Cybercrime can be originated from two main sources.
Insider attacks and external attacks.
Insider attacks.
This is the most dangerous cyber risk facing organizations today, as it can last for a long time without
them knowing about it.
Such attacks come when there is a breach of trust from employees or other people like former employees,
third party contractors or business associates working within the Target organization who have legitimate
access to its computing systems and or information about its cybersecurity practices and defenses.
Economic espionage falls under this category.
External attacks.
This kind of attack originates from outside the Target organization, usually coming from skilled hackers.
Such attacks constitute the largest attacks against organizations around the world.
A black hat hacker can try to penetrate the target organization's computing networks from another country
to gain unauthorized access.
Sometimes external attackers gain intelligence from an insider disgruntled employee in the target company
who has information about its security systems to facilitate their illegal access.
How are computers used in cybercrimes?
Cybercrime can be divided into three main categories with regard to how the computing device was used
to commit a crime.
One.
A computing device is used as a weapon to commit a crime.
Example launching denial of service DDoS attacks or sending ransomware to a computing device is the
target of a crime.
Example gaining unauthorized access to a target computer.
Three.
A computing device is used as a facilitator of a crime.
Example using a computer to store incriminating data or to make online communications with other criminals.