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Abdullah Asim 0457 Individual report Word count:1800

Digital World

Question: How to deal with the rising cases of cybercrime?

Introductory details:-

Cybercrime is transnational and is not confined by international boundaries, thus it is consisting

of a huge variety of problems that it creates; criminal organisations by further promoting
cybercrime, amplify the issues it already poses, according to the United Nations Office on drugs
and crime:

“The complex nature of the crime as one that takes place in the border-less realm of
cyberspace is compounded by the increasing involvement of organised crime groups.”

Most frequently, cyber crime occurs in the form of data breaching, which is when hackers exploit
vulnerabilities of a network or device and access unauthorised data. There are other crimes such
as committing fraud and stealing identities as well, which also highlight the imminent danger
cyber crime poses.

Nowadays, computers have become an integral part of our everyday life, cyber threats pose a
dire threat to us, and on top of that, our virtual identities are quite vulnerable to internet attacks.
Furthermore, cybercrime is prevalent among those who are not aware of it; for example, an
unsuspecting user opens an email and clicks on a link sent by a scammer which redirects the user
to a website where they are asked for their bank login details and once a user enters these details
the scammer gets their login information; this is called Phishing.

Researched perspectives, information, and ideas:-

Cybercriminals and types of hackers:

I would first like to explain the three types of hackers who conduct cybercrime, to get a better
understanding of who they are and how to stop them.

Not all hackers are cybercriminals, so they may fall under the definition of hackers but are not
contributing to cybercrime. Bruce Schneier, chief security officer for IT service provider BT
says:

"The majority of people hacking are just people."

Most hackers belong to chat rooms and online forums, so they are not cyber criminals but they
may later become part of Hacktivist groups.

Definition of hacktivists:

Moving on, there are Hacktivists who want people’s attention; most frequently they are a
politically motivated batch. But, fundamentally hacktivism is performed to overcome
government censorship and it is seemingly justified in states where human rights are breached. It
serves as a way to fight against state repression; cyber activism is performed while it also serves
as a way of protesting and demanding self-determination for the people. Many confuse
hacktivists with terrorists but they are not one and the same.

Definition of Cyberterrorism:

For the prevention of cybercrime, our focus should be to stop cyber terrorists. Now, hacktivist
groups may be dangerous in their respects; I believe that hackers who are part of cyber-terrorist
groups are higher in respect to the threat they pose and it is imperative that we must deal with
them instead of trying to dismantle hacktivist groups. I do not consider “Hacktivists” as truly
menacing.

Cyberterrorism is terrorism conducted in the realm of cyberspace or the cyberspace itself is

exploited to carry out terrorist activities.

The Threats of Cyber Terrorism (TCT):

In the following paragraphs, I will explain why cyberterrorism is the most important subject we
need to prevent in order to reduce cases of cybercrime.

Some may say TCT is exaggerated by politics. Gabriel Wiemann, states in an article from the
United States Institute of Peace:

“Cyberattacks on critical components of the national infrastructure are not uncommon, but
they have not been conducted by terrorists and have not sought to inflict the kind of damage
that would qualify as cyberterrorism.”

Gabriel Wiemann feels that the outcomes of cyberterrorism are intensified and then presented to
the general public, but the reality is far from it.
On the other hand, according to the “Pakistan Journal of Terrorism Research, Vol II, Issue I”,
cyber terrorism is a threat that should not be disregarded and a growing obstacle in the digital
world:

“Cyber-terrorism is an emerging challenge that has become a real threat to the peace and
security of many countries.”

Cyberterrorism is caused to get political, ideological, religious and likewise agendas to be met.
TCT exists due to the ability of terrorists to compromise communication networks and create
propaganda and conduct other dangerous activities.

This is a very dangerous threat as terrorism is quite common in my own country, Pakistan. Thus,
I believe that it will take new form in the future and transform into cyberterrorism and that it will
cause further harm to the citizens.

According to the graph based upon STAI, which shows anxiety among the people due to
terrorism, lethal cyber terrorism is nearly causing as much anxiety as conventional terrorism. So,
it can be said that cyberterrorism negatively impacts the mental health of human beings by
creating anxiety among them, and it is necessary to somehow reduce it by controlling
cyberterrorism.

Incidents of cyberterrorism:

On 7th, May, 2021 the colonial pipeline was stopped by darkSide. This oil pipeline is one of the
biggest oil distributors in the United States. The colonial pipeline suffered a huge loss as it had to
pay close to 5 million us dollars.

On 3rd, December, 2021 it was reported that a Chinese hacking campaign attacked 5 US
organisations and at least 13 organisations globally. Hundreds of other companies are reported to
be vulnerable as they have softwares which could similarly be exploited. Ryan Olson, vice
president of Palo Alto Networks claimed:

“This adversary has aggressively targeted organizations in the United States and elsewhere in
defense, technology and other critical sectors,” Ryan Olson, vice president of Palo Alto
Networks"

Occurrences like this could possibly lead to worsened relations between China and US, this can
have severely damaging impacts, due to economic downfall, because if one state gets aggravated
by the other it could lead to possible sanctions being placed.

Conclusion:-

We can stop cyberterrorism by creating awareness of having up to date risk-free software and
installation. We should have a well protected computer infrastructure and have advanced security
systems to protect our devices.

Cyberterrorism's ever growing threat can be reduced by creating awareness among the people;
providing them with articles, expert interviews and public speeches regarding this matter will
also help counter the threat as people will prefer to be more secure.

I personally want that governments around the world should focus on building cyber security
systems to enhance themselves in cyberspace, while also maintaining peaceful relations with
each to avoid the acts of terrorism conducted by one state to harm the other.

Bibliography:
(1) https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/cybercrime/index.html
(2) https://www.britannica.com/topic/cybercrime
(3) https://web.archive.org/web/110619062251/http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/06/16/a-
whos-who-of-hackers/
(4) https://dataprot.net/articles/types-of-cyber-attacks/
(5) https://academic.oup.com/jhrp/article/7/3/391/2412155?login=false
(6) https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/sr119.pdf
(7) https://nacta.gov.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Global-Cyber-Terrorism.pdf
(8) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5370589/
(9) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/politics/pipeline-hack.html
(10) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/technology/colonial-pipeline-ransom.html
(11) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/business/darkside-pipeline-hack.html
(12) https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/02/politics/china-hackers-espionage-defense-cont
ractors/index.html