1.
3 MALWARE AND ITS TYPE
• Malware stands for "Malicious Software"
and it is designed to gain access or installed
into the computer without the consent of
the user. They perform unwanted tasks in
the host computer for the benefit of a third
party.
• There is a full range of malwares which
1.3.1
are Adware
simply written to distract/annoy the
• user,
It is a to
special type of malware
the complex ones whichthat is used for forced advertising.
captures
• the
Theysensitive
either redirect the page
data from the to some
host advertising page or pop up an additional page that
machine
promotes some product or
and send it to remote servers. event.
• These adware are financially supported by the organizations whose products are advertised.
1.3.2 Spyware
• It is a special type that is installed in the target computer with or without the user’s
permission and is designed to steal sensitive information from the target machine.
• Mostly it gathers the browsing habits of the user and sends it to the remote server
without the knowledge of the owner of the computer.
• Most of the time they are downloaded into the host computer while downloading
freeware i.e. free application programmes from the internet.
• Spyware may be of various types; It can keep track of the cookies of the host
computer, it can act as a keylogger to sniff the banking passwords and sensitive
information, etc.
1.3.3 Browser hijacking software
This software modifies the browser settings and redirects links to other unintentional sites .
1.3.4 Virus
• A virus is a malicious code written to damage/harm the host computer by deleting or
appending a file, occupying memory space of the computer by replicating the copy of the
code, slowing down the performance of the computer, formatting the host machine, etc.
• It can be spread via email attachments, pen drives, digital images, e-greetings, audio or
video clips, etc.
• A virus may be present in a computer but it cannot activate itself without human
intervention. Until and unless the executable file(.exe) is executed, a virus cannot be
activated in the host machine.
1.3.5 Worms
• They are a class of viruses that can replicate themselves.
• They are different from the virus by the fact that they do not require human intervention
to travel over the network and spread from the infected machine to the whole network.
• Worms can spread either through the network, using the loopholes of the Operating
System, or via email.
• The replication and spreading of the worm over the network consumes the network
resources like space and bandwidth and forces the network to choke.
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1.3.6 Trojan Horse
• Trojan horse is a malicious code that is installed in the host machine by pretending to be
useful software.
• The user clicks on the link or downloads the file which pretends to be a useful file or
software from a legitimate source.
• It not only damages the host computer by manipulating the data but also creates a
backdoor in the host computer so that it can be controlled by a remote computer.
• It can become a part of a botnet(robot network), a network of computers that are infected
by malicious code and controlled by the central controller.
• The computers of this network that are infected by malicious code are known as zombies.
• Trojans neither infect the other computers in the network nor do they replicate.
1.3.7 Scareware
• The Internet has changed how we talk, shop, play, etc.
• It has even changed the way criminals target people for ransom.
• While surfing the Internet, suddenly a pop-up alert appears on the screen which warns of
the presence of dangerous viruses, spyware, etc. in the user's computer.
• As a remedial measure, the message suggests the user download the full paid version
of the software.
• As the user proceeds to download, a malicious code, known as scareware is downloaded
into the host computer.
• It holds the host computer hostage until the ransom is paid.
• The malicious code can neither be uninstalled nor can the computer be used till the
ransom is paid.
• A sample message alert of scareware is shown below in Fig.
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1.4 KINDS OF CYBER CRIME
Various types of cyber crimes are:
1.4.1 Cyber Stalking
• It is an act of stalking, harassing, or threatening someone using the Internet/computer as a
medium. This is often done to defame a person and use email, social networks, instant
messenger, web-posting, etc.
• The behavior includes false accusations, threats, sexual exploitation of minors, monitoring, etc.
1.4.2 Child Pornography
It is an act of possessing image or video of a minor (under 18), engaged in sexual conduct.
1.4.3 Forgery and Counterfeiting
• It is the use of a computer to forgery and counterfeiting is a document.
• With the advancement in hardware and software, it is possible to produce a counterfeit that
matches the original document to such an extent that it is not possible to judge the
authenticity of the document without expert judgment.
1.4.4 Software Piracy and Crime Related to IPRs
• Software piracy is an illegal reproduction and distribution for personal use or business .
• It comes under crime related to Intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement.
• Some of the other crimes under IPR infringement are the download of songs, downloading
movies, etc.
1.4.5 Cyber Terrorism
• It is defined as the use of computer resources to intimidate or coerce the government, the
civilian population or any segment thereof in furtherance of political or social objectives.
1.4.6 Phishing
• It is a process of acquiring personal and sensitive information of an individual via email
by disguising i t as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
• The purpose of phishing is identity theft and personal information like username,
password, credit card number, etc. may be used to steal money from a user account.
• If a telephone is used as a medium for identity theft, it is known as Vishing (voice
phishing). Another form of phishing is Smishing, in which SMS is used to lure
customers.
1.4.7 Computer Vandalism
• It is an act of physically destroying computing resources using physical force or
malicious code.
1.4.8 Computer Hacking
• It is a practice of modifying computer hardware and software to accomplish a goal outside
the creator's original purpose.
• The purpose of hacking a computer system may vary from simply demonstrations of the
technical ability to sealing, modifying, or destroying information for social, economic,
or political reasons.
• Now corporations are hiring hackers, a person who is engaged in hacking computers, to
intentionally hack the computer of an organization to find and fix security vulnerabilities.
The hackers may be classified as:
White Hat:
• White hat hackers are the persons who hack the system to find the security vulnerabilities of
the system and notify the organizations so that preventive action can be taken to protect the
system from outside hackers.
• White hat hackers may be paid employees of an organization who is employed to find security
loopholes or maybe a freelancer who just wants to prove their mantle in this field. They are
popularly known as ethical hackers.
Black Hat:
• In contrast to the white hat, the black hat hacks the system with ill intentions.
• They may hack the system for social, political, or economically motivated intentions.
• They find the security loopholes in the system, keep the information themselves, and exploit
the system for personal or organizational benefits till the organization whose system is
compromised is aware of this, and applies security patches. They are popularly known as
crackers.
Grey Hat:
• Grey hat hackers find security vulnerabilities report to the site administrators and offer the fix
of the security bug for a consultancy fee.
Blue hat:
• A blue hat hacker is someone outside computer security consulting firms who is used to bug-
test a system prior to its launch, looking for exploits so they can be closed.
1.4.10 Spamming
Sending of unsolicited and commercial bulk message over the internet is known as
spamming.
An emailmailing:-
• Mass can be classified as spam,
the email if it meets
is not targeted to following criteria:
one particular person but to a large number of
people.
• Anonymity:- The real identity of the person not known
• Unsolicited:- the email is neither expected nor requested for the recipient.
These spams not only irritate the recipients and overload the network but also waste time and
occupy the valuable memory space of the mailbox.
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1.4.11 Cross Site Scripting
• It is an activity that involves injecting a malicious client-side script into a trusted website.
• As soon as the browser executes the malicious script, the malicious script gets access to
the cookies and other sensitive information and is sent to remote servers.
• Now this information can be used to gain financial benefit or physical access to a system
for personal interest.
1.4.12 Online Auction Fraud
• There are many genuine websites that offer online auctions over the internet.
• Taking advantage of the reputation of these websites, some of the cyber criminals lure the
customers to online auction fraud schemes which often lead to either overpayment of the
product or the item is never delivered once the payment is made.
1.4.13 Cyber Squatting
• It is an act of reserving the domain names of someone else's trademark with the intent to
sell it afterward to the organization that is the owner of the trademark at a higher price.
1.4.14 Logic Bombs
• These are malicious codes inserted into legitimate software.
• The malicious action is triggered by some specific condition.
• If the conditions hold true in the future, the malicious action begins, and based on the
action defined in the malicious code, they either destroy the information stored in the
system or make t h e system unusable.
1.4.15 Web Jacking
• The hacker gains access to the website of an organization and either block it or modify
it to serve political, economic, or social interest.
• The recent examples of web jacking are some of the websites of educational institutes
were hacked by Indian hackers and an animation that contains Indian flags was flashed
on the homepage of these websites.
• Another example is that Indian hackers hacked the website of Pakistani railways and
flashed the Indian flag on the homepage for several hours on the occasion Independence
Day of lndia in 2014.
1.4.16 Internet Time Thefts
• Hacking the username and password of ISP of an individual and surfing the internet at
his cost is Internet Time Theft.
1.4.17 Denial of Service Attack
• It is a cyber attack in which the network is choked and often collapsed by flooding it
with useless traffic and thus preventing legitimate network traffic.
1.4.18 Salami Attacks
• It is an attack that proceeds with small increments and finally adds up to lead to a
major attack.
• The increments are so small that they remain unnoticed.
• An example of a salami attack is gaining access to the online banking of an individual
and withdrawing a n amount in such small amounts that it remains unnoticed by the
owner.
• Often there is a default trigger set in the banking website and transactions below say, Rs.
1000 withdrawal are not reported to the owner of the account.
• Withdrawing an amount of Rs. 1000 over a period of time will lead to a total withdrawal of
a large sum.
1.4.19 Data Diddling
• It is a practice of
changing the data
before its entry into
the computer system.
• Often, the original
data is retained after
the execution of the
data is done.
1.4.20
• For Email
example,Spoofing
DA, or
• Itthe
is abasic
process of changing
salary of the the header information of an e-mail so that its original source is
not identified
person is changedand it appears
in to an individual at the receiving end that the email has
originated
the payrollfromdataa source
of an other than the original source.
individual for pay
calculation.
• Once the salary is
calculated and
transferred to his
account, the total
salary is replaced by
his actual salary in the
report.
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