Analysis and Evaluation of Recent Real-Life Cybercrime Cases

This project identifies, analyzes, and evaluates three real-life cybercrimes that have occurred over the past 12 months, with at least one originating from the United Arab Emirates or the Gulf region. The analysis includes the date and location of the breaches, the initiators, the affected parties, a description of the incidents, the exploited security vulnerabilities, the estimated costs, the security measures implemented to prevent recurrence, any unresolved issues, and new technical information learned from each case. The project covers a ransomware attack on Pitney Bowes, the Agent Smith mobile malware, and cyberattacks targeting the gas and oil sector in the Middle East, highlighting the increasing sophistication and organization of cybercriminals and the importance of robust security measures and user awareness to mitigate risks. The project concludes by emphasizing the need for continuous vigilance and proactive measures to maintain cyber health and prevent cybercrime victimization.

Running Head: CYBER CRIMINAL CASES
Cyber Criminal Cases
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

Running Head: CYBER CRIMINAL CASES
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
No 1- Pitney Bowes Operations is Disrupted by the Ransomware Attack..................................3
No 2- The Agent Smith- The New Virus to Hit the Mobile Devices.........................................4
No 3- Cyberattacks in the Middle East........................................................................................5
Evaluation........................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Reference.........................................................................................................................................8

Running Head: CYBER CRIMINAL CASES
Introduction
The cybercrime is referred to as all of the illegal activities which are carried out having
used the technologies. The cybercriminals range from the rogue individuals for organizing all of
the crime groups to the factions sponsored by the state and almost all of the malwares such as
social engineering and phishing are used for pursuing the nefarious plans. It is surprising to note
that the cybercrime is professionalized and organized incredibly (Van Wegberg et al., 2018)..
The people who are engaged in such crimes buy and sell the malwares online having traded in
some services for tracking the malware deployment along with the tech support. The
proliferation and the professionalization of the cybercrime help in adding up the countless
expense in the damages every year which impacts on the businesses, the individuals and the
governments (Gercke, 2016).. The IoT or the Internet of Things has evolved and also the smart
devices have become quite popular. Significantly, the cybercriminals usually benefit from the
broader attack surface which increases the scope of penetrating the security, achieving the
unauthorized accesses (Hui, Kim & Wang, 2017).. It is found that the cybercriminals range from
the individuals to the criminal companies. For example, it starts with a hacker hacking into the
US stock market to the State Sponsored groups which propagated the ransomware on a massive
scale. Notably, it does not need the expert skill for becoming a cybercrook. In this project, three
real life cybercrimes which have occurred over the past 12 months will be analyzed and
evaluated.

Running Head: CYBER CRIMINAL CASES
Discussion
No 1- Pitney Bowes Operations is Disrupted by the Ransomware Attack
As per the news released on 15th November 2019, the ecommerce and Global shipping giant
Pitney Bowes informed the customers about its services which are unavailable because of a piece
of ransomware that infected some of its systems. The global shipping giant usually provides a
significant range of the commerce solutions such as the ecommerce, the customer information,
the shipping, the presort services, the location data and the financing too. The services are
actually used by almost 90 percent of the companies in Fortune 500. The company has revealed
about a ransomware which has encrypted the files on its systems that has led to the users not
being able to access the services. The firm further says that there is no such evidence of the
attackers gaining access to the employee or the customer data. As per the reports of the company,
the event has left impact on the products of its mailing system, the supplies web store, the
account services, the software and data marketplace downloads with the presort and few other
commerce services. On the basis of the previous incidents, it can be said that the ransomware
attacks can leave huge financial impact on a company (Scroxton, 2020). It can even do a loss of
almost ten million of dollars. Regarding the ransomware that made its way onto the system of
Pitney Bowes, there are some of the experts who believe the attackers to be using a phishing
email or the exploited software that is unpatched. Through this case of cybercrime, I have
understood that Phishing and the unpatched software are highly responsible for huge attacks ad it
cannot change until people are not paying proper attention to the right parts. Also, the hackers
will continue attacking through using phishing the unpatched software as long as it is working.
No 2- The Agent Smith- The New Virus to Hit the Mobile Devices
The Agent Smith describes the human race to be the species which multiplies until all of
the resources are consumed. In the real sense, the Agent Smith is one mobile malware containing

Running Head: CYBER CRIMINAL CASES
real virus which is spreading at an alarming rate. The researchers have discovered recently a
new variant of the mobile malware which has infected quietly around 25 millions of the devices
during the user staying unaware completely. The central part of this malware is that it is
disguised as the Google related applications. This can exploit many of the Android
vulnerabilities and at the same time it replaces the already installed apps with the malicious
versions without any interaction with the user. So far, the victims belong to Pakistan, India,
Bangladesh and other Asian countries. There are a noticeable number of devices in Australia, the
United Kingdom and the United States. The Agent Smith is recently being used for accessing the
resources of a device for showing the fraudulent ads to have financial gain. This is the activity
which resembles the previous campaigns as Hummingbad, Gooligan and the CopyCat malware
which can further infect all of the smartphones which are updatred beyond the Android v.7
(Ashford, 2020).. From this type of cybercrime, I have learnt that users should always download
apps from the trusted stores for mitigating the risk of the infection. In the mobile threat
landscape, the best type of protection is against the malware attack of Agent Smith is to leverage
the advanced technologies that are founded on the threat prevention being powered by the
advanced threat intelligence to protect the digital assets.
No 3- Cyberattacks in the Middle East
It is found from the reports of June 2019 that the cyberattacks in the Middle East are on
the rise and most of them are targeting on the gas and oil sector. As reported by DarkMatter that
is a cybersecurity firm, that the rise is threatening for the country. In the United Arab Emirates,
there is a number of growing attacks on the governments, the telecommunications and some
other critical infrastructure that has recorded the incidents starting from October to March 2019.
It is further found that sabotage and the cyber-espionage are the chief motivations for the groups

Running Head: CYBER CRIMINAL CASES
which had carried out these types of attacks. The preferred mode of the duping target is by
spearing the phishing which is a practice of sending all of the emails from a trusted sender for
tricking those into the information revealing. The firm DarkMatter had highlighted almost seven
attacks in the region of Middle East. In January, one attack was carried out having used the
malicious documents of Microsoft Excel that contained the politically charged content in Arabic.
The UAE is one attractive target for the cyberattacks because it is connected digitally with a high
smartphone adoption rate (Tan, 2020).. Hence, I have learnt from this type of cybercrime that
there is a recent development in the interests of stealing the personal data as a contrast with the
Iranian groups which target the government traditionally along with the commercial information.
With the world being more interconnected and people being dependent on the technologies, the
landscape of threat is broadening everyday having created more scopes for the attackers. I have
further learnt that the cybersecurity is not about a solitary hacker but it further involves the
trained and organized groups along with the underground companies that serve particular
objectives specifically the political ones. In order to combat such threats along with limiting the
adverse effects, the users actually need to become completely aware of the significance of
preserving the data based on firm security guidance and advice.
Evaluation
Therefore, it can be said that cybercrime is spread among almost every country and UAE
is the becoming the hubspot for the cybercrimes. Most of the cybercrimes are because of weak
security, internal breaching of the law of security and data protection Act. There are ways
through which the cybercrimes can be reduced and stopped too (Broadhurst et al., 2018).. A
company should keep everything updated and strong, unique passwords should be used. The
multifactor authentication should be enabled because in many of the situations, the websites

Running Head: CYBER CRIMINAL CASES
require the users to provide a strong password along with a separate code from a text message, an
app or an email. One should further encrypt and back up the most important data. When a hacker
will copy the files, only gibberish will come in hand instead of the financial data and the address
book (Leukfeldt & Yar, 2016). There are some manufacturers who do this without the users
knowing that helps in improving the security of the customers. One should further be aware and
careful about using the public wi-fi. One should use a virtual private network for encrypting the
internet traffic added to what goes through the browser. In simple words, one should be highly
cautious , informed and proactive for avoiding any disruption.
Conclusion
On a concluding note, it can be said that there is no such computer or mobile device
which is entirely secure. One can break into the most protected systems with patience, money
and the skill. Through taking the above mentioned steps, one can stay away from being a victim
to the cybercrime and maintain the cyber health with safer online activities.

Running Head: CYBER CRIMINAL CASES
Reference
Ashford, W. (2020). Agent Smith mobile malware hits millions of devices. Retrieved 9 April
2020, from https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252466494/Agent-Smith-mobile-
malware-hits-millions-of-devices
Broadhurst, R., Skinner, K., Sifniotis, N., Matamoros-Macias, B., & Ipsen, Y. (2018). Phishing
and Cybercrime Risks in a University Student Community. Available at SSRN 3176319.
Gercke, M. (2016). Understanding cybercrime: a guide for developing countries.
Hui, K. L., Kim, S. H., & Wang, Q. H. (2017). Cybercrime deterrence and international
legislation: Evidence from distributed denial of service attacks. Mis Quarterly, 41(2),
497.
Leukfeldt, E. R., & Yar, M. (2016). Applying routine activity theory to cybercrime: A theoretical
and empirical analysis. Deviant Behavior, 37(3), 263-280.
Scroxton, A., 2020. Pitney Bowes ‘Considering Options’ After Malware Attack. [online]
ComputerWeekly.com. Available at:
<https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252472368/Pitney-Bowes-considering-
options-after-malware-attack> [Accessed 9 April 2020].
Tan, W. (2020). Cyberattacks in the Middle East are on the rise. Here's who they're targeting.
Retrieved 9 April 2020, from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/18/cyberattacks-in-uae-
middle-east-darkmatter-report.html

Running Head: CYBER CRIMINAL CASES
Van Wegberg, R., Tajalizadehkhoob, S., Soska, K., Akyazi, U., Ganan, C. H., Klievink, B., ... &
Van Eeten, M. (2018). Plug and prey? measuring the commoditization of cybercrime via
online anonymous markets. In 27th {USENIX} Security Symposium ({USENIX} Security
18) (pp. 1009-1026).