The invention of computers was undeniably significant milestone for civilisation. Creation of that extensively versatile and multipurpose device was an advancement that commenced a new age - Information Age - in a history of humankind. However with new possibilities, new threats follows: cyber crime, cyber terrorism or cyber war.
Computer ethics consists of rules, practices and areas that should be taken into consideration while designing, implementing and using information and communication technologies. It was a predecessor to ICT related legislation and expands current legal obligations for every individual involved. The first of computer ethics commandments says:
"Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people".
Often ethic codes are assigned to activities that have potential to be unethical, and within computer sciences the first thought is majorly hacking. In general, hacking refers to activities leading to acquire access to systems or data without permission, intercept, take control, corrupt or destroy hardware, software, information or process; most often involving breaching security measurements.
One of ICT related attacks that could have a big impact on the individual is identity theft and following identity fraud. Fraudster needs to acquire number of personal information about the victim such as full name, date of birth, current or previous addresses and possibly more. Captured information are then often used to commit identity fraud. Fraudster impersonate their victim to obtain goods such as credits, loans or to buy items in behalf of the victim, take over current accounts or receive documents - for example passport or driving license (Action Fraud, 2022).
Personal or sensitive information might not only got stolen, it could also be taken as a hostage. At present, ransomware is still a major threat for computer systems and personal data. Ransomware is a type of virus or malware, that after successful attack could capture device or stored data. Most often the infected device is completely locked and information encrypted or moved away. To recover those, victim needs to pay attacker (NCSC, 2022).
It is usual that information and communication technology is attacked to gain advantage over a person. But also opposite scenario is possible - human is exploited to take over ICT systems. Within many organisations taking extensive care about cybersecurity, the weakest point in their defence could actually be a person. Social engineering techniques varies accorging to the goal needed to be achieved but in general it is an art of pretending, manipulation and creating advantageous situations. Factors exploited most often are human kindness, urgent need to resolve a problem or authority. Attack could be as simple as holding door for a member of organisation's staff in public area, and following victim through door with restricted access. Unless well trained, staff member often will repay by holding the next door letting attacker in secure zone. Most often social engineering attacks are sophisticated, taking days or weeks (Mitnick, Simon and Wozniak, 2013).
Following video is a simple social experiment that is displaying power of social engineering. This example refers to usual obedience to authority. In this case, impression of authority is caused just with high visibility vests and confidence (Yes Theory, 2017).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyvRamX1VyA
Since beginning of Information Age the best weapon against cyber criminals is still information itself. Well educated society aware of threats is highly capable of successful defense against cyber crimes, or majorly reducing its impact.
References:
Action Fraud, 2022. Identity fraud and identity theft. [online] .actionfraud.police.uk. Available at: <https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/a-z-of-fraud/identity-fraud-and-identity-theft> [Accessed 24 April 2022].
Mitnick, K., Simon, W. and Wozniak, S., 2013. The art of deception. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.
NCSC, 2022. Mitigating malware and ransomware attacks. [online] ncsc.gov.uk. Available at: <https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/mitigating-malware-and-ransomware-attacks> [Accessed 24 April 2022].
Yes Theory, 2017. Sneaking in EVERYWHERE for FREE (Yellow Vest Experiment). [online] Youtube.com. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyvRamX1VyA> [Accessed 24 April 2022].
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