Cybercrimes are offences against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems; digital content-related offences; and copyright-related offences; computer-related offences ( ITU, GDPR, DPA 2018). As a common man who uses electronic devices, the information (such as emails, multimedia) you store in your electronic devices such as phones, computers; when accessed without your consent is criminal. At the same time, using your electronic devices in a manner that violates other people’s rights is also criminal. Cybercrime has no borders.
International Cyber Criminals such as Evil Corp – the world’s most harmful cybercrime group based in Russia is one such player which has placed the owner on Wanted list by the FBI, NCA, NCSC. This group is responsible for the Imminent Monitor Remote Access Trojan (IM RAT): deployed in over 124 countries at a price of just US$25, it disables anti-virus software, steals data or passwords, record keystrokes and watch victims via their webcams.
Impacts of Cyber Attacks
Indiscriminate attacks like the 2017WannaCry ransomware attack in over 150 countries, the 2017 Petya cyber attack which infected 90% of Ukraine’s domestic firms, the Red October 2012 attack: operated worldwide for 5 years, stealing information ranging from diplomatic secrets to personal information shows the levels of damages due to cyber-criminal activities.
Destructive attacks
The Stuxnet – originally aimed at Iran’s nuclear facilities has since mutated and spread to other industrial and energy-producing facilities leaving damages to power systems in millions of dollars. The Wiper,2011–the malware erased information on hard disks at the Iranian Oil Ministry’s HQ while Operation Ababil ,2012 Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS) targeted American financial institutions
Cyberwarfare
These are attacks towards states and governments which include the 2013 Singapore cyberattacks, attack by Anonymous “in response to web censorship regulations in the country, specifically on news outlets”; OpIsrael: an annual coordinated DDoS by hacktivists to Israeli government for Holocaust Remembrance Day and 2010 cyberattacks on Myanmar : DDoS attack during general elections.
Government espionage
2011 Cyber-attack during the Paris G20 Summit, targeted G20-related documents including financial information. The Titan Rain 2003 is believed to be China targeting defence contractors in the United States and computer networks in the UK.
Corporate espionage
In the 2011 Sony attack, 77 million users data leaked and banking information of tens of thousands of players compromised. Elsewhere, in the Adobe 2013 attack, 2.9 million accounts was stolen. In the Marriott hotels breach: privacy of 500 million customers compromised. Then there was the Equifax attack where 147 million people were exposed.
All these compromises highlight the need for cyber vigilance and awareness of the public if we are to minimise on the impacts due to exposer to the internet. Cyber alertness is for everyone and institutions should be encouraged to following guiding safety principles setup by cybersecurity professionals.
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