Writing Assignment 4
3. According to the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, what is the typical profile of a suspect committing Internet auction fraud?
A suspect committing internet auction can be anyone but according to internet fraud complaint center they gave the profile of a computer hacker as a white young male. Who is between 14 and 20 years of age? He is intelligent looking and an avid computer enthusiast. He is an introvert and fell very insecure. He hails from a family that is between middle income and upper middle income family (Knetzger & Muraski 2008).
4. Explain the difference between cloning fraud, clone fraud, and cloned phone
Clone fraud is the unauthorized utilization, meddling and manipulation of a cell phone or cell phone services. It is one of the leading types of cyber crime. It accounts to the largest types of fraud in recent times. Cloning fraud is when someone signs up for a service and fraudulently obtains the clients private information. The hacker uses such individual information to set up a call account in the name of the legitimate user. Each customer when he or she purchases a cell phone, the garget comes with unique factory information that is used as settings for that particular phone. Such information is the electronic serial number commonly known as (ESN) and the telephone number also known as (MIN). A cloned phone is one that this vital information has been accessed. The law breaker illegally monitors the radio waves from the legitimate cell phones and accesses these combinations. After cloning has taken place the ESN and MIN are identical in the cloned phone as in the legitimate phone (Knetzge & Muraski , 2008). What follows is that the legitimate phone gets billed of all calls by the cloned phone. It is hard to prove such a crime as it is not easy to state ones expenditure and the carriers system cannot differentiate the ESN and MIN numbers of the legitimate phones and the cloned ones .
5. List and discuss at least five ways criminals obtain credit card information.
• Through unscrupulous email links
Many dishonest people will send random emails that require the subscriber to give up personal information regarding their credit cards. They pose questions that will require the subscriber to confirm the link (Knetzger & Muraski , 2008). Once he or she clicks the confirm button then all the information is passed to the fraudster.
• Credit card reports
Credit card reports are personal records. The credit card holder should make sure that once he is through with the reports; he ought to keep them secure or simply destroy them by shredding if he will no longer need them in future (Knetzger & Muraski , 2008). Such report hold a lot of valuable information that a fraudster can manipulate and even open up another account with a similar name.
• Collecting information by use of a skimmer.
A skimmer is a card that is the size of a credit card. A criminal uses it to collect information by secretly paying off corrupt waiters in restaurants so that for every payment made by credit card the waiter rings up the credit card and also swipes the card against the skimmer. The skimmer is able to collect the information of about a hundred credit cards a night (Knetzger & Muraski , 2008).
• Stolen or lost wallets with social security cards
A social security card can open up a dummy bank account. With the bank account and occasional saving the bank may be prompted to issue a credit card with the names of the account. This way, criminals obtain credit card information.
• Fake mortgage brokers
Fake mortgage brokers place extremely low interest rates for their loans prompting high applications. Once an individual applies he is requested to provide his personal information regarding credit cards. Many people are quick to give their personal data.
5. What are at least three ways drug dealers use technology and/or the Internet to further their elicit trade?
Drug dealers pose non-suggestive internet advertisements. The advertisements are attractive and to the common internet user it arouses the curiosity of the user to the merchandise been advertised. Drug dealer get most of their customers in such ways. Wall, (2007) asserts that drug dealers use internet technology to communicate among themselves passing information on their business. Most drug dealers do not know each other and the internet have enabled them to use coded messages while communicating. With technology they are able to send even voice coded message or encrypted messages.
Drug dealers have also in recent times used technology by formulating computer software’s that allowed them to make orders and payments for their shipments online. By use of these softwares they are able to further distribute them.
6. What is the difference between white hat, black hat and gray hat hackers
A whiter hacker is someone who hacks with a positive intention normally to protect a system. He is an ethical hacker. A black hat hacker is someone who is malicious and has a bad intension of his hackings. He is motivated by negative gains. A gray hat hacker is crossbreed of both the white hat hacker and the black hat hacker. He does not have any intentions of hacking for evil but this does not rule him out to hack for negative gain. If he is asked to hack illegally, he will comfortably hack.
7. List and discuss at least five common forms of computer sabotage that are used by hackers.
Computer sabotage takes different forms. One method is use of self destroying programs. These programs are available for free. When installed in computers, they have adverse effects on the computer. They make it non usable again. Such programs can also be programmed such that when installed in the hacker can access your computer.
Virus generation is another form of computer sabotage. The virus self multiplies in form of files that will eventually kills the computer. Hackers can also access secret codes through these viruses from their computers (Wall, 2007).
Hackers can physically damage the computer. They usually destroy the hardware and disconnect such parts as the hard disk for analysis. The hard disk is the computers memory and with it they can access all relevant information that they require. The hard disk can only be accessed by physical contact the computer (Knetzger & Muraski, 2008).
Human error is another form of computer sabotage. The owner of a computer may accidentally give out his security setting without knowing the danger that he poses to himself. The hacker exploits that negligence to access information. Breaching of computer security is another form of computer sabotage. Computer sabotage through security is utilized when the set firewalls fail.
References
Knetzger, M & Muraski, J. (2008). Investigating High-tech Crime. New York: Prentice hall.
Wall, S.D. (2007). Cybercrime: The Transformation of Crime in the Information Age (PCSS-Polity Crime and Society). New York: Prentice hall.
