Project Report On Cyber Security

Identity theft is the stealing and use of someone’s personal information and is one of the fastest growing crimes in the nation (Dole, 2005). According to Federal Trade Commission estimates, identity thieves victimize approximately 10 million Americans every year at a cost of an astonishing $50 billion (2005). Identity theft has been going on for years now and is easily done with the help of today’s technology. According to the Federal Trade Commission, there are six common ways that identity thieves get a hold of personal information. The varieties of methods that are used are dumpster diving, skimming, phishing, changing the victim’s address, stealing, and pretexting (Federal Trade Commission). Once someone’s identity is stolen,

Cybercrime has experienced significant progress during recent years, as its advance is directly proportional with the advance of technology. In spite of the fact that the authorities devise new and better strategies to fight cybercrime, the fact that the number of people online is constantly increasing means that cybercrimes occur even more frequently. Dishonest people who seek opportunities have discovered how the internet stands as a perfect environment for them to commit crimes by taking as little risks as possible. Computer fraud generates a series of benefits for the person committing it, as he or she can either profit financially from the enterprise or can simply alter files in order for his or her image to be positively affected. Identity theft is a major form of cybercrime and it is essential for society to acknowledge the gravity of the matter in order to be able to effectively fight against criminals using it.

As value customers of the Anthem, Inc. we believe it is important to keep each one of you informed of any incident that might affect your business with us. Your privacy and security is our priority for the reason Anthem, Inc. would like to inform our customers of a recent phishing attack. Unfortunately, we have experienced similar attacks in the past which led many of the employees and customers’ data exposed to hackers. Even though this is a serious matter for the company and the customers it is important for us to make our customers aware that phishing attacks are common and they cause huge losses to both the customers and the companies (Wright et al., 2014). Our most recent attack took place on April 2014 and it affected about 80 million identifiable data stolen via phishing emails. The

Phishing is an attempt to acquire personal information by masquerading as a trustworthy entity through an electronic communication. [ Compl. ¶ 28, ECF No. 1.]

Sheng et al. (2010) conducted a role play survey among over a thousand online respondents to study both the relationship between demographics and susceptibility to phishing and the effectiveness of anti-phishing education. This study analyzed demographics of people who fall prey to phishing attacks. The authors used an online survey and found that women were more likely to fall for phishing scams than men, further, people aged 18-25 were found to be more likely to be the victim of a phishing attack as compared to the general public.

This is called phishing when interne users are deceived into divulging their personal information. Malware is when software is downloaded to your computer which collects and transmits personal information. Hacking is illegally accessing computer systems remotely United Nations Office Drugs and Crime). The internet allows people steal and transfer information without meeting or communicating with the person they steal it from. The United States is the leading source of credit card numbers of underground markets. It is estimated that internet identity theft is 1 billion dollars a year.

Since our sponsor university is located in Massachusetts, where there is no direct single state law on anti-phishing. It is important to understand legal phishing definition, and laws applicable if University XYZ faces any phishing attack. In this section, apart from explaining federal statute and related punishment for phishing attack, details are given on government agencies that University XYZ can approach for phishing attack investigation.

The internet has brought upon a new revolution of global interconnection where contacting someone on the other side of the world is just a click away, but with this international phenomenon comes an increased susceptibility with unfamiliar technology. Internet crime is compiled of all non-physical crime with the aid of a computer. Although broad in definition internet crimes are largely composed of acts such as cyber fraud, ‘phishing’ (username and password hacking), cyber stalking and hacking. Internet crime does not pose an overwhelming issue in society in terms of its

In recent years, the Internet has become an appealing place for criminals to obtain identifying data, such as passwords or even banking information (Borrus). In their haste to explore the exciting features of the Internet, many people respond to "spam" ¬ unsolicited E-mail ¬ that promises them some benefit but requests identifying data, without realizing that in many cases, the requester has no intention of keeping his promise. In some cases, criminals reportedly have used computer technology to obtain large amounts of personal data. With enough identifying information about an individual, a criminal can take over that individual's identity to conduct a wide range of crimes: for example, false applications for loans and credit cards, fraudulent withdrawals from bank accounts, fraudulent use of telephone calling cards, or obtaining other goods or privileges which the criminal might be denied if he were to use his real

Data breach is a topic that plagues the daily news and whether it presents itself in the form of a large company security breach or a case of identity theft in town, people are aware of their surroundings and are cognizant of the danger that hackers pose. Thus, when we are doing things like creating a new account with a website online, we are actively choosing to ignore the potential risks that surround us because creating a complex password and changing it every so often becomes too difficult. Just like Herley’s phishing example that was mentioned earlier in this paper, the time it would take to detect phishing websites and applying our knowledge to help prevent security breaches would help us save less than a dollar per year. I believe that is a risk many are willing to take, especially if it helps make our online experience that much more enjoyable and

Identity theft is one of the growing crimes in the United States due to the fact people do not know how to properly protect themselves against it. Criminals use different methods to acquire the information necessary to steal someone’s identity. Some of the techniques used to commit identity theft are; stealing wallets, acquiring bank information or pilfering through trash to find documents containing PII (FBI, n.d.). Nowadays criminals are able to steal people’s identity using different procedures over the internet without having to compromise their identity. Some of the methods are social engineering, phishing, sending spam messages and malware (OLI, 2013). Criminals use these methods because with the use of technology, identity theft could be accomplished anonymously and without much effort. Also because people lower their guard about securing their personally identifiable information when using the internet, especially when using social networks, they become easy targets to

Over the past few years the internet has become a tempting place for criminals to acquire identifying information, such as passwords and banking data. In criminal’s haste to explore the exciting features of the internet, many people respond to “spam” unsolicited emails that promise them benefits, but request identifying information, without recognizing that in many situations, the requester has no intention of keeping their promise. In some situations, criminals reportedly have exploited computer technology to acquire large amounts of personal information. With enough identifying data about an individual, a criminal can take over that individual’s identity to conduct a wide range of crimes: for example, false applications for loans, credit cards, fraudulent withdrawals from bank accounts, acquiring other goods, or privileges which the criminal might deny if they were to use their real name. If the criminal takes steps to ensure that bills for the falsely acquired credit cards, or bank statements showing the unauthorized withdrawals are sent to another address other than the victims, the victim may not become aware of what’s happening until the criminal has already inflicted substantial damage on the victim’s assets, credit and reputation (Identity Theft).

Bank of America is a multinational banking institute and one of the most trusted in the banking industry. This organizations sole purpose is to protect the customer’s confidentiality and assets by ensuring that data protection is the number one priority; however any organization when holding personal information can be a victim of data breach and BoA is not exempt. One of the largest risks BoA faces today is Mobile Banking. This consumer convenience is used by fifty percent of smart phone owners (Finney, 2014). Phishing is also threat to the banking industry; this strategy by hackers allows the extraction of consumer passwords and other sensitive information. Hackers targeting banking institution employees with convincing e-mails that fool them into clicking on malicious links-which ultimately compromise their credentials or

Being the fastest growing crime of today, it is estimated that every 79 seconds an identity is stolen (Consumer Reports 13). Empty promises made by solicitors in spam e-mail offer a free gift in exchange for personal information. These solicitors have no intention of sending any free gifts, but their scams help them obtain the private information desired. If enough information is given, criminals are able to apply for credit cards, apply for a fraudulent loan under the victim’s name, and make illegal withdrawals from random bank accounts. This is only one of the many ways a person’s identity could be stolen (O’Reilly).

Cyber security breaches have shown a spike in 2015, with large-scale compromises on companies like Target, Sony and Home Depot. There is a strong demand to deploy more robust cyber security tools to prevent future attacks. FireEye, a cyber-security firm, has started to fill the void and is reaping the rewards.