Which cyber-crime is leading the world?

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 TERM PAPER


PAPER TITLE: Which cyber-crime is leading the world?


DEERWALK INSTITUE OF TECHNOLOGY
SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
SIFAL, KATHMANDU, NEPAL.




SUBMITTED DATE: 9/25/2013





Contents
Abstract 1
introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………..1
methodology. 1
cyber crime. 2
causes. 2
cyber attacks. 3
malware. 3
mobile threat 3
Comparative Chart 4
Conclusion. 4
Bibliography. 4

Abstract

Cyber-crime is the crime committed using a computer and the internet to steal a person’s identity or sell contraband or stalk victims or disrupts operations with malevolent programs. It is one of the fastest-growing types of illegal activity. It has been estimated that about 556 million people are victims of cyber-crime per year. This paper gives detailed information regarding cybercrime, its causes and the people who are responsible for it. I have found that malware is most in practice. At last I found that mobile threat is the most dangerous cyber-crime leading the world.

Introduction

Cyber is a prefix that means computer or computer network whereas crime is an action that is deemed injurious to the public welfare and is legally prohibited.  So, the crime committed using a computer and the internet to steal a person's identity or sell contraband or stalk victims or disrupt operations with malevolent programs is known as cyber-crime. The term “cyber-crime” was first coined by Barry Collins in 1980’s.  In simple words, cyber-crime refers to any crime that involves a computer and a network. It is one of the fastest-growing types of illegal activity. It has been estimated that about 556 million people are victims of cyber-crime per year. More than 600,000 Facebook accounts are compromised every day whereas 15% of social network users have reported that their profiles have been hacked by pretenders. Also, 1 in 10 social network users said they’d fallen victim to a scam or fake link on social network platforms. Computer crime encompasses a broad range of activities. Generally, however, it may be divided into two categories.
·         Crimes that target computers directly
·         Crimes facilitated by computer networks or devices, the primary target of which is independent of the computer network or device.
Crimes that primarily target computer networks or devices include Computer viruses, Denial-of-service attacks and Malware (malicious code) whereas crimes that use computer networks or devices to advance other ends include cyber stalking, fraud and identity theft, information warfare and phishing scams.

Methodology

This research is fully web based. Researches done previously were taken as main reference. All the findings included here are based on internet. I got lots of difficulties during data collection. It is not easy doing any research likewise this research wasn’t easy for me. I went through many papers done previously by experts. I studied every data related to my topic. And finally, I concluded my paper by finding mobile threat as the most dangerous cyber-crime. In this way, I collected the required data and prepared this paper.
Causes of Cyber Crime
Lack of evidence is one of the main causes for cyber-crime. Other causes include confidential information, negligence, complexity of codes, accessibility of victims, etc. Since catching such criminals is difficult, they are increasing day by day. Hence, this has led to a rise in cyber-crime across the world.
Who are responsible?
Most cyber-crimes are committed by individuals or small groups which mostly includes teenagers. However, large organized crime groups are also involved in cyber crime. These professional criminals treat cyber-crime like a business and form global criminal communities. They are not only letting themselves to earn more money but also destructing the whole world.

 Note:Research charts are not displayed in this paper.
Sources are mention in the orginal paper
Cyber attacks
The most common cyber-attacks with their occurrences are as follows
 Attack Types
%
Viruses, malware, worms, Trojans
50%
Criminal insider
33%
Theft of data-bearing devices
28%
SQL injection
28%
Phishing
22%
Web-based attacks
17%
Social engineering
17%
Other
11%

                                                                                       
This data shows that the occurrence of malware is 50% which means malware is leading cyber-crime.

Malware

Malware, short for malicious software, is software that is intended to damage or disable computers and computer systems. It includes computer viruses, computer worms, Trojan horses and other malicious and unwanted software. Malware is made by attackers to disrupt computer operation, gather sensitive information or gain access to private computer systems.
In these days, malwares on mobile phones, also known as mobile threat is increasing day by day.
Mobile Threats
Mobile devices are the fastest growing consumer technology, with worldwide unit sales expected to increase from 300 million in 2010, to 650 million in 2012. Mobile applications are likewise booming. In June 2011, it was found that people on average spent more time using mobile applications than browsing the mobile web. The incentives for cyber-criminals increases as mobile devices grow in popularity. Studies have shown that cyber criminals experiment with new business models specially by targeting mobile phones. Mobile users are not even safe while downloading applications from apps store. Recently over 250,000 Android users had mobile attack when they downloaded malicious software disguised as legitimate applications from the Android Market.
The statistics of Kaspersky Lab indicated this is the first time for the total number of malicious programs for Android exceeding that for Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME). Over the last two years, the most prevalent platform for malware has been J2ME among mobile threats. However, this dramatic change indicates that virus writers tend to concentrate on Android malware, which is a promising mobile platform. At the end of October, the experts in Kaspersky Lab had detected 1,916 malware for Android belonging to 92 malware families, at the same time, 1,610 variations from 60 families were detected for J2ME. In all, the total number of mobile threats detected in October is 4,053 from 289 families. Figure 1 shows the details of malicious programs for all mobile platforms.

Figure 1: Breakdown of malicious programs for all mobile platforms
                                                     
                                               

Figure: Smartphone sales to end users by operating system in the Second Quarter of 2012, Gartner     
                       


Conclusion
This paper was started with the introduction of cyber-crime.  I found malware to be leading cyber-crime among other types. Within malware, short for malicious software, I found mobile threat is increasing rapidly. From this research, I found that no one is safe from having any kind of cyber attacks. Not even apps store of mobile phone is free from malware. We may be attacked at anytime and anywhere.  So the risk is high and we must be well concerned on minimizing such cyber-crimes.