Cybercrime Analysis and Trends

This assignment delves into the multifaceted world of cybercrime. Students are tasked with analyzing different categories of cyber risks, examining historical trends and statistical data on cyberattacks, and exploring the legal frameworks surrounding cybercrime. The focus is on understanding the methodology used in cybercrime research to effectively study and address this growing threat.

Running head: CYBER SECURITY CHALLENGES
Cyber Security Challenges
Name
Institution

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Executive summary
This study will be based on the challenges of cyber security. Many businesses in the world today
are done online and hence security must be tight so as to make those businesses successful. Due
to that, this study will be conducted to access the challenges those businesses undergo in terms of
security. The paper will outline how the researcher intents to carry out the study by first giving a
brief introduction, and then review the existing literature related to the topic under study, and
give out a methodology which will be used in the process of research.

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Table of contents
Contents
Executive summary.....................................................................................................................................1
Table of contents.........................................................................................................................................2
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................4
Research objectives.....................................................................................................................................5
Research questions......................................................................................................................................5
Project scope...............................................................................................................................................5
Literature review.........................................................................................................................................6
Classification of cyber crimes.....................................................................................................................7
Research methodology................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................13
References.................................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
Cyber security is a combination of many technologies whose main target is to protect
computers from threats like virus and hacking. There are many ways which can pose threats to
the computers and most of them are based on the internet so any computers which are used for
internet services are at risk. One of the main threats is cybercrime which can be defined as any
attempts which are tried via the internet to cause damage to computers (Sunde et al., 2017). This
security-related issues have made customers to loose trust in different companies hence making a
great challenge to any business which is carried out online.
Once a company is subjected to a cybercrime its data may be stolen and the hackers
demand money in exchange of the stolen data. This crime is carried out in different ways which
may include social engineering, hacking, or use of fake emails. All these methods are equal to
the risks they pose to any company which becomes a victim of the crime. In many instances,
companies have strategies which are put in place to make sure that they don’t fall victim of
cybercrime but after all, they find themselves in the situation.
In the past years, cybercrime has been growing at a high rate a fact that has led to many
challenges concerning cyber security. The more the cyber security grows the more the
cybercrime grows hence becoming very hard to totally curb the vice. One of the main challenges
of cyber security is that those people who are concerned with it are the same people who carry
out the crime in many instances. This study will focus on determining the challenges which
cyber security is experiencing in the current world. After the end of the study, recommendations
will be made on how to solve those challenges.

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Research objectives
The main objective of this study will be to evaluate the challenges which are facing cyber
security. The following are the other objectives of the study.
1. To access how the challenges affect different types of businesses which are carried online
2. To evaluate the main factors which have led to the increase of the cyber security
challenges
3. To discuss the level of cybercrime for the past two years
4. To determine the sectors which have many cyber security challenges
Research questions
1. What are the main challenges facing cyber security?
2. How do those challenges affect businesses which are carried online?
3. What is the level of cybercrime for the past two years?
4. Which sectors have been affected more by cybercrimes?
Project scope
This study will be carried out online by the use of the survey. It will be limited to
specifically chosen people to participate on the study since cyber security is a global issue. The
study will not be focused on one area because that may not give out accurate results hence data
will be collected globally by use of online surveys.

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Literature review
Cyber security can well be defined as a combination of different technologies which are
put in place to curb, minimize or eliminate cybercrime. On the other hand, cybercrime can be
defined as the process of accessing other people information without their consent via the
internet. In the current situation, it seems that cybercrime has overtaken cyber security hence
posing a great danger to on how to handle it. The following discussion will summarize the
history of cybercrime.
The first machine which was used for hacking was called Engima and was created by
Alan who became the pioneer of the modern computer science (Schjolberg, 2014). This machine
was used for hacking and the owner of the machine basically focused on getting data from un
authorized sources. The first greatest attacks occurred back in 1989 in the National bank of
Chicago where huge sums of money were stolen from the bank hence marking the start of the
modern cybercrime (Pereira, 2016). In the recent years, cybercrime has become a threat to
national and international security as it continues to grow every day with new techniques which
are adopted every day by the hackers. This has posed a threat to the cyber security which seems
to grow slowly.
There are many areas which hackers focus while carrying out cybercrimes. These areas
include, emails, social media sites, websites designed for businesses, and other areas like ATMs.
All these areas have security measures which have been set but they seem not to be able to solve
the problem of cybercrime. Hackers, most of the time focus the big companies which they know
if they succeed they get a lot of money hence those companies are in great danger of cybercrimes
every day.

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Classification of cyber crimes
Cybercrimes are classified in different categories depending on the type of the crime. The
following discussion will analyze all the classification and how they are carried out.
Fraud and Financial crimes
This is crimes which are related to money. Fraud is any act of misinterpreting
information with the main goal of stealing (Douglas et al., 2013). The hackers can create a page
which looks similar to the true pages of the site they are intending to steal from and then when a
staff member sees the created page, he or she ends up signing in on that page hence giving out
important information which is later used to carry out crimes.
Cyber extortion
This crime occurs when hackers deny the owners of websites, emails or any other form of
social media communication methods an access on those sites unless they give out money. This
crime if the most common and it affects many companies in the world today. The targeted
companies end up paying the hackers the money they demand hence so as to allow them to
access their information.
Cyber terrorism
This type of crime involves any actions of terrorism which are carried out online.
Hackers may target different sites of national security to hack them so as to get information
which will help them carry out terrorism acts (Uma and Padmavathi, 2013). Once the hackers get
the data they go on with their mission of carrying out the crimes which have many effects to
people. Security agencies face this challenge of how they should eliminate this vice since it leads
to deaths of many people if the hackers mission was to carry out an attack in a given country or
area.

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Challenges facing cyber security
Cyber security has faced many challenges in the recent years. It seems that many of those
challenges are hard to solve since they don’t have a specific formula to solve them. The
following discussion will highlight some of those challenges.
Growing data
Many companies nowadays have very big volumes of data. These companies end up
using the third party to manage their data. These third parties may not be trusty worthy and they
can plan cybercrimes for those companies hence making it a great challenge (Linton et al., 2014).
Companies lack enough data personnel since it is very expensive to hire them and that’s why
they prefer the third party to manage data.
The systems
The systems used to prevent cyber-attacks are not more advanced like the once used by
the hackers to carry out cybercrimes (Vandeberg et al., 2014). The hackers first study the
systems which the targeted company use for security and develop a more sophisticated system
which can be used to carry out the hacking. This poses a great challenge to the companies since
they end up becoming victims of cybercrimes.
Qualifications
It is evident that those people who carry out cybercrimes are more qualified to develop
cyber security but they lack ethics. This leads to a great competition between cyber security
system developers and cybercrime system developers. The cybercrime system developer’s first
study the systems of cyber security then develop their own systems for hacking. This makes it
very hard to control them hence posing a great danger to all those companies which operate
online.

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Research methodology
Research methodology is a scientific method which is adopted in carrying out research
and it involves an explanation of how the research will be carried out (Mackey and Gass, 2015).
It gives out how data will be collected and analyzed to get a good result.
The study type
This study will be a quantitative study. Quantitative research is an empirical type of
research which is based on empirical data and is carried out in a specified protocol to give out
scientific and verifiable results (Claydon, 2015). This type of study has twelve steps which must
be flowed to ensure that the results are scientific and reliable. The following discussion will
involve the twelve steps of quantitative research.
The first step of the study is to come up with a problem which needs to be researched.
The problem should be empirical and researchable. It should also be able to give out results
which are important (Yilmaz, 2013). The second step of the study is to come up with objectives
which should be met by the end of the study. The objectives should be in line with the literature
review and the topic under study. The third step is to explain where the study will be carried out.
In this step, the scope of the study is explained and justification given why the research will be
carried out the specified area. There follow the research questions of the study. The research
questions are given out and they should be based on the objectives of the study. Those are the
questions which will be answered by the collected data. There follows the research hypothesis.
This hypothesis is the ones which are tested using the collected data to give out the results of the
study. The hypothesis should be in line with the objectives and the research questions so as give
the study a logical order and to make it scientific and more reliable.

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The next step is a literature review of the study where the researcher reviews the already
existing literature on the topic under study. This step is very important because it gives the
researcher a solid back ground on the gaps of the study and also gives him or her firsthand
knowledge. It also expands the researcher’s minds on the topic and makes him able to identify
the gaps which need further research.
The next step is the data collection where the researcher collects data based on the
specified target group and allows him or her test the research hypothesis by use of that data
(Todeschini and Bacini, 2016). The collected data is important and should be able to answer the
research questions. There follows the step of data analysis where the researcher transforms the
data into information (Wang et al., 2013). This step is the one which gives out communication
about the study and makes the study either reliable or void. The next step is communication of
the findings. In this step, the researcher gives out what he or she found after carrying out the
study (Babbie, 2015). The last step is recommendations where the researcher explains what
should be done to make sure that the problems under study are solved.
The research design
The Research design is the structure within which a study is carried out. It gives a blue
print for data collection and analysis (Neuman, 2016). This study will use a descriptive design
which will entail the collection of data by use of surveys (Ary et al., 2013). The surveys will be
carried online to collect the data.
Target population
The target population of this study will be companies which carry out their businesses
online. The surveys will be posted on those sites for the workers of those companies to fill them
and hence the researcher will get data for analysis. The researcher will not limit any person from

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participating in the survey given that the participant will give out the required data. However,
any participant who will not be able to give out the required data, that data will be omitted during
analysis.
Sampling procedure
This study will not use any sampling procedure since the data will be carried online. The
researcher will allow people to fill out the survey so as to get a sample of 400 participants. Any
participants who will give out irrelevant data, that data will be omitted during the analysis. The
researcher will only choose 400 participants who have given out relevant data for analysis.
Instrumentation
The researcher will only use questionnaires as the main tool for data collection. The
questioners are the ones which will be uploaded as surveys online to collect the required data.
The researcher will make sure the questions in the questioners are relevant to the study to avoid
making the study unreliable.
Data collection
The data will only be collected online and then will be downloaded. The researcher will
crosscheck the questionnaires then enter the data into an excel file to make it ready for analysis.
This data will be then screened to clean it and make it ready for analysis.
Limitations of the study
There are few limitations associated with this study. The first limitation is that the
participants may not be willing participate in the study hence important information may be left
out. Also, the participants may give out fake data hence making the research too hard. Another
limitation is that he study may not be conducted to a specific group and hence it may attract
some people who are not supposed to participate in it.

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Time schedule of the study
The study will be carried out for a period of two months. The following is a table which
included the time schedule of the study.
the first month
first week 1. Evaluation of the theoretical part of
the study
2. Understanding the theory related to
the study
second week 1. Designing the questionnaires
2. Uploading the questionnaires as
surveys to the related sites
third week 1. Monitoring the process of survey how
it is going on
fourth week 1. Evaluating the data collection process
second month
first week 1. Down loading the filled questioners
2. Cross-checking the Questionnaires
second week 1. Coding the data into excel file
2. Data cleaning
third week 1. Data analysis
fourth week 1. Communicating the findings
2. Recommendations

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Conclusion
This research will be carried out with the main goal of evaluating the challenges facing
cyber security. The study will be conducted for a period of two months so as to give the
researcher humble time to give out accurate results. The researcher will follow the protocol of
the research so as to make it logical and more reliable. This will make it one of the best
researchers to be used to solve cyber security challenges. The study will answer all the research
questions to make sure it is reliable. It will evaluate the challenges which are facing cyber
security, access how those challenges affect businesses which are carried online, evaluate the
main factors which has led to increase of cyber security challenges, it will also discuss the level
of cyber security challenges for the past two years and determine the sectors which have many
cyber security challenges. This will make it possible for the related bodies to take action on how
to solve those problems and hence improve cyber security.

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References
Ary, D., Jacobs, L. C., Irvine, C. K. S., & Walker, D. (2013). Introduction to research in
education. Cengage Learning.
Babbie, E. (2015). The practice of social research. Nelson Education.
Claydon, L. S. (2015). Rigour in quantitative research. Nursing Standard, 29(47), 43-48.
Douglas, J., Burgess, A. W., Burgess, A. G., & Ressler, R. K. (2013). Crime classification
manual: A standard system for investigating and classifying violent crime. John Wiley &
Sons.
Linton, J. D., Boyson, S., & Aje, J. (2014). The challenge of cyber supply chain security to
research and practice–An introduction.
Mackey, A., & Gass, S. M. (2015). Second language research: Methodology and design.
Routledge.
Neuman, W. L. (2016). Understanding research. Pearson.
Pereira, B. (2016). Fighting Cybercrime: From an Abundance of Standards to Their
Perfectibility. Revue internationale de droit économique, 30(3), 387-409.
Schjolberg, S. (2014). The History of Cybercrime: 1976-2014. BoD–Books on Demand.
Sunde, I. M., Flaglien, A., Dilijonaite, A., Hamm, J., Sandvik, J. P., Bjelland, P., ... & Axelsson,
S. (2017). Cybercrime Law. Digital Forensics, 51-116.

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Todeschini, R., & Baccini, A. (2016). Handbook of bibliometric indicators: quantitative tools for
studying and evaluating research. John Wiley & Sons.
Uma, M., & Padmavathi, G. (2013). A Survey on Various Cyber Attacks and their
Classification. IJ Network Security, 15(5), 390-396.
Van den Berg, J., Van Zoggel, J., Snels, M., Van Leeuwen, M., Boeke, S., van de Koppen, L., ...
& De Bos, T. (2014). On (the Emergence of) Cyber Security Science and its Challenges
for Cyber Security Education. In Proceedings of the NATO IST-122 Cyber Security
Science and Engineering Symposium (pp. 13-14).
Wang, W., Xu, L., Kong, J., Fan, H., & Yang, P. (2013). Quantitative research of histone H3
acetylation levels of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Bioanalysis, 5(3), 327-339.
Yilmaz, K. (2013). Comparison of quantitative and qualitative research traditions:
Epistemological, theoretical, and methodological differences. European Journal of
Education, 48(2), 311-325.

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Appendix A
Table 1
Categories of cyber risk (Cebula and young, 2010).
category description element
1. Inadvertent unintentional actions taken
without malicious or harmful
intent
mistakes, errors, omissions
2. Deliberate actions taken intentionally and
with intent to do harm
fraud, sabotage, theft and
vandalism
3. Inaction lack of action or failure to act in
a given situation
lack of appropriate skills,
knowledge, guidance, and
availability of personnel to take
action

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Appendix B
Cyber-attack statistics 2013

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Appendix C
Year amount of cybercrimes