Cyber Crime with Hackers & Crackers

Cyber Crime
Introduction Types of Cyber Crime

Introduction
Criminal activities that take place in cyberspace (the Internet). Cybercrime is a growing concern for both law enforcement officials and consumers as a result of the rapid expansion of the Internet into all forms of business and commerce. Cybercrime can be directed toward persons, property, companies, or government authorities. All aspects of the Internet are vulnerable to such activities, including the World Wide Web, email, chat rooms, and newsgroups.

Types of Cybercrime
Viruses Worms Trojans Hoaxes Mail bombs Threats Harassment Stalking Fraud Theft Forgery Piracy Break-ins Terrorism.

A survey in 2001 by the Computer Security Institute (CSI) in conjunction with the FBI The most common types of cybercrime experienced by companies were virus infection, insider abuse of network resources, and unauthorized access by insiders.

The Less common were system penetration, denial of service (DoS), theft of proprietary information, sabotage, fraud, and eavesdropping.

Hackers & Crackers

Introduction to Hackers Introduction to Crackers What Hackers do? What Crackers do? Why do Crackers exist? History of Cracking The Situation Today.!! Example of Hackers & Crackers

Hackers
Hackers are a programmers. They should have the knowledge of advanced technology of operating systems and programming languages. They may know of holes within systems and the reasons for such holes. They constantly seek further knowledge, freely share what they have discovered, and never, ever intentionally damage data.

Crackers
A Cracker is a person who breaks into or otherwise violates the system integrity of remote machines, with malicious intent. Crackers can gain unauthorized access They can destroy vital data They can deny legitimate users service, or basically cause problems for their targets. Crackers can easily be identified because their actions are malicious.

What Hackers do?

A ordinary programmer use only language library and compilers. A programmer programs to learn or create, whether for profit or non-profit. Hackers apply one more magical element: Imagination. They probe the system for finding holes in software and snags in logic. They write programs to check the integrity of other programs. It is creation and improvement through the process of analysis.

What Crackers do?

Crackers rarely write their own programs. Instead, they beg, borrow, or steal tools from others. They use these tools not to improve Internet security, but to subvert it. They have technique, perhaps, but seldom possess programming skills or imagination. They learn all the holes and may be exceptionally talented at practicing their dark arts. A true cracker creates nothing and destroys much. His chief pleasure comes from disrupting or otherwise adversely effecting the computer services of others.

Why do Crackers exist?

Crackers exist because they must. Because human nature is just so, frequently driven by a desire to destroy instead of create. Some crackers crack for profit. These may land on the battlefield, squarely between two competing companies. Perhaps Company A wants to disable the site of Company B. There are crackers for hire. They will break into almost any type of system you like, for a price.

Why do Crackers exist? (2)

Some of these crackers get involved with criminal schemes, such as retrieving lists of TRW profiles. These are then used to apply for credit cards under the names of those on the list. Other common pursuits are cell-phone cloning, piracy schemes, and garden-variety fraud. Other crackers are kids who demonstrate an extraordinary ability to assimilate highly technical computer knowledge. They may just be getting their kicks at the expense of their targets.

History of Cracking
It started with telephone technology. Originally, a handful of kids across the nation were cracking the telephone system. This practice was referred to as phreaking. Phreaking is now recognized as any act by which to circumvent the security of the telephone company. Although, in reality, phreaking is more about learning how the telephone system works and then manipulating it.

History of Cracking(2)
Telephone phreaks employed different methods to accomplish this task. Early implementations involved the use of ratshack dialers, or red boxes. Ratshack was a term to refer to the popular electronics store Radio Shack. These were hand-held electronic devices that transmitted digital sounds or tones. Phreakers altered these off-the-shelf tone dialers by replacing the internal crystals with Radio Shack

History of Cracking(3)
Having made these modifications, they programmed in the sounds of quarters being inserted into a pay telephone. From there, the remaining steps were simple. Phreaks went to a pay telephone and dialed a number. The telephone would request payment for the call. In response, the phreak would use the red box to emulate money being inserted into the machine. This resulted in obtaining free telephone service at most pay telephones.

The Situation Today.!!

The situation today is radically different from the one 10 years ago. Over that period of time, these two groups of people have faced off and crystallized into opposing teams. The network is now at war and these are the soldiers. Crackers fight furiously for recognition and often realize it through spectacular feats of technical prowess. A month cannot go by without a newspaper article about some site that has been cracked. Equally, hackers work hard to develop new methods of security to ward off the cracker hordes. Who will ultimately prevail? It is too early to tell. The struggle will likely continue for another decade or more.

Example of Hackers

Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, and Brian Kernighan

Example of Hackers(2)

Bill Gates and Paul Allen

Paul Baran

Bjarne Stroustrup

Linus Torvalds

Example of Crackers

Kevin Mitnik

References
Microsoft Encyclopedia of Security Maximum Security: A Hacker's Guide to Protecting Your Internet Site and Network