Page 139 - DCAP306_DCAP511_E-COMMERCE_AND_E-BUSINESS

E-Commerce and E-Business

In 1969, the world’s first packet switching network Advanced Research Projects Agency Network
(ARPANET) emerged. It was used to connect computers in universities, defense contracting companies,
and research laboratories. This linked hackers all over the world and led to the development of a
distinct hacker culture. The emergence of personal networked computer in the 1980s led to the further
development of the hacker culture over the next decade. The movie War Games, which was released
during 1983, popularized the image of the hackers.
In 1978, a couple of computer enthusiasts in Chicago put the first civilian bulletin board system online.
These systems allowed users to interact online with other users and share information. Some of these
bulletin boards were used to trade pirated software and stolen credit card data. In 1981, Ian Murphy
was the first person to be prosecuted in the US for hacking. Murphy hacked into AT & T’s system and
changed the clocks that metered billing because of which the subscribers were charged night rates for
calls made during the day.
In 1988, Robert Tappan Morris, a graduate student of Cornell University released the first worm over
the Internet. The worm was released with the intention of showing the inadequacy in Internet security.
However, the worm spread around the country causing a lot of damage. Morris was prosecuted
federally under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This incident led to the formation of CERT
at Carnegie Mellon University.
In 1994, a 16-year-old student, nicknamed “Data Stream” was arrested by the UK police for hacking into
computers at the Korean Atomic Research Institute, NASA, and several US govt. agencies. In 1997, the
freeware tool AOHell made it easy for unskilled hackers to penetrate America Online and cause
extensive damage. In 1999, David Smith created and released the deadly Melissa virus.
In 2000, Microsoft was subjected to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. This attack targeted domain name
servers and corrupted the DNS paths, permitting users to access the Microsoft's Web sites. This attack
prevented millions of users from accessing Microsoft Web pages for two days.
In the recent years with the growth and advancement in technology there has been an increase in the
usage of personal computers and Internet. All these advancements resulted in increase of cybercrimes.
Hacking has become more popular along with online extortion and cyber terrorism. Due to rise in
cybercrimes there is a need to bring in certain preventive measures to control them. Several mechanisms
and policies were adopted to control these crimes some of them include strict user authentication, data
integrity and secure communication.

11.2.2 Types of Cybercrimes
Cybercrime may be broadly classified under the following three groups:
1. Against individuals
2. Against organization
3. Against society at large
1. Against Individuals: The following crimes can be committed against individuals:

(a) E-mail spoofing
(b) Harassment via e-mails
(c) Cyber-stalking
(d) Dissemination of obscene material
(e) Indecent exposure
(f) Cheating and fraud

(g) Defamation

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