We are currently living in the Cyber age where the Internet and computers have important implications for our way of life, social life and the way they do business.
The use of information technology has posed great challenges to security and ethical issues in front of us. Just as everything has positive and negative aspects, the use of information technology is beneficial and insecurity.

With the growth of Internet, network security has become a major concern. Cyber crimes have emerged rapidly in recent years and have serious consequences. Cyber criminals are becoming all things to steal money, other computer piracy, intellectual property theft, the spreading of viruses and worms to damage computers connected to the Internet and committing fraud.
Detention of cyber crime is a major concern today.
Cyber criminals take advantage of vulnerabilities in computer soft wares and networks to their advantage.

Hacking:

Hacking is an important role in cybercrime today. Hacker makes use of weaknesses and loop holes in operating systems to destroy data and steal important information from the victim's computer. Cracking is usually done through the use of a backdoor program installed on your machine. A lot of crackers also try to gain access to resources through the use of password cracking software. Hackers can also control what you do or on your computer and can also import files into your computer. A hacker could install several programs on your system without your knowledge. These programs can also be used to steal personal information such as passwords and credit card information. The important data of a company can also be hacked to obtain secret information from the company's future plans.

Cyber-Theft:

Cyber-theft is the use of computers and communication systems to steal information electronically. Hackers crack into the systems of banks and transfer money into their own bank accounts. This is a major concern, since large amounts of money can be stolen and illegally transferred.

Many Internet newsletters provide investors with free advice recommending stocks where to invest. The loss of cases, these recommendations are totally false and cause investors. Credit card fraud is also very common.

Most companies and banks do not disclose who have been victims of cyber-theft for fear of losing customers and shareholders. Cyber-theft is the most common and most informed of all cybercrime. Cyber-theft is a popular cybercrime and cyber may rapidly lead experienced large cash penalties resulting from very little effort. For another possibility, is unprofessional in a cyber-criminal will be apprehended by the police.

Viruses and worms:

Viruses and worms is a major threat to normal users and businesses. Viruses are computer programs that are designed to damage computers. It is called virus, which spreads from one computer to another, like a biological virus. A virus attaches to some other program or document by entering the team. A worm takes advantage of defects in products usually gentle cycle or operating system. Trojan horse is uncertain. It seems to do one thing but does another thing. The system can accept such a thing. Once executed, it can release a virus, worm or logic bomb. A logic bomb is an attack triggered by an event such as the computer clock reaching a certain date. Chernobyl and Melissa viruses are recent examples.

Experts estimate that the Mydoom worm infected approximately a quarter of a million computers in a single day in January 2004.Back in March 1999, the Melissa virus was so strong that it forced Microsoft and a number of other very large companies to completely turn off e-mail systems until the virus could be contained.

Solutions:

An important question arises how you can prevent these crimes. A number of techniques and solutions have been presented, but the problems still exist and are increasing daily.

Antivirus and antispyware software:

?ntivirus software consists of computer programs that seek to identify, thwart and eliminate computer viruses and other malware. Goods of spying are used to restrict the program backdoor, trojans and other spy goods to be installed on the computer.

Firewalls:

A firewall protects a computer network from unauthorized access. Network firewall can be hardware devices, software or a combination of both. A firewall on the network usually guards an internal computer network against malicious access from outside the network.

Cryptography:

Cryptography is the science of encrypting and decrypting information. The encryption is like sending a post to the other party with a lock code on the envelope that is known only by the sender and recipient. A number of cryptographic methods have been developed and some still are not cracked.

Cyber Ethics and Law:

Cyber ethics and cyber laws are also being made to stop cyber crimes. It is a responsibility of every individual to follow the laws and ethics for cyber cyber cyber crimes is shrinking. Security software such as anti virus and anti spy goods must be installed on all computers, in order to stay safe from cyber crime. Internet providers should also provide high level of security on their servers in order to keep their customers safe from all types of viruses and mallicious.

Written by:

Shaikh Mohsin Ayaz

Department of Computer Science, University of Karachi