Cybercrime involves any criminal activity carried out by an individual or organized group using a computer or networked device. A Cybercrime can include various types of profit-driven criminal activities, including ransomware attacks, phishing, identity theft, or email and internet fraud. Attempts to steal financial information on bank accounts or payment card information is also classified as cybercrime.
Most Cybercrimes target individual or company information for theft and resale. This may involve gaining access to financial files and stealing critical information for sale on the dark web. A classic example of cybercrime targeting an organization involves infecting one computer with a virus and spreading it to the entire network of business computers. Such organizational cyber attacks target big companies, especially financial institutions, where a lot is at stake.
As companies continue implementing flexible working policies and cloud computing solutions [1], there’s a need to focus on educating employees on cyber security awareness and the current state of internet use. They should also prioritize backing up sensitive information and creating the first line defense against unauthorized individuals accessing critical data.
Types Of Cybercrimes Small Business Owners Face
Email And Internet Fraud
Most cybercriminals first target their victims by sending a malicious email to extract crucial information.
Email and internet fraud is a common form of cybercrime that targets individuals and organizations. The criminals send a phishing email into your inbox to trick you into doing things that will put your confidential information at risk. Internet fraud through e-mail may occur in the following ways;
- Business email compromise
- Legitimate business email accounts are compromised through computer intrusion activities.
- Email account compromise
- Fraudsters use compromised emails to request payments to fraudulent locations.
Identity Fraud
Identity fraud doesn’t exclusively fall under cybercrime. However, it still qualifies as a cybercrime if carried out online.
If a hacker wants to commit identity fraud, they’ll first seek access to your personal details. Here, they’ll accumulate all they need to orchestrate a well-crafted identity fraud. Account takeover [2] is a common online identity fraud where a fraudster illegally accesses a given account, leading to a data breach and financial loss to the victims. Common ways hackers get that access include;
- Phishing
- Fraudsters use bait to lure you to fake websites meant to extract personal information like usernames, passwords, or bank details.
- Pharming
- The fraudsters use malware to redirect your online activity to a fake version of a website where you’ll unknowingly enter your personal details.
- Keylogging
- This involves using spyware to capture everything you type while visiting different websites.
- Sniffing
- Fraudsters steal your information by sniffing through your web traffic, especially on a wireless access point. They target a specific network name and individuals using an unsecured and unencrypted public wi-fi network.
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