The 4 most common forms of cybercrime

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Cybercrime is any criminal activity where the target and / or tool is a computer or network device.
Cybercrime is any criminal activity where the target and / or tool is a computer or network device. Some cybercrime attacks directly target computers or other devices with the intent to disable them. In others, computers are used to spread malware, illegal information, images, and other materials.
It is not easy to categorize cybercrimes as there are many types of suppression, but in general the following types can be distinguished:

Financially focused cybercrime
It is no wonder that many cybercriminals use the Internet for commercial gain by carrying out the following types of attacks:

Phishing
Cyber fraudsters love to pick low-hanging fruit when presented with the opportunity to infect the computers of unsuspecting victims. In such schemes, e-mail is a favorite means of attackers. The essence of the method is to force the recipient of the letter to follow the link on behalf of a legitimate organization (bank, tax service, popular online store, etc.). In such cases, the goal is often the mastery of banking data.

Cyber ransomware
Another popular method of financially oriented cybercrime is extortion. As a rule, first, after downloading the malware, the files are blocked for a user or company, and then an offer to restore is received in exchange for a monetary reward (usually in the form of bitcoins or other cryptocurrency).

Financial fraud
Most sophisticated financial fraud schemes involve hacking into the computer systems of retailers in order to obtain banking data about customers (so-called targeted attacks) or subsequent manipulation of the information received. Some types of financial fraud are extremely difficult to detect.

Cybercrimes involving invasion of privacy
There are several types of such cybercrimes, the purpose of which is to steal personal confidential information. While attackers are often driven by deeper motivations (such as monetary or political change), the focus is on bypassing laws and finding technology gaps that protect personal privacy.

Identity theft
Theft of personal information usually occurs with the aim of further spoofing the identity of a person or group of people. While some cybercriminals steal passports or other identity documents to physically spoof identity, most of the identity theft occurs exclusively on the Internet.
For example, someone seeking a bank loan might steal the personal information of someone with good credit.

Espionage
From the hacking of individual computers or devices to illegal mass surveillance, the purpose of espionage is to secretly track our personal lives. It can be both physical espionage (for example, using web or CCTV cameras to monitor individuals or a group of people), and mass monitoring of various kinds of communications (reading mail, text messages of instant messengers, SMS, and so on).

Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is one of the most common forms of cybercrime. First of all, this category includes the sharing of music, photographs, films, books, etc. without the consent of the authors.

Spam
Spam is an extremely common and multivariate type of cybercrime. This includes mass mailing by e-mail, sms, instant messengers and other communication channels. Any mailing without the consent of the recipients can be classified as spam.

Social and politically motivated cybercrime
Some types of cybercrimes are aimed at changing political attitudes or intentionally harming or reducing the influence of individuals or groups of people.

Hate Crimes and Harassment
Hate mail crimes against an individual or group of people are usually committed on the basis of gender, race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation and other characteristics. Examples: Harassment and sending offensive messages and stuffing false news about a specific group of people.
The anonymity and easy accessibility of the Internet makes it difficult to combat hate crimes.

Terrorism
Extremist groups and militant peoples are increasingly using cyberspace to intimidate, spread propaganda and sometimes damage IT infrastructures. The increase in the number of businesses, services and devices available via the Internet will undoubtedly provoke new cases of cyber terrorism.

Cyberbullying
The use of computers and connected devices to harass, humiliate and intimidate individuals falls under the category of cyberbullying. The line between cyberbullying and some forms of hate crime is often blurred. Certain forms of cyberbullying (for example, stuffing nude photos) may fall under illegal activities (for example, child exploitation).

Cybercrimes related to illegal activities
The other side of the Internet, also called the "dark web" (or deep Internet), is used to commit all sorts of illegal actions.

Illegal pornography
The dissemination of pornography via the Internet in many countries is interpreted as a cybercrime, while in others it is only the prohibition of extremist content. The distribution of child pornography images is prohibited in most countries.

Grooming
Online grooming is associated with sexual harassment of minors. Various communication methods can be used in the process: SMS, social networks, email, chats (for example, in online games) and forums. In many countries, grooming falls under the category of cybercrime.

The spread of drugs and weapons
Various IT solutions used to distribute legitimate goods and services can also be used by cybercriminals. For example, the darknet markets that exist on the world wide web help smugglers sell weapons and drugs while staying out of the sight of law enforcement.

Attack methods
There are four most common ways cybercriminals use it.
1) The first one that many people fear is the use of malware. You probably understand that there are many methods of operating systems, and how important it is to use various security measures, for example, setting long passwords and making regular updates. This type of attack is based on the abuse of computers and networks.
2) The second method is DDOS attacks, when an attacker uses a communication network protocol to create a huge number of requests to a server or service. In this type of attack, the main goal is to disable the target.
3) The third method is a combination of social engineering and malicious code. The most famous form of this type of attack is phishing, when the victim is forced to do certain actions (clicking on a link in an email, visiting a website, etc.), which subsequently leads to a system infection using the first method.
4) The fourth method is illegal activity: harassment, distribution of illegal content, grooming, etc. In this case, attackers hide their tracks through anonymous profiles, encrypted messages and other similar technologies.
As you can see, cybercrime includes a wide range of illegal acts, ranging from fraud and identity theft to hate crimes and drug trafficking. There are many intersections between these species, and it is difficult to draw an exact line. For example, a phishing attack can be aimed at stealing personal information. At the same time, identity forgery can subsequently be used to obtain money by drug smugglers or even terrorists. It is important to understand that cybercrime is not always associated with sophisticated schemes and does not always involve the deep internet. The best method to defend against cyberattacks is to stay on top of today's threats.