Tactics and Techniques
What is phishing, and how is it used by cybercriminals?
Phishing is a cyber-attack that uses fraudulent emails, websites, and text messages to convince victims to give up personal information and corporate data.
What is a significant global cybersecurity challenge faced by organizations today?
How can cybercrime affect individuals in their daily lives?
Financial losses, identity theft, emotional trauma, reputation damage, device performance, data breaches, intellectual property theft
What is a common motivation for cybercriminals?
Financial gain, political or religious motives, desire for disruption, notoriety
What personality traits are often associated with successful cybercriminals?
aggressive, hostile, low in empathy, and impulse, thrill-seeking, creativity, willing to break the law, competitive
Describe the concept of ransomware.
it holds data hostage until the victim pays the attacker to regain access to their files.
Name one international body that works to combat cybercrime.
INTERPOL, FBI, Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
What role does public awareness play in enhancing cybersecurity?
it helps people understand how to stay safe online and protect their information
How do financial gain and ideology differ in terms of motivation for cybercriminals?
Hacktivism is fuelled by individuals who believe in a cause: Freedom of speech, eradication of poverty, religion, fair trade
How does the mindset of a cybersecurity expert differ from that of a cybercriminal?
protection vs disruption
Identify a common technique used in social engineering.
A common technique used in social engineering is phishing
Name a common tool used by ethical hackers to identify vulnerabilities.
A common tool used by ethical hackers to identify vulnerabilities is Nmap (Network Mapper), which is a network scanning tool used for mapping out networks and identifying potential weaknesses within them
Describe how a major data breach can impact a company's reputation.
Loss of customer trust, negative press, brand value damage, accusations of negligence
What role does personal gain play in the actions of some cybersecurity experts?
high paying job, staying ahead of cybercriminals (bragging rights), personal satisfaction in protecting the greater good, mental stimulation
What psychological factors can lead to someone becoming a cybercriminal?
low empathy, high impulsivity, childhood trauma, thrill-seeking, antagonism, narcissism
Explain the importance of encryption in cybersecurity.
it protects sensitive data by scrambling it into an unreadable format, ensuring that only authorized parties with the decryption key can access the information
Describe the impact of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.
What are the potential social consequences of widespread cybercrime?
financial losses, identity theft, emotional trauma, and reputation damage
Discuss how revenge or personal grievances can motivate cybercriminal behavior.
Political motivation
supporting an ideological belief
Target individuals, organizations, or governments they perceive as enemies or adversaries.
Discuss how empathy (or lack thereof) plays a role in cybercriminal behavior.
Committing actions against undeserving individuals without concern for the impact on personal lives
Discuss how cybercriminals utilize the dark web to facilitate their activities.
Buying and selling stolen data
Purchasing hacking tools
Coordinating attacks
Sharing information
Selling financial information
Selling financial information
Discuss a recent global cyber incident and its implications.
Name one with supporting evidence
Analyze how cybersecurity policies can influence society’s trust in technology.
protects all categories of data from theft and damage
sets the standards of behavior for protecting data and use of social media
Examine the motivations behind hacktivism and its impact on society.
Motivations: a response to the perceived injustices or wrongdoings, that provides a means for marginalized voices to be heard
Impact: expose corruption and wrongdoing by governments and corporations, raise awareness about important social and political issues. On the other hand, hacktivism has also led to concerns about online security and privacy, and public safety of marginalized groups.
Analyze the psychological impact of cybercrime on victims.
Emotional distress, Grief, physical symptoms, mental health disorders, self-esteem, self-harm, mistrust