nd

of
Cybercri
mes
 The earliest
computers were
invented by the
Chinese over 800
years ago
 Abacuses

- were unsophisticated
instruments designed
exclusively for
mathematical
computations.
As stressed by McQuade (2009), cybercrime
has come about and evolved with the
Internet and other advances in IT. 1.
Computer-related crime- illegal behaviors in
which one or more computers were helpful
but not necessary to commit a criminal act.

2. Computer crime- behaviors for which one

or more computers were required to commit
a consummate criminal act (the overall
criminal activity could not have been
accomplished without using a computer).
3) Computer abuse- use of computers in
ways that cause harm to individuals,
groups or organizations, that may also
violate established policies or
procedures, but do not rise to the level
of violating existing crime laws.

4) IT-enabled deviancy- behaviors

involving use of computerized or
telecommunications devices in ways
that violate social norms.
According to McQuade (2009), the opportunity
for creative computer hardware and software
invention became available in the 1960s and
1970s through the academic explorations at the
all-male Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC).

The TMRC was formed in 1946 and continues

to this day as an actual model railroad club.

The original members used their skills learned

at MIT to employ advanced control systems
and became the first “White Hat hackers”.
 Shell and Martin (2004) stated that the famous MIT-
TMRC members included: Alan Kotok, Stewart Nelson,
Richard Greenblatt, Tom Knight, and Bill Gosper.

These early hackers were known to work in the lab for

30-hour-plus-shifts and found the primitive computers
so fascinating that they forgot about everything else
while they were working on them.

These early hackers were not criminals, but highly

talented programmers committed to finding novel
solutions to difficult problems. If the type of software
or hardware they wanted was not available, these
hackers would develop it.
In the 1971, John Draper (aka “Cap’N Crunch”),
who was renowned for discovering and
pioneering use of the little whistle that came in
the breakfast cereal “Cap’N Crunch that
produce the same tones as telephones
switching computers do at that time. Through
the whistle they can make free phone calls.

This happened to be the tone that American

Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) and other
long-distance phone companies used at that
time to indicate that long-distance phone lines
were available.
 Britz (2013) stated that the
manipulation of
telecommunications carriers to
gain knowledge
telecommunications, and/or
theft of applicable services is
called “phreaking or phone
phreak”.
 According to McQuade (2009), one of the
earliest examples of crime involving the
Internet revealed just how vulnerable the
Internet could be to malicious acts.

In 1988, Robert T. Morris Jr. was a doctoral

(Ph.D.) candidate at Cornell University. During
his time there as a graduate student, Morris
released the “first Internet worm” through the
ARPANET (Advanced Research Project Agency
Network) which is the predecessor of the
Internet and World Wide Web.
 The stated intent of its creator, Robert
Morris Jr., was to provide a demonstration
of several types of systems vulnerabilities,
which proved in combination capable of
infecting not one or even a few computers
but a major portion of the Internet located
in the United States. The effect slowed or
shut down thousands of computers and
amounted to the Internet’s first “denial of
service attack”.
 Denial of Service (DOS) attack are
cybercrimes in which the primary goal is to
deny users of computers or other types of
electronic devices access to an information
system or its resources.

DOS attacks often involve flooding a

computer network with massive amounts of
data in a short period of time so that
servers cannot keep up with the amount of
data being transmitted.
In 1993, Kevin Poulsen, a skilled computer,
and telephone network hacker began his
criminal career in early life. He was caught
breaking into private and government
information systems. Poulsen was recruited
as a security expert by a government
contractor. During the day, he would work
his legitimate job, but at night Poulsen
would break into phone company offices to
steal equipment and manuals.
 In 1990, Poulsen and two
accomplices manipulate a telephone
network to win a “call in” radio
contest hosted by KIIS-FM in Los
Angeles, California. Poulsen won a
Porsche automobile, money, and a
trip to Hawaii. Eventually, however,
Poulsen was captured and convicted
for this crime.
The most notorious hacker ever sought
by law enforcement is Kevin Mitnick.
During his criminal career, Mitnick
hacked into computer systems owned
by Pacific Bell, Digital Equipment Co.,
Santa Cruz Operation, the University
of Southern California, Sprint, and the
California Department of Motor
Vehicles, among other organizations.
 Mitnick was finally apprehended
after he hacked into the computer of
Tsutomu Shimomura, a research
scientist. Shimomura traced the hack
to a modem connected to a cell tower
near Raleigh, North Carolina, in
1995.
The first ransomware virus was created in
1989 by Harvard-trained evolutionary
biologist Joseph L. Popp. It was called the
AIDS Trojan, also known as the PC Cyborg.

Popp sent 20,000 infected diskettes labelled

“AIDS Information-Introductory Diskettes” to
attendees of the World Health
Organization’s international AIDS
conference. The AIDS Trojan was
“generation one” ransomware and relatively
easy to overcome.
On March 26, 1999, New Jersey resident David
Smith released the “Melissa Worm” by using a
stolen American Online account to post a
message promising access to pornographic
Web sites on the Alt.sex newsgroup. The worm
infected vulnerable Windows 95, Windows 98,
and Windows NT users. It also used email
address books to send itself to other
computers. The worm caused more than $80
million in damages. Smith was prosecuted and later
pled guilty to violating state and federal computer
criminal laws.
 In May 2004, Onel De Guzman, college
dropout from the Philippines release a virus
via email dubbed “I love you” virus.
According to reports, the email exploited a
flaw in Microsoft’s Windows 95 OS.

According to the White (2019), Onel claims to

initially sent the virus only to Philippine
victims, with whom he communicated in
chat rooms, because he only wanted to steal
internet access passwords that worked in
his local area.
 However, in spring 2000 he tweaked
the code, adding an auto-spreading
feature that would send copies of the
virus to victims’ Outlook contacts, using
a flaw in Microsoft’s Windows 95
operating system.

He also created a titled for the email

attachment that would have global
appeal, tempting people across the
world to open it.
The virus was developed by Onel de Guzman, a 24
year-old computer science student at AMA Computer
College, and member of a local hacking group called
Grammersoft.
The idea stem from a rejected thesis proposal
of using Tojan to steal internet login
password. At that time, the internet is
accessible via dial-up and which is expensive.

According to Yor (2019) and Steinmetz (2019),

the computer worm called the “love bug”
rapidly infects computers worldwide, infecting
an estimate of 50 million computers. It uses
infected machines to email itself to other
users, corrupting files on computers as it goes.
 Within hours, millions of computers are
affected, including those of UK and US
government agencies.

The damage causes by the “love bug” is placed

between $7 Billion to $10 Billion. Furthermore,
an additional $15 Billion to remove the worm.

The cyber investigator tracked down the source

of the virus to the Philippines. However, the
Philippines at that time does not have laws
that cover computer hacking under which he
could be tried.
TOOLKITS
OF
CYBERCRI
MINALS
 Hierarchy of Contemporary
Cybercriminals
There are five (5) general categories of cybercriminals today:

a. Script kiddies, also known as skidiots, skiddie, or Victor Skill Deficiency

(VSD) –are the lowest life form of cybercriminal. The term is derogatory one

used by more sophisticated computer users to refer to inexperienced hackers

who employ scripts or other programs authored by others to exploit security

vulnerabilities or otherwise compromise computer systems. Technologically the

least sophisticated of all cybercriminals, script kiddies are generally not

capable of writing their own programs and do not fully understand the

programs which they are executing. Thus, they are not capable of targeting a

specific system, but are limited to those targets which possess the identified

vulnerabilities. The least-advanced of this category even employ prepackaged

software like “Deep Throat”

Deep Throat is a hacker’s remote
administration tool, much like the
infamous Back orifice and NetBus
tools. Deep throat allows a hacker
to access data and gain control
over some Windows functions on
remote systems.
 b. Cyberpunks- is an innocuous term which has
been hotly contested by First Amendment
advocates but has been used by law enforcement
officials to refer to individual’s intent on wreaking
havoc via the Internet.

The term was initially used to refer to an emerging

genre which marries science fiction, information
technology, and radical change in the social order.
However, law enforcement authorities often use it
as a category which includes vandalism,
destructive programs (viruses and worms), and
general mischief for no economic.
 c. Cybercriminal organizations- are
those groups comprised of criminally
minded individuals who have used
the Internet to communicate,
collaborate, and facilitate cybercrime.
 d. Hackers or crackers- are those
who target data which is valuable on
its face (trade secrets and proprietary
data) or directed data (credit card
data) which may be used to further
other criminal activity.
 Hack involves the modification of technology,
such as the alteration of computer hardware or
software, to allow it to be used in innovative
ways, whether for legitimate or illegitimate
purposes.

Hackers- defined as a computer user who seeks

to gain unauthorized access to a computer
system.

Cracking- an attempt to gain unauthorized

access to a computer system to commit another
crime, such as destroying information contained
in that system.
 Types of Hackers:

1. White-hats- have the knowledge and skills

that would enable them to function in the
same way as black-hats, but they decided to
be on the right side of the law.

2. Black hats- are hackers who commit illegal

acts, and their main purpose is to harm
information systems, steal information, etc.

3. Gray-hat hacker- a group of hackers that

falls between black-and white-hat hackers
who have shifting or changing ethics
depending on the specific situation.
e. Hacktivists- accounted for most of
all compromised records in 2011.
The term hacktivism emerged in the
1990s when the Cult of the Dead
Cow hacker collective coined the
term to describe their actions. In
contemporary parlance, the term is
used to describe technological social
movements.
• Discuss the Common Motivation of Cybercriminals

• Explain each toolkit of Cybercriminals

 Common Motivation of Cybercriminals:

a. Revenge

b. Opportunity

c. Greed

d. Test of Skill

e. Business Competitor

f. Professional Criminal

g. Terrorism

h. Geopolitics
Toolkit of Cybercriminals:

1. Malwares or Malicious Software:

a. Backdoor

b. Trojan horses

c. Virus

d. Computer Worm

e. Bundlers

f. DoS (Denial of Service)

g. Botnet and Zombie (Bots)

h. Spyware
Toolkit of Cybercriminals:

2. Phishing:

a. Spoofing

b. Pharming

c. Redirectors

d. Advance-free fraud or 419 fraud

e. Floating windows