Cyber Criminal

Instructions:

Using the Internet, research one of the types of attackers covered in chapter 1. Write a short profile of this type documenting their motivation, common methods of attack, and the prevalence of this type of attacker.
Discuss the different types of malicious or concealing software discussed in chapter 3. Include a definition or each type, information on how to fight this type of attack, and a list discussing 2 or 3 recent or noteworthy attacks of this type.
Use the Internet to select a social networking site. Research the security settings available for the site. Write a short report describing the settings. Compare them to the defenses for social networking sites presented in chapter 2.
Use the Internet and research anti-malware software. What software gets the highest ratings? Do you think that free anti-malware software will work as well as versions that are not free?

Cyber Criminal

Cyber criminal can be an individual or teams of people who use technology to do malicious activities on digital/computer systems or networks with the intention of stealing sensitive information or personal data of a company or organization for generating profit. The motivation of Cyber Criminals is money. Therefore their attacks are designed to produce more and more profit. (Trend Micro, 2017) Cyber criminal use different methods for attacking digitals systems and here are a few commonly known types of attacks by cybercriminals:

A botnet is a network of software robots/bots which automatically spread malware. Fast Flux is a technique of moving data quickly among the computers in a botnet so that it becomes difficult to trace the source of malware or phishing websites. Zombie Computer is a hacked computer that is used to launch malicious attacks and become part of a botnet. Social Engineering tricks of using lies and manipulation to people for revealing their personal information. Phishing is a kind of social engineering. Denial-of-Service attacks is a technique of flooding a network or server with traffic to make it unavailable to its users. Skimmers are the devices that steal credit card information when the card gets swiped through them. This stealing of card info can happen in stores or restaurants when the card is not in owner’s view, and then the credit card’s information is sold online through a criminal community. (Carnegie Mellon University, 2016)

Cyber Crime effected many areas of the world and its increasing day by day. In the world, there are two kinds of people, those who have been hacked, and those who don’t know they’ve been hacked. As much of hacking is undetected, it is difficult to estimate the total number of people that have been hacked, though it is better to say that almost everyone has been affected by cybercrime of some sort. (WordPress, 2015)

Different Types of Malicious or Concealing Software

Malicious software is any software which gathers information about a user regardless of their permission. (Metro, 2010) Below are some common types of malicious software:

Spyware – Spyware is a malicious software which helps to collect information about an individual or organization without their knowledge or permission. It is a program that is put in someone’s computer to secretly collect information about the user and pass it to interested parties. We can avoid Spyware in a computer by being careful during web surfing and downloading/installing new programs, watching out for anti-spyware scams, avoiding of clickable advertisements. The recent Spyware attack is against South Korea. The professional hackers designed spyware to steal military secrets of the South Korea and US military.

Worm– A worm is a self-replicating virus which does not alter files but duplicates itself. The worms can be noticed only when their unrestrained replication acquires system resources and slows or halt other tasks. We can get rid of the worm by running the Windows Malware Removal Tool onto our PC. The example of the worm attack is Conficker – 2008. This worm infected defense systems arm forces of France and Britain, along with up to 15million Windows computers worldwide.

Trojan or Trojan Horse- It is a program in which harmful or malicious code kept seemingly harmless programming/data to control as well as to do the desired form of damage, like destroying the certain area of the hard disk. We can remove the trojan from computer manually or by running anti-trojan software onto it. Example of recent trojan attack is Zeus trojan, 2007- now: millions of computers are infected because of this. (Metro, 2010)

Security Settings for Facebook

Facebook has much security settings available so that their user’s account can remain secure. Here are some security settings available on Facebook:

You can Select an Audience for Stuff You Share: On Facebook, you can adjust who can see your posts or not. When set to public mode all your posts can be seen by anyone on or off Facebook, but when set to friends, only your friends can see them. You can select a specific member of a group to share a post with them.You can manage and change who can view your profile and stuff you share on your Timeline. Also, you can manage who can see your previous posts on Timeline. (Burnham, 2015)
You can Manage Settings for How You Connect: You can view and change your privacy settings at any time. There are Privacy shortcuts that give you quick access to some of the most widely used privacy settings and tools. Facebook also offers Privacy Checkup that helps you to review who can see your posts and profile. You can manage who can add you as a friend and view your profile and cover photo. (Burnham, 2015)
Reviewing Stuff Others Tag You In: You can remove a tag from a post or photo you have been tagged in. Also, you can review tags that people add to you your photo before they appear. With the help of Timeline review, you can choose whether posts you’re tagged in will appear on your Timeline or not. (Burnham, 2015)

Comparison: With Twitter, Google+ and Linked

Like Facebook, on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ too you can select audience of for post and profile. Just like facebook, you can set who can search on Twitter and LinkedIn. But on Google+, you cannot control it. Like Facebook, you can control who will connect with you on LinkedIn. Whereas on Twitter and Google+ it is not possible. Similar to Facebook you can hide your contacts on LinkedIn and Google, but it’s not possible on Twitter. (Burnham, 2015)

Anti-Malware Software

Anti-malware software is a program that protects a digital system against infections caused by many kinds of malware such as worms, Trojan horses, rootkits, virus, spyware, keyloggers, ransomware, and adware. Anti-malware tools are specially designed to identify and prevent digital devices from malware (bad software). (Stroud, 2013) There are many good paid as well as free anti-malware software like AVG, Bitdefender, Avast and much more but best among them is Norton. Norton has the highest rating because of its best performance as it provides features like On-Demand Malware Scan, On-Access Malware Scan, Behavior-Based Detection, Website Rating, Malicious URL Blocking, Phishing Protection. Nortan has four anti-virus packs which are Basic, Standard, Deluxe, and Premium. Each pack has the different set features available, and cost of each pack is also different. Norton also offers a free trial for first few days. (Stroud, 2013)

Free and paid versions are the same product, but the exception is that in the paid version you will have real-time protection, scheduled updates, and scans. Or we can say that the only difference between the paid and free versions is that the free version provides the basic features, whereas the paid versions have more advanced features like paid versions have the IP protection module that will help to block unsafe websites. So, it’s better to say that paid version provides complete protection for the device. The actual list of features available in both versions may differ company to company, but for the regular user, the free version should be enough. (Rubenking, 2017)

References:

Trend Micro. (2017). Cybercriminals – Definition – Trend Micro USA. Retrieved from https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/definition/cybercriminals

Carnegie Mellon University. (2016). Cyber Crimes and Criminals – How Cyber Criminals Operate – The Carnegie Cyber Academy – An Online Safety site and Games for Kids. Retrieved from http://www.carnegiecyberacademy.com/facultyPages/cyberCriminals/operate.html

WordPress. (2015, April 5). The Prevalence of Cyber Crime | Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing. Retrieved from http://www.thesolutionfirm.com/blog/?p=817

Metro. (2010, August 11). When hackers attack: Five famous computer viruses | Metro News. Retrieved from http://metro.co.uk/2010/08/11/when-hackers-attack-five-famous-computer-viruses-476483/

Stroud, F. (2013). What Is Anti-Malware? Webopedia Definition. Retrieved from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/anti-malware.html

Rubenking, N. J. (2017, September 22). The Best Antivirus Protection of 2017 – Antivirus – Reviews and Price Comparisons from PC Magazine. Retrieved from http://in.pcmag.com/antivirus-from-pc-ma/34241/guide/the-best-antivirus-protection-of-2017

Burnham, K. (2015, August 27). How Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+ compare on user privacy. Retrieved from https://www.itworld.com/article/2915175/social-networking/how-the-top-social-networks-compare-on-privacy-in-one-handy-chart.html?page=2