The dark side of the Internet: Attacks, costs and responses

The Internet and Web technologies have originally been developed assuming an ideal world where all users are honorable. However, the dark side has emerged and bedeviled the world. This includes spam, malware, hacking, phishing, denial of service attacks, click fraud, invasion of privacy, defamation, frauds, violation of digital property rights, etc. The responses to the dark side of the Internet have included technologies, legislation, law enforcement, litigation, public awareness efforts, etc. In this paper, we explore and provide taxonomies of the causes and costs of the attacks, and types of responses to the attacks.

Research Highlights►We provide taxonomy of the dark side of the Internet; a summary of the damages done by people misusing or abusing the Internet. ►We analyze the causes of the dark side. ►We analyze the technology responses to the dark side. ►We provide a brief prognosis of the future of the dark side.