Types of Security threats

Cybercrimes consist of specific crimes dealing with computers and networks, such as hacking, phishing and the facilitation of traditional crime through the use of computers (child pornography, hate crimes, telemarketing/internet fraud). A brief introduction to some common cyber related violations, or cybercrimes as they are more commonly referred to are discussed below:

Hacking:-Hacking in simple terms means an illegal intrusion into a computer system and/ornetwork. There is an equivalent term to hacking i.e. cracking, but from Indian legal perspective there is no difference between the term hacking and cracking. Every act committed towards breaking into a computer and/or network is hacking. Hackers  write or use ready-made computer programs to attack the target computer.

Child Pornography:-The Internet is extensively used for sexual abuse of children. As more homes have access to internet, more children are accessing it and this enhances their vulnerability of falling victims to the aggression of paedophiles. Paedophiles (a person who is sexually attracted to children) lure the children by distributing pornographic material and then pursue them for sexual exploitation. Sometimes paedophiles contact children in chat rooms posing as teenagers or children of similar age; they win the confidence of these children, and then induce them into sexually provocative discussions. Then begins the actual exploitation of children.

Cyber Stalking:-This term is used to refer to the use of the internet, e-mail, or other electronic communications devices to stalk another person. Cyber stalking can be defined as the repeated acts of harassment or threatening behavior of the cyber-criminal towards the victim by using internet services.

Denial of Service:-This is a technology driven cyber intrusion, where by the influencer floods the bandwidth or blocks the user’s mails with spam mails depriving the user, access to the Internet and the services provided therefrom. A DoS Attack (as it is commonly known) can be perpetrated in a number of ways.