Cybercrime - Introduction down to Ways to Prevent It
We frequently read about Cybercrime in the news, but do we truly understand what it means? Cybercrime is a widespread issue that threatens our safety and privacy in the world of technology.
Technology advancement has led to an increase in crime, and criminals have evolved and learned to adapt. We must educate ourselves on the problem in order to protect ourselves and effectively prevent it because it is really concerning.
Cybercrime is any illegal activity or misconduct involving a computer, network, or interconnected device. Criminal acts include hacking, gathering private information, identity theft, disseminating malicious software, phishing scams, and other associated crimes.
According to the most recent Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA), cybercrimes are becoming more aggressive and confrontational. This can be seen across the various forms of cybercrime, including high tech crimes, and sexual extortion.
Reportedly, 323 972 online users fell for phishing scams in 2021. This indicates that roughly fifty percent of the users whose data was compromised fell victim to a phishing scam. During the pandemic's peak, phishing incidents increased by 220%.
1 in 5 internet users had nearly 1 billion emails exposed in 2021. This may help to partially account for the ongoing nature of phishing assaults.
Financial loss is one of cybercrime's main effects. Ransomware assaults, email and internet fraud, identity fraud, as well as attempts to steal financial account, credit card, or other payment card information, are just a few examples of the numerous profit-driven criminal activities that can be classified as cybercrime.
These three represent a few different categories of cybercrime.
Due to increased number of connected devices and people, the threat of cybercrime is greater than ever. Bullying, copyright infringement, theft of personal information, and hacktivism are just a few examples of the many various ways that cybercrime can manifest.
Presented above is the law established regarding the cybercrime prevention in the Philippines. Being a student of criminology, it is crucial for me to understand cybercrime, its various forms, classifications, and methods of prevention especially the laws implemented in the country to do so.
Now, a large number of national security-related crimes, financially motivated offenses, crimes against individuals or property, and crimes that violate public morals are the primary targets of cybercrimes committed in the nation whether they are committed using technology or as the target of the crime itself.
It is essential that individuals and organizations take safety precautionary measures to protect themselves in order to prevent cybercrime.
Here are some of the useful tips that can help us maintain our safety and privacy:
We have the key to our safety, thus we must exercise vigilance.
Never provide personal information online, particularly banking information and OTPs. Watch out for the websites you visit and so on. Lastly, we must treat cybercrime seriously and alert authorities to any suspicious behaviors.
Additionally, there is a new two-factor authentication feature that requires a code from another device or login method to provide a higher level of security to your accounts. To guard against ransomware attacks and other data loss, regularly backup your data to an external hard drive or cloud storage.
Last but not least, educate yourself. Keep informed of the most recent developments in cybercrime and understand how to protect your devices and data. You can reduce your risk of falling victim to cybercrime and aid in the protection of your personal and financial information by complying to these rules.
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Group A - GE5 (Members' personal experiences of Cybercrime)
De Pedro, Wenn Heart C.
"Given that our world is now filled with technology and that almost everyone uses a variety of digital devices, it is important to be aware of many different types of crimes, especially cybercrime. We must defend ourselves against intruders who might abuse our privacy and security. I once watched a legal drama where the main character was seeing someone and someone had secretly installed a spy camera in her room without her knowledge. Throughout the entire relationship, her boyfriend had been watching everything through the spy camera. She found the hidden spy camera in her room after they broke up.
He only claimed that he did it to make sure she was safe when she confronted him. When things got heated up, he threatened to leak the contents of the spycam to the world if she didn't start seeing him again. She was struggling to decide what to do when the guy got into an accident and blamed her, threatening her once more that he would seriously spread the information around. She filed a case against him because she was worried about what might occur. Everything was made clear, and her case successfully won.
The lesson that I learned out of this particular incident and that show is to always be on guard. You need to be always aware of your surroundings in order to know whom to trust and regardless of whoever you trusted."
Paz, Darlen D.
"I don't have any experience but I saw and read a lot of people who are bullied in the internet because there is a wrong move or you say something, there so many hurtful words you will get. I already encountered online that you may receive a link and when you click it, your social media account will get hacked. As some online conduct is sneaky and illegal in character, it is our responsibility or to know as a criminology students to enlighten yourself on this new and developing field of study. As you can see via the internet, today's criminals have shifted to cybercrimes and commit a variety of frauds and unethical acts.
I can personally provide the following advice to people so they can learn how to stop cybercrime on their own:
Use different passwords for various platforms; never use the same one.
Avoid clicking on links with an unknown source.
Set up web browser filters to only access trustworthy websites."
Magdaraog, Joan
"I once received an email from a Facebook friend saying, "You are the one in the video." Since we are not close, I clicked on the link because I was intrigued to see what was in the video. As soon as the link requested my password, I realized it had been hacked. Therefore, because it is a subject we study and because there are several hackers active right now on social media, it is essential for us to comprehend cybercrime as criminology students.
My classmate was subjected to online harassment. He was severely impacted by it. There were times when he lacked the desire to communicate, eat, or be with anyone else. I don't know why some individuals bully because they don't know what will happen to them. Let's refrain from clicking on links or visiting untrusted websites to prevent cybercrime. Don't give out personal information; many of us are fast to do so, which makes us easy targets for scams or other forms of deception. Avoid doing this to prevent cybercrime."
Arranguez, Ariel E.
"Criminology students should learn about cybercrime because it is one of the fastest growing forms of crime in the world and it has significant implications for society as a whole. As criminals increasingly turn to technology to conduct their illegal activities, it is essential that criminologists understand the nature of these crimes, the motivations behind them, and the impact they have on society.
Studying cybercrime can also help criminology student develop the skills and knowledge needed to identify and investigate these crimes, and to develop effective strategies for preventing and combating them. Additionally, as cybercrime becomes more prevalent, it is likely that many criminology professionals will encounter cases involving cybercrime, making it essential that they have a solid understanding of the topic.
Although I haven't personally been the victim of bullying, I am aware of it, and watching how others were affected by it on social media made me feel horrible for those people because they received many undeserved nasty remarks. Seeing them how cybercrime destroy their confident, mind and to the point that their physical is also affected they hurt themselves, lose weight and etc. make me feel sad in our generation. Because they called technology as “growing technology” but in fact people used it in a wrong way. That’s why my perspective in technology is half good and half bad because if we can talk about technology it was really helpful and good to human but people using technology is make it bad."
