Assessment of the types of cyber crime faced by internet users in north-eastern Nigeria

The main objective of the study was to analyse the types of cyber-crime faced by internet users in north-eastern Nigeria. The research design was cross-sectional in nature. 30 respondents were cyber café operators and 120 were selected from the vast users of the internet. Total sample size was 150. The purposive random sampling technique was used to collect the data. Finding of the study revealed that majority of respondents reported that they were victims of hacking, malware, spamming botnets, phishing, social engineering and cyber stalking. Others are web jacking, password sniffer, and denial of service. Cyber terrorism, online phonography, and piracy were identified as rarely experienced cyber-crimes by both internet users and cyber café operators in north-eastern Nigeria. The best ways to avoid being a victim of cyber-crimes and protecting your sensitive information is by making use of valid and genuine security that uses a unified system of software and hardware to authenticate any information that is sent or accessed over the Internet. Some recommended cyber safety techniques include: use of antivirus software on the system, use of firewall on the system, frequent change of passwords, frequent scanning against spyware, maintaining backup of your important work, installing system software patches, removal of unnecessary software, among other preventive measures.