Denial of service Attack

This is an act by the criminal, who floods the bandwidth of the victim’s network or fills his e-mail box with spam mail depriving him of the services he is entitled to access or provide

Short for denial-of-service attack, a type of attack on a network that is designed to bring the network to its knees by flooding it with useless traffic. Many DoS attacks, such as the Ping of Death and Teardrop attacks, exploit limitations in the TCp/IP protocols. For all known DoS attacks, there are software fixes that system administrators can install to limit the damage caused by the attacks. But, like Virus, new DoS attacks are constantly being dreamed up by Hacker.

Source: Mumbai Cyber Cell

Phishing

 

The act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information.. By spamming large groups of people, the “phisher” counted on the e-mail being read by a percentage of people who actually had listed credit card numbers with legitimately. Phishing, also referred to as brand spoofing or carding, is a variation on “fishing,” the idea being that bait is thrown out with the hopes that while most will ignore the bait, some will be tempted into biting.

Source: Mumbai Crime Cell

 

Denial of service Attack

This is an act by the criminal, who floods the bandwidth of the victim’s network or fills his e-mail box with spam mail depriving him of the services he is entitled to access or provide

Short for denial-of-service attack, a type of attack on a network that is designed to bring the network to its knees by flooding it with useless traffic. Many DoS attacks, such as the Ping of Death and Teardrop attacks, exploit limitations in the TCp/IP protocols. For all known DoS attacks, there are software fixes that system administrators can install to limit the damage caused by the attacks. But, like Virus, new DoS attacks are constantly being dreamed up by Hacker.

Source : Mumbai Crime Cell

Cyber Stalking

Cyber Stalking can be defined as the repeated acts harassment or threatening behavior of the cyber criminal towards the victim by using internet services. Stalking in General terms can be referred to as the repeated acts of harassment targeting the victim such as following the victim, making harassing phone calls, killing the victims pet, vandalizing victims property, leaving written messages or objects. Stalking may be followed by serious violent acts such as physical harm to the victim and the same has to be treated and viewed seriously. It all depends on the course of conduct of the stalker.

Both kind of Stalkers â€" Online & Offline – have desire to control the victims life. Majority of the stalkers are the dejected lovers or ex-lovers, who then want to harass the victim because they failed to satisfy their secret desires. Most of the stalkers are men and victim female.

How do they Operate

1. Collect all personal information about the victim such as name, family background, Telephone Numbers of residence and work place, daily routine of the victim, address of residence and place of work, date of birth etc. If the stalker is one of the acquaintances of the victim he can easily get this information. If stalker is a stranger to victim, he collects the information from the internet resources such as various profiles, the victim may have filled in while opening the chat or e-mail account or while signing an account with some website.

2. The stalker may post this information on any website related to sex-services or dating services, posing as if the victim is posting this information and invite the people to call the victim on her telephone numbers to have sexual services. Stalker even uses very filthy and obscene language to invite the interested persons.

3. People of all kind from nook and corner of the World, who come across this information, start calling the victim at her residence and/or work place, asking for sexual services or relationships.

4. Some stalkers subscribe the e-mail account of the victim to innumerable pornographic and sex sites, because of which victim starts receiving such kind of unsolicited e-mails.

5. Some stalkers keep on sending repeated e-mails asking for various kinds of favors or threaten the victim.

6. In online stalking the stalker can make third party to harass the victim.

7. Follow their victim from board to board. They "hangout" on the same BB's as their victim, many times posting notes to the victim, making sure the victim is aware that he/she is being followed. Many times they will "flame" their victim (becoming argumentative, insulting) to get their attention.

8. Stalkers will almost always make contact with their victims through email. The letters may be loving, threatening, or sexually explicit. He will many times use multiple names when contacting the victim.

9. Contact victim via telephone. If the stalker is able to access the victims telephon, he will many times make calls to the victim to threaten, harass, or intimidate them.

10. Track the victim to his/her home.
    

Definition of Cyberstalking?

Although there is no universally accepted definition of cyberstalking, the term is used in this report to refer to the use of the Internet, e-mail, or other electronic communications devices to stalk another person. Stalking generally involves harassing or threatening behavior that an individual engages in repeatedly, such as following a person, appearing at a person's home or place of business, making harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or objects, or vandalizing a person's property. Most stalking laws require that the perpetrator make a credible threat of violence against the victim; others include threats against the victim's immediate family; and still others require only that the alleged stalker's course of conduct constitute an implied threat.(1) While some conduct involving annoying or menacing behavior might fall short of illegal stalking, such behavior may be a prelude to stalking and violence and should be treated seriously.

Nature and Extent of Cyberstalking

An existing problem aggravated by new technology
Although online harassment and threats can take many forms, cyberstalking shares important characteristics with offline stalking. Many stalkers – online or off – are motivated by a desire to exert control over their victims and engage in similar types of behavior to accomplish this end. As with offline stalking, the available evidence (which is largely anecdotal) suggests that the majority of cyberstalkers are men and the majority of their victims are women, although there have been reported cases of women cyberstalking men and of same-sex cyberstalking. In many cases, the cyberstalker and the victim had a prior relationship, and the cyberstalking begins when the victim attempts to break off the relationship. However, there also have been many instances of cyberstalking by strangers. Given the enormous amount of personal information available through the Internet, a cyberstalker can easily locate private information about a potential victim with a few mouse clicks or key strokes.

The fact that cyberstalking does not involve physical contact may create the misperception that it is more benign than physical stalking. This is not necessarily true. As the Internet becomes an ever more integral part of our personal and professional lives, stalkers can take advantage of the ease of communications as well as increased access to personal information. In addition, the ease of use and non-confrontational, impersonal, and sometimes anonymous nature of Internet communications may remove disincentives to cyberstalking. Put another way, whereas a potential stalker may be unwilling or unable to confront a victim in person or on the telephone, he or she may have little hesitation sending harassing or threatening electronic communications to a victim. Finally, as with physical stalking, online harassment and threats may be a prelude to more serious behavior, including physical violence.

Source : CyberCrime Cell - Mumbai

Fw: [HubliCity] Online con:Can This be also a scam ??

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sunil Nalavade" <sunil>
To: <HubliCity@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2007 11:35 AM
Subject: Re: [HubliCity] Online con:Can This be also a scam ??

> Dear Altaf
>
> This is a 100 % Fraud e-mail, Chk the Nigerian immigration e-mail ID that
> they have given which is work-permit@visa-immigration-gov-nig.com and then
> you chk the fake Nigerian Immigration website
> www.visa-immigration-gov-nig.com
>
> The real Nigerian Immigration website is
> http://www.immigration.gov.ng/index2.htm also pl chk the scam alert site
> http://www.immigration.gov.ng/scamalert.htm
>
> Pl ignore this mail, its fake
>
> Thanks
> Sunil Nalavade
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Altaf hussain" <altafhussain77@yahoo.com>
> To: <HubliCity@yahoogroups.com>
> Cc: <sunilnalavade@gmail.com>
> Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2007 10:38 AM
> Subject: Re: [HubliCity] Online con:Can This be also a scam ??
>
>
>> Dear Sunil
>> Regards
>> Thankyou very much for the information, even i get a
>> contract and offer letter 3 days before from Total
>> Petroleum Company, you can see the Documents attached
>> i had applied with ref to the advertisement published
>> in "Times of Oman" Could this be a scam ? Please
>> Advise
>> Thanks
>> Altaf hussain
>> Muscat
>> 00968 92165615
>>
>>
>>
>> ____________________________________________________________________________________
>> Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small Business gives you
>> all the tools to get online.
>> http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting
>

Child Pornography

The Internet is being highly used by its abusers to reach and abuse children sexually, worldwide. The internet is very fast becoming a household commodity in India . It’s explosion has made the children a viable victim to the cyber crime. As more homes have access to internet, more children would be using the internet and more are the chances of falling victim to the aggression of pedophiles.

The easy access to the pornographic contents readily and freely available over the internet lower the inhibitions of the children. Pedophiles lure the children by distributing pornographic material, then they try to meet them for sex or to take their nude photographs including their engagement in sexual positions. Sometimes Pedophiles contact children in the chat rooms posing as teenagers or a child of similar age, then they start becoming friendlier with them and win their confidence. Then slowly pedophiles start sexual chat to help children shed their inhibitions about sex and then call them out for personal interaction. Then starts actual exploitation of the children by offering them some money or falsely promising them good opportunities in life. The pedophiles then sexually exploit the children either by using them as sexual objects or by taking their pornographic pictures in order to sell those over the internet.

In physical world, parents know the face of dangers and they know how to avoid & face the problems by following simple rules and accordingly they advice their children to keep away from dangerous things and ways. But in case of cyber world, most of the parents do not themselves know about the basics in internet and dangers posed by various services offered over the internet. Hence the children are left unprotected in the cyber world. Pedophiles take advantage of this situation and lure the children, who are not advised by their parents or by their teachers about what is wrong and what is right for them while browsing the internet

How do they Operate

1. Pedophiles use false identity to trap the children/teenagers
   
2. Pedophiles contact children/teens in various chat rooms which are used by children/teen to interact with other children/teen.
   
3. Befriend the child/teen.
   
4. Extract personal information from the child/teen by winning his confidence.
   
5. Gets the e-mail address of the child/teen and starts making contacts on the victim’s e-mail address as well.
   
6. Starts sending pornographic images/text to the victim including child pornographic images in order to help child/teen shed his inhibitions so that a feeling is created in the mind of the victim that what is being fed to him is normal and that everybody does it.
   
7. Extract personal information from child/teen
   
8. At the end of it, the pedophile set up a meeting with the child/teen out of the house and then drag him into the net to further sexually assault him or to use him as a sex object.
   

Soucre : CyberCrimeCell-Mumbai

Hacking

Hacking in simple terms means an illegal intrusion into a computer system and/or network. There is an equivalent term to hacking i.e. cracking, but from Indian Laws perspective there is no difference between the term hacking and cracking. Every act committed towards breaking into a computer and/or network is hacking. Hackers write or use ready-made computer programs to attack the target computer. They possess the desire to destruct and they get the kick out of such destruction. Some hackers hack for personal monetary gains, such as to stealing the credit card information, transferring money from various bank accounts to their own account followed by withdrawal of money. They extort money from some corporate giant threatening him to publish the stolen information which is critical in nature.

Government websites are the hot targets of the hackers due to the press coverage, it receives. Hackers enjoy the media coverage.

Motive Behind The Crime

Greed
Power
Publicity
Revenge
Adventure
Desire to access forbidden information
Destructive mindset
Wants to sell n/w security services

 

Source: CyberCrmieCell-Mumbai

Turning the tables on Nigeria's e-mail conmen

Mike is a "scambaiter," dedicated to fighting back against those who send out the notorious 419 e-mails, promising untold wealth to anyone gullible or naive enough to disclose their bank details.

Mike asked us not to use his full name because he's dealing with some heavy cross-border criminals.

Those who fall for the 419 cons are hoping for millions

His group of volunteers at 419eater.com use their computer skills to fool the scammers, to disrupt their crimes, and to have some fun at the scammer's expense.

Every day, millions of people get e-mails like this:

Dear Sir/ Madam,

I am fine today and how are you? I hope this letter will find you in the best of health. I am Prince Joe Eboh, the Chairman of the "Contract Award Committee", of the "Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)", a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

NDDC was set up by the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha who died on 18th June 1998, to manage the excess revenue accruing from the sales of Petroleum and its allied products as a domestic increase in the petroleum products to develop the communities in the Niger Delta Oil producing areas. The estimated annual revenue for 1999 was $45 Billion US Dollars...

And of course, if you were only willing to help the writer siphon some of it off, a few of those many millions could be yours.

Police estimate that every year, US citizens alone are conned out of some $200m.

Painted breast

Mike told me how he baited the writer of the e-mail above, Prince Joe Eboh.

"I'm sure he's not a prince at all," Mike says. "He contacted me with a standard 419 [so-called after a section of Nigeria's legal code] scam.

I have been troubled recently after the death of a dear friend of mine, Minnie Mowse 'Father Hector Barnett'

"I tried to turn it round by saying I worked for a church and we couldn't do any business with people who are not of our faith."

Mike sent a response in the name of Father Hector Barnett of the Church of the Painted Breast.

Dear Sir,

I would dearly love to help you. If you ever decide to join our faith then of course I could help you both with my experience and financial support. I wish you well in your endeavour my brother.

Yours, Father Hector Barnett

"Now I knew the guy would write back and say: 'Well, can I join your faith?' and indeed he did," says Mike.

Dear Father Hector,

If joining your faith is what it takes to help me of course, I am ready to join you. I'm from a good Christian family. I will do anything you want me to do in the faith. Don't forget that I have to transfer the money to your account as urgently as possible. Send me your account details. I hope to read your mail soon.

Prince Joe Eboh

'War-paint'

Dear Joe,

Our ministry was founded in 1774 by a wonderful lady by the name of Betsy Carrington. She spent many of her first preaching years in Kenya, spreading the holy gospel amongst the local people there. She was the first person male or female to promote Christian texts and beliefs to the Masai warrior tribe.

The Holy Church of The Order of The Red Breast 'initiation ceremony'

The most famous account is when as a test she had to remove the top part of her clothes and paint the top half of her body and breast with the red Masai war-paint as a gesture of faith and belief to them so that they would accept her and trust her. She was almost immediately accepted by them and was one of the most trusted westerners known at that time.

As a qualification to enter the Holy Church of The Order of The Red Breast, all followers must go through the initiation procedure that Miss Carrington made so famous. I have attached a photograph of four of our young inductees going through the procedure.

Please use this picture to enable you to make the same marking on yourself. I have also attached a small picture showing the design in more detail. I look forward to welcoming you into our membership my brother.

Father Hector Barnett Financial Development - Holy Church of The Order of The Red Breast.

'Processing fees'

Using image software, Mike made up an "initiation" picture. And Prince Joe duly carried out the induction and e-mailed back a photo of himself in the properly sanctified state.

Dear Brother Hector,

I want to thank the Almighty God himself for the opportunity I have to be a member of this great church The Holy Church Of The Painted Breast. I'm looking forward to establishing a branch of the Church here. But I'll like us to finish everything about the business proposal, which I sent to you earlier...

The picture sent by Prince Joe Eboh

"He then tried to hit me for $18,000 for processing fees for transferring millions," Mike says.

He wrote back as Father Hector, saying that the church had plenty of money, but there was a withdrawal fee of $80.

"I persuaded him to send me the $80, which he did, inside a birthday card, by courier," Mike says.

However, former Scotland Yard fraud officer Tom Craig says that it is unprecedented for the 419 con artists to part with any money - he suggests the notes may have been forged.

Mike says that any money they get from these reverse stings to a children's charity in the north of England.

Exporting snow

Father Hector of the Church of the Painted Breast then entered a troubling period of religious uncertainty.

Dear Joe,

This is your good friend Hector Barnett. Please do not be alarmed that I am contacting you from a different e-mail address. I will explain what has happened.

The guy obviously thought he was going to get $18,000 so easily, he was blinded by his own greed Mike

I have been troubled recently after the death of a dear friend of mine, Minnie Mowse. She was a very, very dear friend indeed, and her death affected me greatly and started to make me question my faith. I have decided to leave the church and join a travelling circus.

I have already made two very good friends, and tomorrow I will be starting my circus training with them...

Prince Joe then began receiving e-mails from another "Reverend" of the Church of the Painted Breast worried about the disappearance of Father Hector and $18,000 from church funds.

Joe already knew from Hector's increasingly eccentric e-mails that he had put the money into a business exporting snow to Siberia.

Lottery winnings

Despite that, Prince Joe still hasn't given up, even though he's $80 down. The e-mail exchange between the probably fake prince and the obviously fake church continues.

At the same time, the scambaiters are running several other such stings.

I asked Mike why these people who are themselves scammers can't spot an obvious scam.

"I think it operates in much the same way as it does with real victims. Greed clouds their judgement. The guy obviously thought he was going to get $18,000 so easily, he was blinded by his own greed.

"Which is what happens to those who fall for the 419 scams; they just see all these millions."

This would all be funny if it wasn't for the millions of dollars being stolen and probably put into drugs or other criminal activities.

Mike and his friends send all their e-mail exchanges to the police in the UK, Nigeria and to the FBI - he says they've had no response. And even warning the victims does no good. Most of them don't want to believe they're being scammed.

The latest e-mail scam concerns lottery winnings you didn't know you had.

If you're tempted, just remember Prince Joe who's still sending e-mails saying he's sticking to his promise and saying the daily prayer: "When all above seems a great test, Get on down with the Holy Red Breast."

Dear Father,

When I said the prayer this morning, something like a fountain went down my system making me to feel strong & happy. I have spent money to process all the necessary documents for the transfer of this fund. What remains now is the registration of your name as the contractor who executed the contract.

Yours, Joe.

E-mail scam 'ruined my life'

Ann is a lot more wary these days when she opens her e-mails. Losing £30,000 to internet fraudsters has made her that way. Ann travelled to Amsterdam to give the fraudsters £4,700 in cash She is one of the many victims of cruel e-mail scams which target the compassionate and the greedy.
And the 58-year-old teacher - who will be in debt for the rest of her life - is an example of how this could happen to anybody.
Ann, who lives in the North West, now admits she was foolish to travel to Amsterdam with £4,700 in cash in the belief she was helping the wife of a former president of the Philippines retrieve her stolen fortune.
She said she thought she was helping a victim of "political oppression" and hoped to spend her share of the money - about £3m - on church charities, orphanages and paying off debts.
But she was faced with escalating demands for cash, including a "tax" payment of more than £100,000.
The lady in the Dutch embassy told me she was almost 100% certain that it was fraud - I really had believed that it was true
Ann Ann, who is still too scared of the gang to give her full name, said: "I had done a bit of research at the local library and had checked out the circumstantial details as to what had happened in the Philippines and the details were as the lady outlined.
"Of course I felt sorry for her and I wanted to help her, being the kind of person who helps people who are in trouble of one kind or another."
She agreed to travel to Amsterdam where she would pay a fee to a firm who had been "looking after" the fortune.
But when she arrived and met the gang - a Dutchman and his African associates - she was told she needed to pay a further £23,450 to obtain a certificate to allow her to take the full amount of money out of The Netherlands.
Unable to find the money herself, she persuaded a relative to lend her the cash, which she then transferred to the gang.
But once the money was transferred, she was told she needed to pay an extra £126,000 in "tax".
'Didn't look right'
It was only at this point that she became suspicious.
She said: "I asked them to send me a faxed copy of this tax demand and it was only at that point that I actually realised it didn't look right.
"It didn't look like a British tax demand and I guessed it wouldn't look like a Dutch one either.
"I contacted the Dutch embassy in London and I also spoke to a Dutch lawyer and both of them said it didn't look anything like a Dutch tax demand.
"The lady in the Dutch embassy told me she was almost 100% certain that it was fraud.
It could happen to anybody - it is very plausible
Ann "I had a dreadful day - I really had believed that it was true."
Since then she has had to fight to rebuild her life. Her modest house has been remortgaged so she can start paying back her relative, with whom she admits her relationship has been badly damaged.
She said: "He is not a rich person who could easily afford it. He just lent me everything he had and he has been in very serious difficulties since then.
Warn others
"I feel really bad about it - I hated asking him for money in the first place, but I really did think it would work out for the best for both of us.
"But I can't raise enough to pay him back and it will take me all the rest of my life to pay him back, I should imagine."
She says she holds out little hope of ever retrieving her money or of the police catching the fraudsters who swindled her.
But she said she wanted her experience to serve as a warning to others.
She said: "I just want to warn other people that the documents look very realistic, the phone calls seem realistic and it is as if you are dealing with straightforward people.
"It could happen to anybody - it is very plausible."

Thankyou Dr. D.V. Guruprasad IPS

This Hubli Dharwad Cyber Security blog http://hublidwdcybersecurity.blogspot.com/ was launched and was inaugurated with the very first post by Dr. D.V. Guruprasad IPS , Additional DIG, Karnataka Police, at a function " Cyber Crime & Women " Organized by Karnataka State Commission For Women, in association with Karnataka State Police at Karnataka University, Dharwad. I would like to thank Dr. D.V. Guruprasad IPS for inaugurating the blog site and I would also like to Thank Shri R. Dilip - DCP Traffic & Crime, for inviting me .

Today many cyber related crimes go unnoticed due to lack of awareness and we silently bear them, I have made this medium, so that the general public of Hubli Dharwad can come and discuss cyber crime related issues.

Thanks and regards
Sunil Nalavade

Inauguration of Hubli Dharwad Cyber Security

My best wishes to you on your campaign towards responsible CyberSociety

Dr. D.V. Guruprasad IPS

Additional Director General Of Police (Recruitment & Training)

Karnataka State Police