Hacker Target and Response Paper

[Name of the Institute]

Hacker Target and Response Paper

Introduction

Victimization in society results from many types of harmful behaviors committed by individuals or groups against other people. Behaviors considered negligent or abusive, or that otherwise are considered criminal in a particular place. It often depends on the amount of harm inflicted, the technological means employed, and existing laws that forbid specific activities. Technological means used to commit cyber offenses refers to a combination of networked systems, hardware devices, software tools, and methods that people use on the Internet (Gelinas, 2011). Modern information technology (IT) hardware like computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, and gaming devices can be used offline (in standalone mode), online, or wirelessly, from private or public places, in ways that are not easily recognized as illegal and that transcend more than one geopolitical or legal jurisdiction. In addition, illicit use of computing devices can facilitate many forms of traditional in-person crimes.

To fully understand cyber and Internet offenses, it is necessary to consider (1) the ways in which computerized devices and telecommunications systems came to be increasingly used for illicit purposes, (2) the myriad forms of online abuse and crime now taking place in our interconnected world, (3) the categories of people and organizations likely to fall prey to online forms of abuse and crime, (4) the social and economic impact of cyber and Internet offenses, and (5) what is being done to help prevent cyber offenses and provide services to victims of cyber-crime.

The Hacking Crime

Offending evolved beyond pranks and hacking into high-tech forms of embezzlement and fraud that were increasingly difficult to detect, investigate, and prosecute. In response, U.S. government and many states began creating computer crime laws during the 1980s (Laudon, 2008). This trend, which is continuing into the 21st century, along with millions of broadband (high-speed) Internet connections made available via thousands of Internet service providers located around the world, makes it possible for billions of Internet users to become victims of cyber offenses.

By nature, the Internet is vulnerable to hacker attacks. Indeed, subject to any control, TCP / IP are used to interconnect heterogeneous public and private networks. We can estimate that constantly every second hundreds of millions of computers communicate with each other via the Internet, and many people exchanging information in a private or professional (Klevinsky, 2002)c. The majority of traffic is established for commercial purposes. With such a high number of users connected to the Internet which is a percentage out of malice, the risk of a cyber attack in any form whatsoever is potentially very high. Risk assessment, analysis of their potential impact and definition of security measures and their level of detail will depend on several criteria:

Technology: the case of new software, a new product, a software upgrade, a new connection system, a database, etc.

Process: the case of a change in flow, reengineering, accessibility, a new system, a new activity

In person: if it is an internal staff, an external, a professional partner, a service provider, ...