Unit 9 · Session 2
Sabotage, Crime, Piracy, and Anti-Piracy
Today's focus
- Computer Sabotage and Cybercrime
- Software Piracy and Anti-Piracy Measures
🎯 Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
- ✅ Define computer sabotage and cybercrime.
- ✅ Differentiate between hackers, crackers, and other cybercriminals, and identify common computer crimes.
- ✅ Define software piracy.
- ✅ Explain why software is intellectual property protected by copyright law.
- ✅ Identify common anti-piracy measures used by software companies.
Computer Sabotage and Cybercrime
Defining the Core Concepts
Computer Sabotage
Any act of malicious destruction or disruption to a computer system.
Example: Deleting critical files from a company server.
Cybercrime
A broader term for any crime that involves a computer and a network.
Example: Online fraud, identity theft, or distributing malware.
All computer sabotage is a form of cybercrime, but not all cybercrime is sabotage.
Types of Perpetrators 🎭
Understanding who commits cybercrime is key to defending against it. Let's look at the main categories:
- Hacker: The original creative programmer.
- Cracker: The malicious actor.
- Script Kiddie: The amateur attacker.
- Insider: The trusted employee-turned-threat.
Perpetrators: Hacker vs. Cracker
Hacker 👨💻
- Originally, a term for a creative, skilled programmer who enjoyed exploring system limits.
- Today, the media often uses it to mean any cybercriminal.
- In security, "ethical hackers" are hired to find vulnerabilities.
Cracker 💀
- A person who breaks into a computer system with malicious intent.
- Their goals include stealing data, causing damage, or financial gain.
- This is the term for a "malicious hacker."
Key Difference: Intent. A cracker is a hacker with malicious intent.
🎩 White Hat, Black Hat, Grey Hat
⚪ White hat
An ethical hacker who breaks in with permission to find weaknesses and report them.
Penetration testers, bug-bounty hunters
⚫ Black hat
Breaks in without permission, for money, damage or fame. This is the "cracker".
Card thieves, ransomware gangs
🔘 Grey hat
Breaks in without permission but without clear harmful intent, often then telling the owner.
It's still illegal in most countries!
💰 Bug bounties: Google paid security researchers about $10 million in 2023 for reporting flaws legally.
Perpetrators: Script Kiddie & Insider
Script Kiddie 🎮
- An amateur attacker with little technical skill.
- Uses pre-made tools and scripts created by others to launch attacks.
- Often motivated by curiosity, bragging rights, or causing minor chaos.
Insider 👤
- An employee, former employee, or contractor with authorized system access.
- Uses their legitimate access for malicious purposes.
- Often considered the most dangerous threat because they are already inside the security perimeter.
🧪 Activity: Name the Perpetrator
1. A sacked IT officer uses an old password to delete the company's customer database. → Insider
2. A 15-year-old downloads a ready-made attack tool to knock a game server offline. → Script kiddie
3. A bank hires a security firm to try to break into its mobile app. → White-hat (ethical) hacker
4. A gang steals card numbers from an online shop and sells them online. → Cracker / black hat
5. Someone breaks into a college website without asking, then emails the admin explaining the flaw. → Grey hat
Common Types of Computer Crime ⚡
Cybercriminals use a variety of techniques. Here are some of the most common:
Malware
Malicious software (viruses, ransomware, etc.) designed to disrupt or damage. (Covered in the next unit!)
Denial-of-Service (DoS)
Flooding a server with traffic to make it unavailable to legitimate users.
Phishing
Tricking users into revealing sensitive information like passwords or credit card numbers.
Crime in Focus: Denial-of-Service (DoS)
Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attack: An attempt to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users.
Simple Analogy:
Imagine one person trying to enter a shop. Easy.
Now imagine 10,000 bots all trying to cram through the same door at once. The real customer can't get in. The service is denied.
[Legitimate User] ---> [✅ Server Online]
[Attacker Bots] ===> [💥 Server Overwhelmed & Offline]
🌍 Real Case: When Cameras Broke the Internet (2016)
- The Mirai malware searched the internet for CCTV cameras and home routers that still used factory default passwords like
admin/admin. - It took over hundreds of thousands of them, building a botnet (an army of hijacked devices).
- 21 October 2016: the botnet flooded Dyn, a company that runs part of the internet's address book (DNS). Twitter, Netflix, Reddit and GitHub became unreachable for many users in the US and Europe.
Lesson: this was a Distributed DoS (DDoS). Your own un-updated router could be one of the attacking "bots", so change default passwords!
🎬 Mirai in 100 Seconds
How a Botnet Works
Crime in Focus: Phishing 🎣
Phishing: An attempt to acquire sensitive information (usernames, passwords, credit card details) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity.
Common Signs of a Phishing Email:
- 🚨 Urgent, threatening language ("Your account will be suspended!")
- 👤 Vague greetings ("Dear Valued Customer")
- ✍️ Spelling and grammar mistakes
- 🔗 Links that don't match the supposed sender's domain
Practical Application: Phishing in Nepal 🇳🇵
Case Study: e-Wallet & Banking Scams
- Scammers frequently target users of popular Nepali services like eSewa, Khalti, and major banks.
- They send SMS or social media messages with a fake warning: "Your KYC is not updated! Click here to verify your account."
- The link leads to a fake login page that looks identical to the real one.
- Once you enter your details, the scammers steal them and drain your account.
Lesson: Always be suspicious of unsolicited messages. Manually type the website address into your browser instead of clicking links.
🧪 Activity: Spot the Red Flags
SMS from "eSewa-Alert":
Dear Valued Customer, your eSewa wallet will be BLOCKED within 2 hours due to incomplete KYC. Verify now to avoid losing your balance: http://esewa-kyc-verify.xyz/login
Find at least four red flags.
- "Dear Valued Customer" is a vague greeting with no name.
- "BLOCKED within 2 hours" creates urgency and fear.
- The link domain is
.xyz, not eSewa's real website. - Real companies don't ask you to log in through an SMS link. Open the official app instead.
A Real-Looking Phish
⚖️ Why Paper-Based Laws Weren't Enough
Traditional contract law assumes paper, ink signatures and a physical place. E-commerce breaks all three.
❓ The problems
- There's no handwritten signature on an online order, so is it a valid contract?
- The buyer is in Nepal and the seller is in China. Whose law applies?
- Evidence is electronic (logs, emails) and easy to alter.
✅ What cyber law adds
- Legal recognition of electronic records and digital signatures
- Crimes such as hacking and data theft are defined, with penalties.
- In Nepal, this is the Electronic Transactions Act, 2063 (2008).
Summary & Key Takeaways 📊
Let's review the most important points from this chapter.
- Cybercrime is any crime involving a computer and a network, while sabotage is specifically about destruction or disruption.
- A cracker is a hacker with malicious intent. They are distinct from amateurs (script kiddies) and dangerous insiders.
- DoS attacks overwhelm a system to make it unavailable.
- Phishing uses deception and social engineering to trick you into giving up sensitive information.
Software Piracy and Anti-Piracy Measures
What is Software Piracy?
Software piracy is the unauthorized copying, distribution, or use of copyrighted software.
It's a form of copyright infringement.
Think of it like photocopying an entire book instead of buying it.
The Key Concept: You Buy a License, Not the Software
⚡ When you purchase commercial software, you are not buying the software itself. You are buying a license to use it under specific terms and conditions.
- This is defined in the End-User License Agreement (EULA).
- Violating the EULA is a breach of contract and copyright law.
Common Forms of Piracy
Softlifting
Installing a single-user license on multiple computers.
Example: Buying one copy of Microsoft Office and installing it on all the computers in your office.
Counterfeiting
Illegally duplicating and selling copyrighted software in a form that appears to be legitimate.
Example: Burning copies of Adobe Photoshop onto discs with fake packaging.
Online Piracy
Downloading commercial software from unauthorized websites, torrents, or file-sharing services.
OEM Unbundling
Selling standalone software that was originally intended to be bundled with specific hardware.
🧮 Worked Example: The Cost of "Just Copying It"
Illustrative figures. An office in Kathmandu has 20 PCs. It bought one office-suite licence at Rs 20,000 and installed it on all 20.
The legal exposure
19 unlicensed copies × Rs 20,000 = Rs 3,80,000 of unpaid licences
Plus any fines, an audit and damage to the company's reputation if it's caught
Legal ways to save
Free open-source software: LibreOffice, GIMP
Free web apps: Google Docs or Office on the web
Many colleges get Microsoft 365 free for students through their college email
The Legal Foundation: Copyright Law ⚖️
- Software is considered a form of intellectual property (IP).
- It is protected by copyright laws, just like books, music, and movies.
- Copyright gives the owner exclusive rights to:
- Reproduce the work.
- Distribute copies.
- Create derivative works.
- Unauthorized use infringes on these exclusive rights.
🧪 Activity: Legal or Piracy?
1. Downloading a "cracked" Adobe Photoshop from a torrent site → Piracy
2. Using GIMP, a free open-source image editor → Legal
3. Buying a "Windows 11 Pro key – Rs 500" from a Facebook page → Very likely counterfeit or stolen. If it's too cheap to be true, it probably is.
4. Copying a friend's paid game onto your laptop → Piracy (the licence is your friend's, not yours)
5. Installing your single-PC licence on the office computers too → Softlifting
Combating Piracy: Anti-Piracy Measures 🛡️
Software companies use various technologies to protect their intellectual property and ensure users comply with licensing terms.
Let's explore the most common methods.
Comparison of Anti-Piracy Methods
🔑 License Key
A unique string of characters (e.g., `A1B2C-3D4E5-F6G7H-8I9J0`) required to activate and use the software.
Pro: Simple for the user.
Con: Keys can be stolen or generated by "keygens".
🔌 Dongle
A physical hardware device (usually USB) that must be plugged into the computer for the software to run.
Pro: Very secure; hard to duplicate.
Con: Can be lost, stolen, or broken; inconvenient.
🔒 Digital Rights Management (DRM)
A broad set of technologies that control access to digital content, often requiring online verification.
Pro: Flexible and powerful control.
Con: Can be restrictive and intrusive for legitimate users.
🎬 What Is DRM?
Practical Application: Piracy in Nepal 🇳🇵
Scenario: A Local Cyber Cafe
Many small businesses and educational institutions in Nepal have historically used non-genuine copies of software like Windows OS and Microsoft Office due to high costs and lack of awareness.
- The Challenge: Balancing affordability with legal compliance.
- The Impact: Increased risk of malware, lack of technical support, and potential legal action as enforcement increases.
- The Solution: Promoting awareness and encouraging the use of affordable alternatives like open-source software (e.g., Linux, LibreOffice) or educational licensing.
Let's Discuss 💡
Is DRM a fair and effective way to prevent piracy?
Arguments for DRM:
- Protects developer revenue
- Ensures ongoing development
- Prevents mass illegal distribution
Arguments against DRM:
- Punishes legitimate customers
- Can require an internet connection
- May not work in the future if servers shut down
Key Takeaways 🔍
A quick summary of what we've learned:
- Software Piracy is the illegal copying, distribution, or use of software, violating the license agreement.
- Software is intellectual property protected by international and national copyright laws.
- Companies use anti-piracy measures like license keys, dongles, and DRM to protect their products.
Exam Practice 📝
Short answer
- Define cybercrime and computer sabotage.
- What is software piracy? List any four types.
- Why are traditional paper-based contract laws insufficient for modern e-commerce?
- Differentiate between white-hat and black-hat hackers.
Exam Practice 📝 (continued)
Long answer
- Explain the different types of computer crime with examples.
- Explain the types and consequences of software piracy for businesses and the economy.
Revise the answers in the full notes linked on the last slide.
Image & Video Credits
Images
- Cyber Airmen further defensive cyber operations skills: MSgt Renae Pittman, U.S. Air Force, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Botnet edit: Tom-b, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Example phishing email: Isochrone / Wikimedia Foundation / Philip Metschan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- AutoCAD 1990 Hardware lock: Blackcat, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Videos (YouTube)
- Stahl Gasiorowski, "Mirai attacks explained in 100 seconds" (3–89 s)
- Intertrust Technologies, "What is DRM (Digital rights management) and how does it work?" (25–104 s)
Thank You
Questions before we wrap this hour?
Next: Unit 9 · Session 3 — Malware, Ethics, Firewalls, and Encryption
📖 Read the full notes: Computer Sabotage and Cybercrime · Software Piracy and Anti-Piracy Measures · Cyber Law, Digital Literacy, and Copyright
📖 Related chapter notes
Read first, then revise with this deck: