Cyber Crime Identity theft

The criminal action or crime through the computer or computer network harms an organization like a government, a private, or even an individual. Cyber crimes can be committed by individuals or a group. A breach of confidential information, espionage, financial loss, System failure, or any other method via the internet that affects the reputation of an organization or an individual is a major risk associated with cyber crimes.

Cybercrime is not accidental but intentional to harm an organization or an individual’s reputation, loss, physical or mental harm through any electronic system by concealing the identity of the cybercriminals.

The growing usage of modern technology which mostly depends on a computer to facilitate user convenience comes with various new risks of emerging cybercrimes.

Overview

Definition

Cyber crime can be defined as an act of committing a crime through a computer or computer network against organizations like government or private and even on any individual.

Cybercriminals

Adept experts in advanced technology to hack or attack computers are known as CyberCriminals.

Cyber crimes provide illegal products or services on the dark web. All hackers are not unethical but help to unwrap the vulnerabilities and legally report known as white hat hackers. Some groups or individuals with malicious work to cause harm are called black hat hackers. Another hacker may be a novice. Various types of cyber criminals are Black hat hackers, cyber stalkers, Cyber terrorists, or Scammers.

Cyber crime Identity theft

It is a social engineering technique and phishing that stole sensitive information by fraud or deception from the victim. This can be used for several illegal activities like Online purchases, Applying for a loan, or financial gain.

Identity theft is eavesdropping in cyberspace.

Tools for Identity theft Cybercrime

There are many tools to analyze and breach personal sensitive information for cybercrime by an attacker.

The techniques for identity theft are as follows −

Phishing technique

In this technique, the mail with malware is sent to the victim to extract data about bank employees.

On Call

In this technique, the attacker calls the victim with a focus to steal personal data and offer great deals by acting as a legitimate officer.

Identity concealment

In cybercrime crimes like Identity theft, the details are fabricated partially or completely. In this crime, the real social security number is combined with the name or other details to get the credit report by the fraudsters. The victim gets affected if the details match with the fraudster's details during the credit ratings. Cybercriminals also clone or imitate identities to hide the details from creditors.

Cybercrime Identity theft of Medical details

The medical report of the attacker is added to the victim's report for manipulating the medical information to get medical care. Also, this theft uses medical records to get insurance cards or insurance information. This causes harm to the credibility of the victim for future insurance. Such breaches are prominent by cyber criminals.

Cybercrime Identity theft using children's details

The details of children can pose a gain to attackers as cybercriminals use this identity to apply for driving licenses, credit cards, or even buy a house. As the children would be unaware for years and details of children in foster care can also be stolen.

Cybercrime Identity theft for financial gain

To gain monetary benefits by stealing the bank credentials. Also for tax redemption or returns the attacker uses the victim's employer identification. This may remain unnoticeable until the Income tax department acknowledges with notice.

Cybercrime Identity theft precautions or preventions

The major reason for cyber crime is the loophole in the computers and the preventive measures as follows −

• Use up-to-date software or applications

• Authenticate passwords with strong methods such as using symbols, numbers, etc.

• Don’t use public wifi without a password

• Secure the system with antivirus and firewall

• Don’t reveal personal details to public websites or strange places.

• Don’t tell the credit/debit card password, OTP, bank customer id, or such vital information to anyone.

• Update the password or change the pin at regular intervals

• Authenticate before entering payment gateway details

• Do not share your OTP received with the phone caller over the call.

• Never share sensitive information while traveling.

• Do not share OTP or biometrics related to Aadhaar, PAN, Bank, etc

• Never fill the data to any unauthenticated websites.

• Encrypt communication by using VPN.

Conclusion

Cyber crimes are increasing in this digital age and there is a need to pay attention to security. The secure way to be implemented while handling personal credentials is to avoid cyber eavesdropping.