.
• In the UK, the practice is referred to as “ binning” or “skipping” and the person doing it is
a “binner” or a “skipper.”

Computer-Based Social Engineering

• Computer-based social engineering refers to an attempt made to get the
required/desired information by using computer software/Internet.
• For example, sending a fake E-Mail to the user and asking him/her to re-enter
a password in a webpage to confirm it.

1. Fake E-Mails:
• The attacker sends fake E-Mails to users in such that the user finds it as a real e-mail.
• This activity is also called “Phishing”.
• It is an attempt to attract the Internet users (netizens) to reveal their personal information,
such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by impersonating as a trustworthy
and legitimate organization or an individual.
• Banks, financial institutes and payment gateways are the common targets.

• Phishing is typically carried out through E-Mails or instant messaging and often directs
users to enter details at a website, usually designed by the attacker with abiding the look
and feel of the original website.
 • Thus, Phishing is also an example of social engineering techniques used to fool
netizens.
• The term “Phishing” has been evolved from the analogy that Internet scammers are
using E-Mails attract to fish for passwords and financial data from the sea of Internet
users (i.e., netizens).
• The term was coined in 1996 by hackers who were stealing AOL Internet accounts
by scamming passwords without the knowledge of AOL users.
• As hackers have a tendency of replacing “f” with “ph,” the term “Phishing” came into being.
2. E-Mail attachments:
• E-Mail attachments are used to send malicious code to a victim’s system, which
will automatically (e.g., keylogger utility to capture passwords) get executed.
• Viruses, Trojans, and worms can be included cleverly into the attachments to entice a
victim to open the attachment.
3. Pop-up windows:
• Pop-up windows are also used, in a similar manner to E-Mail attachments. Pop-up
windows with special offers or free stuff can encourage a user to unintentionally install
malicious software.

Cyber stalking
• The dictionary meaning of “stalking” is an “act or process of following prey
stealthily – trying to approach somebody or something.”
• Cyber stalking has been defined as the use of information and communications
technology, particularly the Internet, by an individual or group of individuals to harass
another individual, group of individuals, or organization.
• The behavior includes false accusations, monitoring, transmission of threats, ID theft,
damage to data or equipment, solicitation of minors for sexual purposes, and gathering
information for harassment purposes.
• Cyberstalking refers to the use of Internet and/or other electronic communications devices
to stalk another person.
• It involves harassing or threatening behavior that an individual will conduct
repeatedly, for example, following a person, visiting a person’s home and/or at business
place, making phone calls, leaving written messages, or vandalizing against the person’s
property. As the Internet has become an integral part of our personal and professional
lives, cyber stalkers take advantage of ease of communication and an increased access
to personal information available with a few mouse clicks or keystrokes.

Types of Stalkers
There are primarily two types of stalkers.
1. Online stalkers:
 • They aim to start the interaction with the victim directly with the help of the
Internet.
• E-Mail and chat rooms are the most popular communication medium to get
connected with the victim, rather than using traditional instrumentation like
telephone/cell phone.
• The stalker makes sure that the victim recognizes the attack attempted on
him/her. • The stalker can make use of a third party to harass the victim.
2. Offline stalkers:
• The stalker may begin the attack using traditional methods such as following the victim,
watching the daily routine of the victim, etc.
• Searching on message boards/newsgroups, personal websites, and people finding
services or websites are most common ways to gather information about the victim
using the Internet.
• The victim is not aware that the Internet has been used to perpetuate an attack
against them.

Cases Reported on Cyber stalking

• The majority of cyber stalkers are men and the majority of their victims are women.
• Some cases also have been reported where women act as cyber stalkers and men as the
victims as well as cases of same-sex cyber stalking.
• In many cases, the cyber stalker and the victim hold a prior relationship, and the
cyber stalking begins when the victim attempts to break off the relationship, for
example, ex lover, ex-spouse, boss/subordinate, and neighbor.
• However, there also have been many instances of cyberstalking by strangers.

How Stalking Works?

It is seen that stalking works in the following ways:
3. Personal information gathering about the victim: Name; family background; contact
details such as cell phone and telephone numbers (of residence as well as office);
address of residence as well as of the office; E-Mail address; date of birth, etc.
4. Establish a contact with victim through telephone/cell phone. Once the
contact is established, the stalker may make calls to the victim to
threaten/harass.
5. Stalkers will almost always establish a contact with the victims through E-Mail. The
letters may have the tone of loving, threatening or can be sexually explicit. The stalker
may use multiple names while contacting the victim.
6. Some stalkers keep on sending repeated E-Mails asking for various kinds of
favors or threaten the victim.
7. The stalker may post the victim’s personal information on any website related to illicit
services such as sex-workers’ services or dating services, posing as if the victim has
posted the information and invite the people to call the victim on the given contact
details (telephone numbers/cell phone numbers/E-Mail address) to have sexual services.
 The stalker will use bad and/or offensive/attractive language to invite the interested
persons.
8. Whosoever comes across the information, start calling the victim on the given contact
details ( telephone/cell phone nos), asking for sexual services or relationships.
9. Some stalkers subscribe/register the E-Mail account of the victim to innumerable
pornographic and sex sites, because of which victim will start receiving such kind of
unsolicited E-Mails.

Real-Life Incident of Cyber stalking

Case Study
The Indian police have registered first case of cyber stalking in Delhi – the brief account of the
case has been mentioned here. To maintain confidentiality and privacy of the entities involved,
we have changed their names.
• Mrs. Joshi received almost 40 calls in 3 days mostly at odd hours from as far
away as Kuwait, Cochin, Bombay, and Ahmadabad.
• The said calls created havoc in the personal life destroying mental peace of Mrs. Joshi
who decided to register a complaint with Delhi Police.
• A person was using her ID to chat over the Internet at the website www.mirc.com, mostly in
the Delhi channel for four consecutive days.
• This person was chatting on the Internet, using her name and giving her address, talking
in obscene language.
• The same person was also deliberately giving her telephone number to other chatters
encouraging them to call Mrs. Joshi at odd hours.
• This was the first time when a case of cyber stalking was registered.
• Cyber stalking does not have a standard definition but it can be defined to mean threatening,
unwarranted behavior, or advances directed by one person toward another person using
Internet and other forms of online communication channels as medium.

Cyber bullying
The National Crime Prevention Council defines Cyber bullying as “when the Internet, cell
phones or other devices are used to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass
another person.”
www.StopCyberbullying.org, an expert organization dedicated to Internet safety, security,
and privacy defines cyber bullying as “a situation when a child, tween, or teen is repeatedly
‘tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed, or otherwise targeted’ by
another child, teen, or teen using text messaging, E-Mail, instant messaging, or any other
typeof digital technology.”
The practice of cyber bullying is not limited to children and, while the behavior is
identified by the same definition in adults, the distinction in age groups is referred to as
cyber stalking or cyber harassment when perpetrated by adults toward adults.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber-bullying (2 April 2009).
Cybercafe and Cybercrimes
• In February 2009, Nielsen survey on the profile of cybercafes users in India, it was found
that 90% of the audience, across eight cities and 3,500 cafes, were male and in the age
group of 15–35 years; 52% were graduates and postgraduates, though almost over 50%
were students.
• Hence, it is extremely important to understand the IT security and governance practiced
in the cybercafes.
• In the past several years, many instances have been reported in India, where cybercafes
are known to be used for either real or false terrorist communication.
• Cybercrimes such as stealing of bank passwords and subsequent fraudulent withdrawal
of money have also happened through cybercafes.
• Cybercafes have also been used regularly for sending obscene mails to harass people.
• Public computers, usually referred to the systems, available in cybercafes, hold two types
of risks.
• First, we do not know what programs are installed on the computer – that is, risk of
malicious programs such as keyloggers or Spyware, which maybe running at the
background that can capture the keystrokes to know the passwords and other confidential
information and/or monitor the browsing behavior.
• Second, over-the-shoulder surfing can enable others to find out your passwords. Therefore,
one has to be extremely careful about protecting his/her privacy on such systems, as one
does not know who will use the computer after him/her.
• Indian Information Technology Act (ITA) 2000, does not define cybercafes and interprets
cybercafes as “network service providers” referred to under the Section 79, which imposed
on them a responsibility for “due diligence” failing which they would be liable for the
offenses committed in their network.
• Cybercriminals prefer cybercafes to carry out their activities.
• The criminals tend to identify one particular personal computer (PC) to prepare it for
their use.
• Cybercriminals can either install malicious programs such as keyloggers and/or Spyware
or launch an attack on the target.
• Cybercriminals will visit these cafes at a particular time and on the prescribed
frequency, maybe alternate day or twice a week.
• A recent survey conducted in one of the metropolitan cities in India reveals the
following facts:
1. Pirated software(s) such as OS, browser, office automation software(s)
(e.g., Microsoft Office) are installed in all the computers.
2. Antivirus software is found to be not updated to the latest patch and/or
antivirus signature.
3. Several cybercafes had installed the software called “Deep Freeze” for protecting
the computers from prospective malware attacks. Deep Freeze can wipe out the
details of all activities carried out on the computer when one clicks on the “restart”
button. Such practices present challenges to the police or crime investigators when
 they visit the cybercafes to pick up clues after the Interet Service Provider (ISP)
points to a particular IP address from where a threat mail was probably sent or an
online Phishing attack was carried out, to retrieve logged files.
4. Annual maintenance contract (AMC) found to be not in a place for servicing the
computers; hence, hard disks for all the computers are not formatted unless the
computer is down. Not having the AMC is a risk from cybercrime perspective
because a cybercriminal can install a Malicious Code on a computer and conduct
criminal activities without any interruption.
5. Pornographic websites and other similar websites with indecent contents are not
blocked.
6. Cybercafe owners have very less awareness about IT Security and IT Governance.
7. Government/ISPs/State Police (cyber cell wing) do not seem to provide
IT Governance guidelines to cybercafe owners.
8. Cybercafe association or State Police (cyber cell wing) do not seem to conduct
periodic visits to cybercafes – one of the cybercafe owners whom we interviewed
expressed a view that the police will not visit a cybercafe unless criminal activity is
registered by filing an First Information Report (FIR). Cybercafe owners feel that
police either have a very little knowledge about the technical aspects involved in
cybercrimes and/or about conceptual understanding of IT security. There are
thousands of cybercafes across India.
In the event that a central agency takes up the responsibility for monitoring cybercafes, an
individual should take care while visiting and/or operating from cybercafe. Here are a few tips for
safety and security while using the computer in a cybercafe:
1. Always logout
2. Stay with the computer
3. Clear history and temporary files
4. Be alert
5. Avoid online financial transactions
6. Change passwords
7. Use Virtual keyboard
8. Security warnings

Botnets: The Fuel for Cybercrime

 A botnet is a collection of independent computers that have each been hacked by a
cyber criminal who uses them as a group to carry out many malicious attacks over the
Internet.
 In a botnet, each computer is remotely controlled by a hacker.
 A botnet is a collection of independent computers that have each been hacked by a cyber
criminal who uses them as a group to carry out many malicious attacks over the Internet.
 In a botnet, each computer is remotely controlled by a hacker.
• Botnet is a term used for collection of software robots, or Bots, that run
 autonomously and automatically.
• The term is often associated with malicious software but can also refer to the
network of computers using distributed computing software.
• In simple terms, a Bot is simply an automated computer.
• One can gain the control of your computer by infecting them with a virus or other
Malicious Code that gives the access.
• A computer system maybe a part of a Botnet even though it appears to beoperating
normally.

• Botnets are often used to conduct a range of activities, from distributing Spam and
viruses to conducting denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
• A Botnet (also called as zombie network) is a network of computers infected with a
malicious program that allows cybercriminals to control the infected machines remotely
without the users' knowledge.
• "Zombie networks" have become of income for entire groups of cybercriminals.
• The invariably low cost of maintaining a Botnet and the ever diminishing degree of
knowledge require to manage one are conducive to the growth in popularity and,
consequently, the number of Botnets.

Way of Safety:
One can reduce the chances of becoming part of a Bot by limiting access into the system.
Leaving your Internet connection ON and unprotected is just like leaving the front door of the
house wide open.
1. Use antivirus and anti-Spyware software and keep it up-to-date:It is important
to remove and/or quarantine the viruses.
The settings of these softwares should be done during the installations so that these
softwares get updated automatically on a daily basis.
2. Set the OS to download and install security patches automatically:
OS companies issue the security patches for flaws that are found in these systems.
3. Use a firewall to protect the system, from hacking attacks while it is connected on the
Internet:
A firewall is a software and/or hardware that is designed to block unauthorized access while
permitting authorized communications.
is a device or set of devices configured to permit, deny, encrypt, decrypt, or proxy all (in and
out) computer traffic between different security domains based upon a set of rules and other
criteria.
A firewall is different from antivirus protection. Antivirus software scans incoming
communications and files for troublesome viruses vis-a-vis properly configured firewall that
helps to block all incoming communications from unauthorized sources.
4. Disconnect from the Internet. when you are away from your computer: Attackers cannot get
into the system when the system is disconnected from the Internet.
Firewall, antivirus, and anti-Spyware softwares are not foolproof mechanisms to get access to
the system.
5. Downloading the freeware only from websites that are known and trustworthy: It is always
appealing to download free software(s) such as games, file-sharing programs, customized
toolbars, etc.
However, one should remember that many free software(s) contain other software, which may
include Spyware.
6. Check regularly the folders in the mail box- "sent items" or "outgoing"-for those messages,
you did not send: If you do find such messages in your outbox, it is a sign that your system may
have infected with Spyware, and maybe a part of a Botnet.
This is not full proof; many spammers have learned to hide their unauthorized access.
7. Take an immediate action if your system is infected: If your system is found to be infected by
a virus, disconnect it from the Internet immediately.
Then scan the entire system with fully updated antivirus, and anti-Spyware software. Report the
unauthorized accesses to ISP and to the legal authorities.
There is a possibility that your passwords may have been compromised in such cases, so change
all the passwords immediately.

Technical Terms

Malware: It is malicious software, designed to damage a computer system without the

owner’s informed consent. Viruses and worms are the examples of malware.

Adware: It is advertising-supported software, which automatically plays, displays, or

downloads advertisements to a computer after the software is installed on it or while the
application is being used. Few Spywares are classifi ed as Adware.

Spam: It means unsolicited or undesired E-Mail messages

Spamdexing: It is also known as search Spam or search engine Spam. It involves a number
of methods, such as repeating unrelated phrases, to manipulate the relevancy or prominence
of resources indexed by a search engine in a manner inconsistent with the purpose of the
indexing system.

DDoS: Distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS) occurs when multiple systems flood the
bandwidth or resources of a targeted system, usually one or more web servers. These systems
are compromised by attackers using a variety of methods.
Attack Vector
 An “attack vector” is a path, which an attacker can gain access to a computer or to a
network server to deliver a payload or malicious outcome.
• Attack vectors enable attackers to exploit system vulnerabilities, including the
human element.
• Attack vectors include viruses, E-Mail attachments, webpages, pop-up windows, instant
messages, chat rooms, and deception. All of these methods involve programming (or, in
a few cases, hardware), except deception, in which a human operator is fooled into
removing or weakening system defenses.
• To some extent, firewalls and antivirus software can block attack vectors.

• A defense method that is effective today may not remain so for long because attackers are
constantly updating attack vectors, and seeking new ones, in their quest to gain
unauthorized access to computers and servers.
• The most common malicious payloads are viruses (which can function as their own
attack vectors), Trojan Horses, worms, and Spyware.
• If an attack vector is thought of as a guided missile, its payload can be compared to
the warhead in the tip of the missile.
• In the technical terms, payload is the necessary data being carried within a packet or other
transmission unit – in this scenario (i.e., attack vector) payload means the malicious
activity that the attack performs.
• From the technical perspective, payload does not include the “overhead” data required to
get the packet to its destination. Payload may depend on the following point of view:
“What constitutes it?” To a communications layer that needs some of the overhead data
to do its job, the payload is sometimes considered to include that part of the overhead
data that this layer handles.
The attack vectors described here are how most of them are launched:

1. Attack by E-Mail: The content is either embedded in the message or linked to by the
message. Sometimes attacks combine the two vectors, so that if the message does not
get you, the attachment will. Spam is almost always carrier for scams, fraud, dirty tricks,
or malicious action of some kind. Any link that offers something “free” or tempting is a
suspect.

2. Attachments (and other files): Malicious attachments install malicious

computer code. The code could be a virus, Trojan Horse, Spyware, or any
other kind of malware. Attachments attempt to install their payload as soon as
you open them.
3. Attack by deception: Deception is aimed at the user/operator as a vulnerable
entry point. It is not just malicious computer code that one needs to monitor.
Fraud, scams, and to some extent Spam, not to mention viruses, worms and
such require the unwitting cooperation of the computer’s operator to succeed.
Social engineering are other forms of deception that are often an attack vector
too.
4. Hackers: Hackers/crackers are a formidable attack vector because, unlike
ordinary Malicious Code, people are flexible and they can improvise.
Hackers/crackers use variety of hacking tools, heuristics, Cyberoffenses: How
and social engineering to gain access to computers and online accounts. They
often install a Trojan Horse to commandeer the computer for their own use.
5. Heedless guests (attack by webpage): Counterfeit websites are used to extract
personal information. Such websites look very much like the genuine websites
they imitate. One may think he/she is doing business with someone you trust.
However, he/she is really giving their personal information, like address,
credit card number, and expiration date. They are often used in conjunction
with Spam, which gets you there in the first place. Pop up webpages may
install Spyware, Adware or Trojans.
6. Attack of the worms: Many worms are delivered as E-Mail attachments,
but network worms use holes in network protocols directly. Any remote
access service, like file sharing, is likely to be vulnerable to this sort of
worm. In most cases, a firewall will block system worms. Many of these
system worms install Trojan Horses.
7. Malicious macros: Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel are some of the examples that allow
macros. A macro does something like automating a spreadsheet, for example. Macros can also
be used for malicious purposes. All Internet services like instant messaging, Internet Relay
Chart (IRC), and P2P file-sharing networks rely on cozy connections between the computer
and the other computers on the Internet. If one is using P2P software then his/her system is
more vulnerable to hostile exploits.
8. Foistware (sneakware): Foistware is the software that adds hidden components to the
system with cunning nature. Spyware is the most common form of foistware. Foistware is
partial- legal software bundled with some attractive software. Sneak software often hijacks
your browser and diverts you to some “revenue opportunity” that the foistware has set up.
9. Viruses: These are malicious computer codes that hitch a ride and make the payload.
Nowadays, virus vectors include E-Mail attachments, downloaded files, worms, etc.