Online Scams and Hacking Essay Example

internet. Scammers in most cases use social engineering techniques or social tools in order to compromise personal information of consumers with intentions of stealing money from them (Konte et al 13).

History of Hacking and Online Scams

History of hacking and online scams can be dated back to the year 1960. This is the time when the meaning of a hacker was first developed. It is during this time at when facilities having huge mainframe computers in most universities became the roots of the idea of hacking. It is during this time when the term hacker had a positive meaning of an intelligent person. Hackers were hence highly demanded by institutions and organizations having computer technology. People viewed hackers as people who spent all their time in enclosed rooms doing programming stuffs non-stop. Nobody seemed to have concern in whatever they were doing since this was a profession taken with a lot of reputation. A network referred to as ARPANET was made by the defense department as a way of connecting offices of the government. With time, the term “ARPANET” evolved to the term “internet” we have today (Bank 18).

According to Konte et al (21), “Captain Crunch” in the 1970s came up with a way of making long distance calls at zero charges. This led to the emergence of phone hackers which were latter dubbed “phreakers”. All through 1970s and during the early years of 1980, a research Centre referred to as XEROX’s Palo Alto came up with new inventions such as LANs and the laser printer. The term “Cyberspace” came into existence during the early years of 1980. This idea was drawn from a novel under

the title “Neuromancer”. A group by name the “414s” was among the first hacker groups to be raided by FBI. They ended up getting charged with intrusions of sixty computers. During this time, Usenets started popping in all parts of the nation and hackers shared thoughts by employing their machines based on UNIX. The secret service was given jurisdiction over computer fraud and credit card as all the above occurrences were taking place. Hacking in 1980s was not popular amongst the people like the way it is today. Being a hacker meant that a person was recognized as one among those in the secluded or the very exclusive group (Bank 17).

According to Bank (17), the hacker groups of “Chaos Computer Club” which is based in Germany and the “Legion of Doom” founded in the United States were formed. Up to today, these are among the widely respected and well recognized hacker group ever formed. “2600: The Hacker Quarterly” is another significant foundation, a school hacker magazine. This magazine up to today plays very significant role in the industry of hacking. As the decade approached towards an end, Mitnick Kevinwas was arrested and later sentenced to an imprisonment of one year. Kevin was convicted of damaging computers and stealing software. Federal officials in addition raided Atlanta, a place which was considered as one of the residing zones of the famous group of “Legion of doom”. Up to today, hacker groups such as 2600 magazine, the CCC and LOD are known as the old school hackers. They are still widely recognized and respected even today (Konte et al 27).

In 1988, Morris Robert who had recently graduated from

Cornell University by then released a virus which was replicating by itself on the internet. It was objectively designed in order to make sure that the security holes in the systems of UNIX were exploited. Within a very short period, the virus had already infected at least 6,000 systems. This value was approximately ten percent of the total internet computers during this time. It impacted the entire networks by virtually shutting them down for two days. Upon realization Robert was arrested and later judged. He was given a sentence of probation for three years, provision of service to the community for 400 hours, and a fine of 10,000 dollars. After release, Robert Morris formed an internet company referred as “Viaweb” which he later sold it at 49 million dollars (Konte et al 31). The case of Morris forced the Federal Government to form a response team to specifically deal with computer emergencies. Today, cases of online scams and hacking among other cyber security crimes are common. The best way to deal with them is by coming up with strong defense mechanism in order to make sure that hackers are not able to access personal information in computers. This among other strategies will play a great role towards reducing the problem of online scams and hacking (Bank 17).

Importance of Studying Online Scams and Hacking

Hacking and online scams are among the most disturbing types of cybercrime. For a long time, people have been experiencing loses as a result of these two. These crimes interfere with personal and private information of a person or a particular organization. The main intention of hackers is to rob a person or

an organization of its capital without being noticed. Studies on this topic are hence importance as it will make people aware of these issues. Through the created awareness, people will have been stimulated and hence will hence end up looking for mechanisms of defending themselves (Bank 17).

Presentation of Issues Related to the Course Material

Causes of Hacking and Online Scams

According to Jstor.org (1), any online scams experienced today are economically motivated. Of all the crimes committed through the internet, the major motivating factor for such crimes is money. The dangers of committing a crime through the internet are less as compared to other crimes committed in the physical world. This is the case due to the fact that criminals in most cases hind behind these networks and hence carry with their activities unnoticed (Konte et al 33). The perception that there are very huge rewards from very minute efforts and minor risks are the motivating factors forcing criminals to engage in activities of theft. Some of the activities carried out in attempts to look for quick money include money request attacks and identity theft. According to a previous report given on this issue, cybercrimes directed towards online banking accounts only for instance go away with at least 700 million dollars globally each year (Jstor.org 1).

Some of the online scams are personally motivated. Cyber criminals are humans and hence they have characteristics similar to the rest. They have vendettas and also personal emotions. These are also motivating factors and hence potential causes of hacking and thus online scams. An employee who is disgruntled for instance may decide to install viruses on the computers used in the office.

Also, a boy who is jealous might decide to log into social media account of her girlfriend illegally. Another example is the case where a person decides to bring down a particular website or account as a way of showing that he/she has the capability of doing it. These examples are types of personal motivated crimes resulting from the passion a person has over the internet. Online scams being one of the crimes can as well be caused by such factors. However, a large number of this type of crimes impacted largely and hence can result into very huge losses in terms of capital (Fraud.org 1).

In addition, online scams can be ideologically motivated. Let’s for instance consider a case when financial companies like PayPal, MasterCard, and Visa refused to let card and account holders give contributions to non-profit WikiLeaks. The “hacktivist “group referred to as Anonymous conducted a series of attacks on the servers of the company thus making them unreachable to users of the internet. Such types of attacks are usually done for observed moral, ideological or ethical reasons. They end up disabling or damaging networks and equipment of computers. This is a way of showing grievances against corporations, national governments and even organizations (Fraud.org 1).

Lastly, online scams may occur as a result of structural causes. Apart from the other factors influencing cyber scams, the environment in which a particular fraud case takes place as well contributes towards this situation. The amount of information stored online increases day in, day out. This acts as a key factor since criminals will be motivated to continue with their activities. Some of the computers are however not

protected, when interfered with by cyber criminals, they become contaminated with viruses. In this way, they end up either leaking information or getting damaged (Jstor.org 1).

Ways in Which Scammers Take Control of One’s Computer

Computer viruses are most employed in online scamming. These are defined as small programs of a computer designed specifically to infect smartphones, tablets as well as other computers. After getting into the computer, they transmit from one device to the next whenever a person speaks to another through the computer. These are referred to as malware (Fraud.org 1).

Computer viruses are spread in various ways. Some of these computer services are referred to as Trojan viruses. These are computer files or programs which by looking appear harmless. A person for instance can download an image of a particular celebrity without having an idea on the danger hidden behind the picture. Viruses can also be spread through email attachments. The viruses then looks for other people in the email address of virus owner. Viruses can also be brought from programs downloaded from certain websites (Jstor.org 1). Marco viruses are the ones that come upon downloading very big documents such as books. Furthermore, viruses can be spread through the internet in the form of a worm. The worm first establishes other vulnerable computers and then sends its copy to these computers across networks. The main effects of worms are eating up the memory of a computer, and making it stop responding.

When viruses get into a computer, they are capable of doing the following:

• Monitoring the activities of one’s computer secretly.
• Scanning for passwords and other private information.
•  Giving scammers freedom to control the computer.
•  Sending
  

spam emails.

On top of the above effects, viruses sent by scammers turn off security of the computer they have infected. This leaves the computer prone to subsequent attacks (Fraud.org 1).

Effects of Online Scams

The major effect of scams are loses in terms of money and important information. Scammers in most cases are only interested in acquiring money online. Very many millions dollars are lost to scammers each and every year. Scammers interfere with accounts thus stealing money from them. They do this by using viruses to obtain passwords which they in turn use to access the accounts. Any money in these accounts is transferred to the accounts of the scammers. In these processes, important information is either lost or leaked out. In addition, the secrets of a particular firm or organization end up getting to the public and most important the rivals of the firm.

Scams result in unquantifiable relationship and personal cost. Victims of scan suffer from severe psychological and emotional effects by not only incurring losses in terms of capital, but also losing their dignity, self-esteem and sense of security. Stress related to such kinds of loss can result into relationship and psychological breakdowns. These victims in addition end up acquiring a fear of using online resources (Jstor.org 1). When incidents of scam happen, small businesses incur losses as they try to strengthen their systems of security. In addition to business and personal losses incurred by businesses and individuals, the wider economy is negatively impacted by losing resources (Fraud.org 1).

On the

opposite side of the argument, online scams can as well impact the economy positively. Some of those involved in activities such as hacking activities do not have bed intentions at all. Some of them do it for fun. This category of computer experts spent most of their time on computers trying to increase their levels of knowledge. These are the people who come up with new inventions in the field of technology. Since they have knowledge similar to the one of hackers, they can help by creating antiviruses to work against the viruses sent by scammers hence protecting computer systems (Jstor.org 1).

Online scam is a cybercrime that can attack anyone. Effects of this can either be small or big. Scammers use complicated techniques in conducting their criminal activities. At times, victims have a feeling that they are the ones responsible for their activities.

Works Cited

1. Konte, Maria, Nick Feamster, and Jaeyeon Jung. "Fast flux service networks: Dynamics and roles in hosting online scams." Retrieved August 13 (2008): 2011.
2. Jstor.org, "The Discourse Of Digital Deceptions And '419' Emails On JSTOR". N.p., 2016. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.
3. Bank, David. "Spear Phishing'Tests Educate People About Online Scams." The Wall Street Journal 17 (2005).
4. Fraud.org,. "Fraud.Org - Internet Fraud". N.p., 2016. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.