With the internet at the center of our daily lives, there are many types of cyber crimes. Everyone knows that downloading movies or music without consent is against the law, but there are plenty of other activities that may land users behind bars.
The internet is an avenue to commit a wide variety of criminal acts. Read below to learn about five of the most common cyber crimes.
1. Ransomware
According to ComputerWeekly.com, using ransomware is one of the most common internet crimes. What exactly is ransomware? It is a type of software that is remotely installed and locks the computer system of a government, business or individual. Hackers can hold confidential information hostage and refuse to unlock the computers until they receive an expensive ransom. Ransomware can be so serious that it sometimes forces companies to close down.
2. Harassment
Cyberbullying remains one of the most prevalent criminal activities online. People often use anonymity to threaten, bully or abuse others. This crime usually takes place on social networking sites.
3. Phishing or spoofing
Some criminals try to access personal information by sending emails or other online messages pretending to be someone else, such as a bank or credit card company. By sending spam emails asking for personal information, criminals can steal these details for commercial gain.
4. Identity theft
Hackers may access personal details such as bank account information, credit card numbers and Social Security numbers. Once they access this information, criminals may make purchases with the information, causing financial devastation to victims.
5. DDoS attack
A distributed denial-of-service attack occurs when multiple computer systems target a website or server with a flood of connection requests and messages, resulting in the network resource shutting down. This causes the target to deny access to legitimate users.
Internet crimes continue to grow and evolve as technology advances. These are just a few examples of all the cyber crimes that exist.