Introduction to Cybercrime and Environmental Laws

Vocabulary flashcards covering the concepts, nature, types, and legal framework of cybercrime based on course CDI 109 and Republic Act No. 10175.

Cybercrime

Any illegal activity that is committed using computers, digital devices, or the internet, involving offenses such as hacking, identity theft, and online fraud.

Cyber

An electronic medium used for online communication, such as a computer or a computer network.

Crime

An act or omission in violation of a law forbidding or commanding it.

Cyberspace

A digital and global domain within the information environment consisting of the interdependent network of information system infrastructures including the internet and computer systems.

Computer as a Target

A category of cybercrime where the crime is committed by hacking or spreading malicious software to a specific targeted computer.

Computer as a Weapon

A category of cybercrime where the computer is used as a tool for stalking, identity theft, or sexually-exploitative behavior.

Computer as an Accessory

A category of cybercrime where the computer is used to store illegal or stolen information, such as child pornography or personally identifiable information.

Hackers

Individuals with technical skills who use them to access systems or networks of other individuals or organizations to commit crimes.

Social Engineer

Cyber criminals who pretend to be someone else or assume another identity to trick individuals into compromising data.

Phisher

A criminal who sends false messages through email, SMS, or calls that appear to be from a legitimate sender to reveal sensitive information.

Rogue Employee

Unhappy employees who have access to company data and represent a threat to its system.

Ransom Artist

Bad actors who modify code and implement new ransom attack methods to extort victims.

Crackers

Malicious hackers who intentionally break into systems to cause damage, steal information, or commit fraud.

Cyber Extortionists

Criminals who demand money by threatening to release sensitive information or by locking victims' data with ransomware.

Identity Thieves

Individuals who steal personal information such as names, passwords, and bank details for financial gain.

State-Sponsored Hackers

Individuals or groups supported by governments to conduct cyber espionage or attacks against other nations.

Cyber Terrorists

Criminals who use technology to create fear, disrupt critical infrastructure, or advance ideological goals.

Organized Cybercrime Groups

Well-funded criminal organizations that conduct large-scale cyberattacks and financial crimes.

Insiders

Employees or authorized users who misuse their access to steal data, commit fraud, or sabotage systems.

White Hat Hackers

Authorized professionals, also known as Ethical Hackers, who test and secure systems to fix vulnerabilities.

Gray Hat Hackers

Unauthorized but non-malicious hackers who operate in an ethical gray area and may report vulnerabilities after access.

Black Hat Hackers

Unauthorized and malicious hackers who engage in illegal activities for personal gain or destruction.

Script Kiddies

Inexperienced users using existing tools to perform cyberattacks.

Malware

Short for malicious software; any software designed to harm or exploit a device or network.

Virus

Malware that attaches itself to legitimate programs and replicates when the infected program runs, such as Stuxnet ($2010$).

Trojan Horse

Malware that disguises itself as legitimate software to create a backdoor for attackers once inside a system.

Worm

Programs that replicate and spread across a network independently without needing to attach to files, such as Conficker ($2008$).

Spyware

Malware that secretly monitors user activities, capturing keystrokes and personal information, such as Pegasus.

Ransomware

Malware that encrypts files on a victim's system and demands a ransom for decryption keys, such as AKIRA.

Rootkits

Malware designed to conceal itself and other processes stealthily within a compromised system.

Adware

Software that displays unwanted advertisements on a user's computer, often as pop-up ads.

Botnets

Networks of infected computers controlled remotely by a single entity, such as Mariposa.

Keyloggers

Programs that record keystrokes to capture sensitive information like passwords and credit card numbers.

Denial of Service (DoS) Attack

A targeted attack that floods a network with false requests to disrupt business operations and prevent legitimate access.

Volumetric Attacks

A type of DDoS attack that creates a bottleneck by consuming the bandwidth between the target server and the internet.

Protocol Attacks

A type of DDoS attack that targets a protocol stack by overwhelming network resources such as firewalls.

Application Layer Attacks

A type of DDoS attack targeting the layer where web pages are generated to make applications crash or sluggish.

Phishing

A cyberattack that lures victims into sharing private information or downloading malicious programs via channels like email or SMS.

Spear Phishing

An especially dangerous scheme using a fake company name and personalized details about the target to compel them into a trap.

Whaling

Phishing attacks that appear to come from high-ranking company officials, such as a CEO, targeting senior executives.

Smishing

A social engineering attack that uses fake mobile text messages to trick people into sharing sensitive information.

Vishing

The use of fraudulent phone calls pretending to represent a trusted institution to trick people into giving money or info.

Spoofing

A technique where a cybercriminal disguises themselves as a known or reputable source to engage with a target.

Domain Spoofing

Falsifying a domain to mimic a legitimate one, often with a misleadingly similar URL.

Email Spoofing

Forging an email header to mask a true identity and impersonate legitimate senders, often exploiting SMTP vulnerabilities.

ARP Spoofing

An attack occurring on a Local Area Network (LAN) where a threat actor tricks a device into sending data to them instead of the intended recipient.

Intellectual Property Theft

The theft of ideas, creative expressions, patents, copyrights, trademarks, or trade secrets from individuals or companies.

Surface Web

The part of the internet accessible through and indexed by search engines like Google.

Deep Web

Part of the internet not indexed by search engines, estimated to be $400$ to $500$ times more massive than the surface web.

Dark Web

A part of the deep web designed for anonymity, requiring specific software to access; often associated with illegal activities.

Bluebugging

A Bluetooth attack that permits a virtual takeover of the target phone, allowing the hacker to make calls and listen to conversations.

Bluejacking

Sending anonymous and unwanted messages to nearby Bluetooth-enabled devices using features intended for exchanging business cards.

Bluesnarfing

Data theft using Bluetooth to connect to a phone without confirmation and download phonebooks, emails, or private videos.

Cookie Manipulation

The use of small files stored in a web browser to identify a website user for illicit purposes.

Cyberterrorism

The premeditated use or threat of disruptive activities in cyberspace to further social, political, or ideological objectives.

Fire Sale

A three-stage coordinated cyberattack on a country's transportation, telecommunications, financial, and utilities infrastructure.

Data Diddling

The illegal or unauthorized alteration of computer data before and during data input or before output.

Salami Theft

A financial crime technique making insignificant alterations in single cases, such as deducting a few cents from many accounts, to go unnoticed.

Onel De Guzman

A Filipino school dropout who released the destructive 'I LOVE YOU' computer virus in May $2000$.

I LOVE YOU Virus

A virus received as an email attachment named 'LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs' that caused an estimated $US\$ 5.5\,billion$ to $US\$ 10\,billion$ in damages.

Republic Act No. 10175

The Cybercrime Prevention Act of $2012$ in the Philippines.

Access (Section 3)

Refers to the instruction, communication with, storing data in, or retrieving data from a computer system or network.

Critical Infrastructure

Computer systems or networks so vital to the country that their destruction would have a debilitating impact on national security or public health.

Traffic Data

Computer data other than content, including communication origin, destination, route, time, date, size, and duration.

Illegal Access (Section 4)

The access to the whole or any part of a computer system without right.

Cyber Squatting

Acquiring a domain name in bad faith to profit, mislead, or destroy the reputation of a trademark owner or another person.

Cybersex

Willful engagement or maintenance of any lascivious exhibition of sexual organs or activity with the aid of a computer for consideration.

Cyber Libel

The public and malicious online accusation of a crime, vice, or defect that causes dishonor to a person or the memory of the deceased.

Unjust Vexation

A catch-all criminal offense for acts that cause annoyance, irritation, or torment to another but do not fall under specific crimes.

CICC

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, an inter-agency body for policy coordination and enforcement of the national cybersecurity plan.