Lesson Three
A Crime Wave Festers in Cyberspace
b
y Bob Tedeschi Abstract: Cybercrime has long been a painful side effect of the innovations of Internet technology. Spurred by a tightening economy, the increasing richness flowing through cyberspace and the relative ease of such crimes cybercrime has now reached a considerable scale.Key words: cybercrime; Internet technology; technically skilled thieves
Cybercrime, long a painful side effect of the innovations of Internet technology, is reaching new dimensions, security specialists say. Spurred by a tightening economy, the increasing richness flowing through cyberspace and the relative ease of such crimes, technically skilled thieves and rank-and-file employees are stealing millions if not billions of dollars a year from businesses around the world, according to consultants who track cybercrime.
Thieves are not just diverting dish from company bank accounts, these experts say. They are pilfering valuable information such as business development strategies, new product specifications or contract bidding plans and selling the data to competitors.
"Criminal activity on the Internet is growing—not steadily but exponentially, both in frequency and complexity," said Larry Ponemon, chairman of the Ponemon Institute, an information management group and consultancy, "Criminals are getting smarter and figuring out ways to beat the system."
Key point: useful sentences for establishing business relationship Difficult points: Letter writing on establishing business relationship Requirement:
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to have a good command of
e-commerce terms given in the lesson
useful sentences in letters of establishing business relationship By the end of this lesson, you should be able to
know the situation of the cybercrime tell of the ways to defeat snooping share your experience to against hackers
The number of successful, and verifiable, worldwide hacker incidents this month is likely to surpass 20,000 above the previous monthly record of 16,000 in October, as counted by mi2g, a London-based computer security firm. Others have also offered dire estimates, although the dollar amounts are difficult to verify or compare because the definitions of loss vary so broadly. Part of the challenge in quantifying the problem is that businesses are often reluctant to report and publicly discuss electronic theft for fear of attracting other cyber attacks or, at least, undermining the confidence of their customers, suppliers and investors or inviting the ridicule of their competitors. In one survey of 500 computer security practitioners conducted last year by the FBI and the Computer Security Institute, a trade group, 80 percent of those surveyed acknowledged financial losses resulting from computer breaches. The computer professionals took part in the survey on the condition they and their organizations would not be identified. Among the 223 respondents who quantified the damage, the average loss was $2 million. Those who had suffered losses of proprietary company information said each incident had cost an average of $6.5 million, while financial fraud averaged $4.6 million an incident.
One of the best-known cases of corporate computer crime involved two accountants at Cisco Systems, who after pleading guilty were each sentenced in late 2001 to 34 months in prison for breaking into parts of the company's computer system they were not authorized to enter and issuing themselves nearly $8 million in company stock.
But it is nearly impossible to identify the companies that have incurred the biggest losses, because of corporate reluctance to discuss what anonymous surveys have found to be a growing problem.
Computer security specialists who help protect these companies said the attacks were hitting major banks, telecommunications companies and other Fortune 500 companies and included a great variety of attacks. "If people found out how astoundingly large this problem is, they'd be shocked," said James Hurley, an analyst with Aberdeen Group, a technology consulting firm. Hurley said one client, whom he declined to identify, suffered a $500 million case of electronic theft last year. Other consultants also recently recounted numerous examples of electronic thefts, but, like Hurley, they omitted company names because of confidentiality clauses in their contracts. Some examples, all provided by consultants who had seen the damage, include these: Last summer, someone hacked into the treasury system of a U.S. financial services company and transferred more than $1 million to what investigators presume to have been personal accounts. The company suspects it was an employee because of the inside knowledge required to gain access to the system. The investigation is continuing, but the employee's identity is still unknown.
In November 2001, a New York brokerage house noticed an intruder in its network from overseas but did not know the nature of the intrusion. When a security form tracked him, they saw that he was removing trading information on Euros and using that data to compete with the firm while trading in markets in the Far East. The estimated damage was in the millions of dollars. Last spring, hackers broke into a U.S. $-based bank's database and gained access to accounts of wealthy customers. Millions of dollars was transferred overseas. The bank managed to undo most of the transfers, but total losses, including a security clean-up, were more than $1 million.
The weak economy is partly behind the rise in cyber crime, said Richard Power, global manager of security intelligence for Deloitte Louche Tohmatsu, a business management consultancy. "In times of economic hardship, crime always increases," he said. "The more that money flows into cyberspace, the more criminal activity there'll be."
Corporations, meanwhile, are struggling to keep pace. With budgets and personnel stretched thin, companies that added many new technologies to their computer systems during the dot-corn build-up now find themselves lacking the resources to secure those systems against break-ins.
Part of the problem is that cyber crime is much harder to detect than crime in the physical world. "The vast, vast majority of virtual crimes right now never get caught or prosecuted, where you have some chance in the real world," said Dan Fanner, chief technology officer of Elemental Security, a computer security firm in Silicon Valley. "It is extraordinarily hard to prove anything using digital evidence."
Electronic crime is difficult to detect because it is so often an inside job. Security experts say the fastest-growing type of cyber crime involves theft of intellectual propertyüthe pilfering of a company's plans for major projects, for instance, or marketing schedules and budgets stolen by an employee and sold to a competitor.
John Pescatorc, an analyst with Gartner Inc., a technology-consulting firm, estimated that in 70 percent of computer systems intrusions that resulted in a loss, an employee was the culprit.
In other industries, losses have become so widespread that accounting specialists are starting to call for fuller disclosure of cyber crimes by corporate victims, saying that customers and shareholders should know more about the losses and risks. Ponemon, the consultant, said companies often concealed the losses in their balance sheets. "It'll be recorded in different accounts that wouldn't have the same level of scrutiny as a loss," he said.
Such cover-ups do not allow for "a clean picture about how expensive it is to have to deal with fraudulent or criminal activities," Ponemon said. "This is becoming a very material part of the business model, so it deserves its own disclosure. That way, people can make better business decisionsüwhether to demand better controls or better technology or different precautions."
A securities lawyer cautioned against holding companies to a higher standard for disclosing cyber security breaches in all cases, lest they attract copycat attacks. "Sometimes it's more socially responsible to disclose, because it could multiply a company's losses by 20," he said.
But Jay Ehrenreich, senior manager of the cyber crime prevention and response group at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, said requiring broader disclosure of cyber crimes "makes a lot of sense and is something shareholders should demand". Still, he does not expect corporations to easily give in to such demands.
"A lot of times companies don't want to know what was taken," Ehrenreich said. "They just want us to find what the problem was and close the door, because there's a cost to finding out what was actually taken."
New Words
cyber- ࠡ㓔˗᳝䅵ㅫᴎ⡍㔥ⱘН cyber space n. ⬉㛥ぎ䯈˗㔥㒰ぎ䯈 cyber crime n. 㔥㒰⢃㔾 cyber attack n. 㔥㒰ᬏߏ spur v. ࠎ▔˗哧㟲˗䶁ㄪ the rank-and-file n. ᱂䗮㗕ⱒྦྷ˗᱂䗮៤ਬ pilfer n. ᇣًᇣᩌ exponentially ad. ᣝᣛ᭄ഄ˄䭓˅ figure out v. ᛇߎ˗ᓘ⏙ FBI n. ˄㕢˅㘨䙺䇗ᶹሔ practitioner n. ᓔϮ㗙˗ᅲ䏉㗙 fraud n. ℎ偫˗䆵䅵˗؛䋻˗偫ᄤ anonymous a. ओৡⱘ brokerage house n. 㒣㑾㸠 break into v. ᔎ㸠䖯ܹ˗䯃ܹ disclosure n. ᧁথ˗䗣䴆˗㹿݀ᓔⱘ⾬ᆚ victim n. ফᆇ㗙˗⡎⡆㗙 shareholder n. 㙵ϰ scrutiny n. Ҩ㒚Ẕᶹ˗ⲥ㾚Sentence Explanations
Spurred by a tightening economy, the increasing riches flowing through cyberspace and the relative ease of such crimes, technically skilled thieves and rank-and-file employees are stealing mil-lions if not billions of dollars a year from businesses around the world, according to consultants who track cyber crime.
䗑䏾㔥㒰⢃㔾ⱘ䆶Ҏਬᦤկⱘֵᙃˈ㒣⌢⦃๗ⱘᙊ࣪ǃ㔥㒰ぎ䯈Ϟ⌕ࡼ䋶ᆠⱘ᮹Ⲟ ˈҹঞ㔥㒰⢃㔾Ⳍᇍᆍᯧˈ䗴៤↣ᑈ᭄कғˈ㟇ᇥ᭄ⱒϛ㕢ܗҢܼ⧗ϾӕϮЁ㹿ᡔᴃဈ❳ ⱘし䌐᱂䗮ਬᎹし䍄DŽহᄤЁ Spurred by…ᓩ䍋ϔϾߚ䆡ⷁ䇁خ⢊䇁ˈ㸼⼎ॳDŽ
Exercises
1ˊTell of the ways to defeat snooping.
Skill Training
Business Letter Writing (I)
кֵᰃ⬉ᄤଚࡵ⌏ࡼЁ䖯㸠≳䗮ⱘ᳔Џ㽕↉ПϔDŽᴀ䇒ҹϟಯ䇒Ёˈ៥Ӏᇚ㒭ߎϔ ѯкֵḜ՟ᐌ⫼হൟDŽ݇Ѣкֵⱘ㒧ᵘḐᓣˈℸϡخ䌬䗄DŽা㽕♉⌏ᥠᦵᐌ⫼হൟˈݭ ߎϔᇕ㾘㣗ⱘкֵᑊϡೄ䲒DŽ
ܜ❳ᙝϔϟϔ㠀кֵℷ᭛ᐌ⫼ⱘᓔ༈䇁হ㒧ሒ䇁হˈ✊ৢݡⳟ⾡ϡৠݙᆍⱘкֵDŽ Commonly-used Opening Sentences and Closing Sentences of Lettersϔ㠀кֵℷ᭛ᐌ ⫼ⱘᓔ༈䇁হ㒧ሒ䇁হ
1ˊCommonly-used Opening Sentences ᐌ⫼ⱘᓔ༈䇁হ ˄2˅㸼䖒Āݍ㟈ߑ㒭ᙼˈ䗮ⶹᙼĂĂāⱘহᄤ
I beg to inform you that … I am writing to you to ask about… I am glad to tell you that…
˄2˅㸼䖒Āᬊࠄ䌉ᮍ X ᳜ X ᮹ᴹߑˈݙᆍᙝⶹāⱘহᄤ Thank you for your kind letter dated 6th.
Your kind letter of July 30 arrived this morning.
Your favor of the 5th inst. has come to hand and its contents have been duly noted. ⊼ᛣ˖ķ 㸼⼎ X ᳜ X ᮹ᴹߑৃ᳝ϸ⾡ᮍ⊩ a. ⫼ҟ䆡 of˗b. ⫼䖛এߚ䆡 datedDŽ ĸ kind Āletterāࠡᐌ⫼ˈҹ⼎ᅶ⇨˗favor ⫼ֵߑ᭛ᄫЁህᰃᣛкֵDŽ ˄3˅㸼䖒Ā䖳Ўℝāⱘহᄤ
I must apologize for my delay in replying your recent letter. I beg thousand pardons for not having written to you sooner. 2ˊCommonly-used Closing Sentences ᐌ⫼ⱘ㒧ᴳ䇁হ
кֵℷ᭛ⱘሒˈᐌᐌ㸼䖒Ⳑಲֵǃ㸼⼱ᜓҷ䯂అヨ䯂ㄝᛣᗱˈ䖭⾡ᛣᗱৃҹ⫼ হᄤ㸼⼎ˈгৃҹ⫼ⷁ䇁㸼⼎DŽ⫼হᄤ㸼⼎ᯊˈሒ⫼Ā.ā˗⫼ⷁ䇁㸼⼎ᯊˈሒ⫼ĀˈāDŽ
˄1˅㸼䖒Ⳑಲֵⱘহᄤⷁ䇁 I hope to hear from you soon. Hoping to hear from you soon, Awaiting your early reply,
Your kind early reply will be appreciated. ˄2˅㸼⼎⼱ᜓⱘহᄤ
With best regards,
Wish you the best of health and success. Much love to you and your family, ˄3˅㸼䖒䕀䖒అヨ䯂 Say hello to Joe.
Please remember me to your brother. My mother joins me in love to you.
Letters of Establishing Business Relations кֵ˄ᓎゟϮࡵ݇㋏˅ ᓎゟϮࡵ݇㋏ᰃҢџଚࡵ⌏ࡼ᳔߱ྟⱘ⌏ࡼˈ䗮䖛к䴶䇁㿔ᓎゟ䖭⾡݇㋏Џ㽕ᰃձ䴴ଚࡵ ֵߑ˄⬉ᄤ䚂ӊ˅ᴹ≳䗮DŽ᪄ݭ䖭⾡ֵߑᯊˈ佪ܜ㽕ਞ䆝ᇍᮍ៥ᮍᰃབԩ㦋ᙝᇍᮍֵᙃⱘˈᑊ 㸼⼎៥ᮍ᳝ᛣϢᇍᮍᓎゟϮࡵ㘨㋏ⱘᜓᳯDŽ݊䳔㽕ҟ㒡៥ᮍӕϮⱘᗻ䋼ǃᴀϮࡵᚙމǃ㒣 㧹㣗ೈǃߚᬃᴎᵘǃક⠠ㄝㄝˈᖙ㽕ᯊгৃᇍᮍᦤկ䌘ֵ䆕ᯢҎˈҹ֓ᇍᮍњ㾷៥ᮍⱘ䌘ֵ ᚙމDŽ᳝ᯊˈ䖬ৃ䇈ᯢᏠᳯ䫔ҔМଚકᏠᳯ䌁фҔМଚકˈҹ֓ᇍᮍᣝ㽕∖ⴔޚDŽ ϟ䴶ᰃϔᇕᏠᳯᓎゟϮࡵ݇㋏ⱘкֵ՟ᄤ˖ China National Import & Export Corp. Shanghai Branch Shanghai China July 18, 2004 M & D Co. 211 Exhibition Road London SW7 2PG UK Dear Sirs
Your company has been introduced to us by Messrs. Freeman & Co. Ltd London, England, as a prospective buyer of Chinese cotton piece goods. As this item falls within the business scope of our corporation, we shall be pleased to enter into business relations with you at an early date.
To give you a general idea of the various kinds of cotton piece goods now available for export, we enclose a brochure and a sample-cutting booklet. Quotations will follow upon receipt of your specific enquiry.
We look forward to hearing from you soon. Faithfully yours,
Wang Lin
Encl. 1. a brochure of China National Import & Export Corp. Shanghai Branch 2. a sample-cutting booklet
Useful Sentences
1ˊHaving had your name and e-mail address from… we avail ourselves of this opportunity to write to you and…
2ˊWe are a Sino-American joint venture specializing in the export of household electrical appliances.
3ˊThe American Consulate in Shanghai has advised us to get in touch with you concerning... 4ˊWill you please send us your catalogue and price list for...
5ˊWill you please quote price CIF San Francisco for the following items in the quantities stated...
6ˊWe are also interested in your terms of payment and in discounts offered for regular orders. 7ˊYour Commercial Counselor's Office has referred us to you for establishing business relations with your corporation.
8ˊWe wish to introduce ourselves to you as a state-owned corporation dealing exclusively in light industrial goods.
9ˊWith a view to expanding our business at your end, we are writing to you in the hope that we can open up business relations with your firm.
10ˊIn order to extend (to increase) our export business to your country, we wish to enter into direct business relations with you.
Exercises
1ˊTry to write 10 commonly-used opening sentences and 10 commonly-used closing sentences. 2ˊYou work in a company dealing in the import and export of local product. Please try to write a letter on establishing business relationship to a company in Australia.
Reading Materials
Hackers Are Enemy Number One on the Internet
Abstract: The Internet and Internet users can be targets for hackers. This article presents several ways to defeat the hackers.
Key words: hacker; ways to defeat the hackers; an up-to-date virus scanner; constant password changes
Until comparatively recently the opportunities for criminal activity on the internet have been low. However, the volume of business done on the Internet is growing rapidly, as people order books and other products and makes money transactions. All this is creating temptations for hackers.
Hackers are often young people who are obsessed by computers. They use them to prowl the Internet, looking for ways to break into computers systems run by banks, telephone companies and even government departments. They look for examples of credit cards and try to steal the numbers.
Recently in America, hackers have been caught testing the security system at the Pentagon, headquarters of the American Defense Department. But still the hackers persist often for a dare "because it's there" although with what success nobody really knows.
Hackers rarely admit to a successful break-in. The first indication of a security breach may be when a customer discovers a fraudulent money transaction on a credit card account. It is harder to check on somebody misusing an online connection unless there is a massive download of information which would alert the consumer.
The use of credit cards to buy things on the Internet converts the issue of Internet security into one of general security, says Michael White, multi-media product manager for Clear Communications.
"You've got to know your vendor, you just don't give your credit card out to anybody," he says. "And in the same way that you should regularly change your credit card access number, you can defeat hackers by regularly changing your Internet password. If you don't, it's like leaving the bank vault door wide open."
When it comes to creating your password, he recommends including a few punctuation marks and numbers rather than relying on letters in the alphabet.
"A hacker tries to break in using a standard computer program (ironically it can be bought online using a credit card) which is just looking at the 26 characters in the alphabet. Hackers move all the letters around, trying to find the correct combination, which makes up a password. While the possibilities are vast, you've got to remember the speed at which a computer works."
"The movie version of the guy sitting there typing in combinations is nonsense. It looks good but in fact you have a bit of software to do it. That's what's known as 'brute force' cracking. You aren't using anything clever. You're just bashing away at it like using a hammer on a lock until it breaks… but if you add punctuation marks and numerals to a password it makes it that much harder."
Hackers can also be defeated by the sophistication of encryption, or scrambling the information, which Internet service providers give those who give computer users access to the Internet.
While inside an Internet service provider's system, a customer's password is useless to a hacker. But if a customer accesses his or her service from another Internet service provider, for example when retrieving e-mail, then it may be possible for the name and password to be viewed by an outsider. The way to beat this is to regularly change passwords.
Telecom media communications manager Glen Sowry says that when it comes to security of credit cards, the Internet offers a higher standard than many others whose honesty is taken for granted.
For example, few people think twice about giving a credit card number over the phone and many are equally careless about what happens to the carbon copy when completing a transaction over the counter.
Some customers may inadvertently reveal their passwords to hackers via what is known as a Trojan horse form of virus. These are attached to documents or messages being received, and lodge in a computer's hard drive. Next time the customer logs on to an Internet service provider the virus reveals where it is and the password to anyone who is prowling the Net looking for such information. They can then tap in.
The two ways to defeat such snooping are:
1) to have an up-to-date virus scanner which can recognize the invader and delete it 2) to constant password changes
Shopping on the Internet is likely to be the way of the future for many people. The main sites like Amazon.com probably the biggest and most successful bookshop online, which does millions of
dollars of business daily secure a customer's credit card by scrambling. Dell Computers in the US does the same and reports it is doing $14 million a day of business online. But if a company does not have that scrambling facility then sending a credit card number by e-mail is more risky.
The warning against hackers is out there. And the answer is obviously to choose tricky passwords and change them frequently and to watch who you pass your credit card details to.
Notes hacker n. 咥ᅶ˄⾕㞾ᄬপ䅵ㅫᴎЁ䌘᭭ⱘҎ˅ transaction n. ࡲ⧚˗໘⧚ temptation n. ᓩ䇅˗䇅ᚥ breach v. ⸈ണ˗ϡሹ㸠 prowl v. ᙘᙘ㸠ࡼ alert a. 䄺ᚩⱘ˗䄺㾝ⱘ fraudulent a. ℎ偫ⱘ estimate v. Ԅ䅵 disclosure v. ᧁথ˗⊘䴆 brute a. ⅟ᖡⱘ˗≵᳝⧚ᗻⱘ bash away v. ⣯ކߏᴹ⸌ണ sophistication n. ᴖ˗ㆵᬍ encryption n. ᆚⷕ scramble v. Փ⏋ᴖ retrieve v. 䞡ᮄᕫࠄ˗䗑⒃˗Ẕ㋶ inadvertently ad. ي✊ഄ˗᮴ᛣഄ snoop v. ᣕ㓁㗠⾬ᆚഄᇏᡒ䇗ᶹ scrambling facility n. ᡄ乥䆒 tricky a. ⢵⤒ⱘ˗ᴖⱘ˗䴴ϡԣⱘ
Victoria Beckham Joined Her Husband David for the Appearance on CCTV
Abstract: Victoria joined husband David for the appearance on CCTV6KHintroduced several models wearing dresses from her Victoria Beckham fashion line.
Key words: Victoria; Beckham; CCTV
She is known for her extremely slim figure and permanent scowl. And Victoria Beckham was showing off her svelte frame to maximum effect on Sunday as she appeared on a Chinese TV show
The star looked rail-thin in a chic red dress, with black cuffs and collar detail
The star's long brown hair was tied in a low ponytail and she wore spiky black heels and smoky brown eye make-up as she joined husband David for the appearance on China Central Television
Cheerful Victoria later even flashed a rare smile for David, who immediate posted the extraordinary snap on his Facebook page: "See, I told you she smiles," he wrote, alongside a laughing picture of Victoria lying down
Earlier the famous couple had appeared together on the talk show, with David looked typically dapper in a grey double breasted suit and matching tie
Victoria introduced several models wearing dresses from her Victoria Beckham fashion line as David looked on proudly
The beautiful brunette landed in China on Saturday and was given a warm welcome by local fans at the airport before hitting the shops
The attention was well received by Victoria and she thanked her fans via Twitter by posting: "Thank you to my amazing fans here in Beijing, what a welcome!!!"
She jetted into join husband David who is on a promotional tour of the country to promote the sport as the Ambassador of Chinese football.
Useful Terms and Definitions Network
1. A system of autonomous computers connected to each other for data transfer and communications. A network requires two or more computers, networking software (also called the network operating system), network adapters, and cables. Examples of network operating systems include Novell NetWare and Windows for Workgroups. Networks are useful when several users must share resources, such as data or printers. 2. The source of most computer problems in business computer systems.
Wholesaling
A wholesaler is an intermediary between the producer and the retailer. His main functions are: l. "Breaking of bulk", that is, buying in large quantities from the producer and selling in small quantities to retailers; 2. Warehousing, that is, holding stocks to meet fluctuations of demand; 3. Helping to finance distribution by allowing credit to retailers although paying his own suppliers promptly; 4. Sometimes preparing a commodity for sale by grading, packing, and branding the goods.
Since wholesaling is an essential part of the work of distribution, the elimination of the wholesaler simply means that the work of wholesaling must be undertaken by someone elseüthe manufacturer or the retailers. Large-scale retailers generally buy direct from manufacturers, but in the case of multiple shop organizations, this merely means that they themselves must undertake the business of warehousing and distribution of stock to their branches. Manufacturers of many branded goods too prefer to undertake the distribution of their products to retailers to ensure that they reach the maximum number of retail outlets. However, more than one wholesaler acts between the manufacturer and the retailer, this is justified only if the complexity of distribution for that particular commodity requires it.
