Cyber Security: The Nature and Scope of Cybercrime

Prevalence of Cybercrime

Although there are many financial challenges countries face, cybercrime remains among the top crimes that are multi-faceted globally. According to the latest research carried out on different organizations, it makes the top four list of illegal activities that are a threat to humanity (Lakshmanan, 2019). Besides, various surveys indicate how it is perpetuated and is ever-increasing across the globe. Furthermore, what makes its prevention impossible is the time it takes for a criminal to carry out his activities regardless of boundaries or territories. Lakshmanan (2019) asserts that for every three seconds, personal information is stolen without the individual knowing. Therefore, this shows the versatility of this crime which takes place virtually or remotely without people noticing that their information has been stolen. Conversely, there are various instances of cybercrimes that have happened globally whose impact has left devastating economic ramifications.

Cyber Banking Threat in South Africa

South African banks use one central computer to process the clientele data. This helps in virtualization, which encompasses the use of multiple small computers to work together. Similarly, the mainframes are superior in size to servers as they are designed to offer high scalability and availability with some replaceable parts such as interface adapters and disks. As such, the aforementioned components can be changed without shutting down the server. Consequently, the banks face various cybersecurity challenges, including reputation maintenance, protection of clients’ information, and critical infrastructure (Lakshmanan, 2019). Therefore, criminals use these loopholes to exploit developing countries whose security controls are weak, thereby targeting multinational companies and individuals in the most developed states.

Many incidents show how vices are on the rise in South Africa. Lakshmanan (2019), asserts that phishing attacks are on the increase where they target video users who are tricked into giving out login details of their accounts by hackers. They are facilitated through spam mail which installs the malware on the victim’s computers. In turn, they penetrate the systems, thus, copying data in multiple locations and accessing highly protected information. For instance, in 2016, the southern state increased its position from sixty-seven to twenty-two in the list of countries at risk of cyber-attacks (Lakshmanan, 2019). Similarly, in 2014 the country recorded high rates of cyber-attacks. Further, it was ranked number one as a phishing destination and 7th among the countries where hacking originates from, respectively (Lakshmanan, 2019). This shows that there has been a continuous increase in a vice over the years. Also, data from the Ant-Phishing services in South Africa shows that in 2012, there were 1942 cases. This led to the loss of $ 6,828,072 million in 6 months (Cassim, 2015, p. 68). This illustrates the economic implications of cybercrime in the country as aforementioned.

Credit and Debit Cards Information Stealing

Let’s start

The stealing of personal information by impersonators has been on the increase, and it is facilitated through hacking. Recent studies have shown that numerous losses have been incurred by various countries across the globe as a result of this theft. For instance, in the year 2012, it led to $24.7 billion, 1.3 annual Sterling Pounds in Britain, and 1b Rand in the South Africa economy losses, respectively (Cassim, 2015, p. 68). In addition, three men were charged for hacking and stealing data on debit cards from Dave & Buster’s restaurant branches in the United States in 2007. This led to the loss of $600,000 from the eateries in addition to another one billion dollars theft from TJ Max (Lakshmanan, 2019). Therefore, this shows the impact of cybercrime not only on the individual companies but also, on the financial well-being of countries.

Furthermore, 2 men were prosecuted in New Delhi for using individuals’ debit card information and stealing from 10,000 to INR 40,000 for every account (Lakshmanan, 2019). The arrested men were working with an international ring of fraudsters showing how cybercrime has become prevalent in every continent. Similarly, the Australia National Bank was attacked through email spamming in 2006 and 2007 in Russia (Lakshmanan, 2019). In another incident, the Blue Security company in California and Israel that specialized in spam detection against hacking was targeted in a cyber-attack through the use of DDoS, and as a result, the company closed down.

Refutation

The evidence against the grievous nature of cybercrimes is enormous, with losses estimated to