Whether you have heard this type of scheme referred to as “phishing” or not, you are likely familiar with the scheme itself. “Phishing” involves pretending to be someone else in order to gain access to sensitive information. While no specific federal statute criminalizes phishing specifically, phishing is a common precursor to other internet crimes, like identity theft and wire fraud. If you are facing a criminal charge as a result of a phishing scheme, you should make securing strong legal representation your top priority.
What is Phishing?
Phishing is when a scammer sends an email or makes a phone call impersonating someone else in an effort to gain access to sensitive information. One common example of a phishing scheme is when someone sends out a mass email pretending to be from a bank and asking recipients to turn over personal information, such as their social security number or account numbers. The phisher then uses that fraudulently obtained information to steal the victim’s identity.
Corporations are common targets in phishing schemes as well. Criminals attempting to gain access to trade secrets or corporate accounts may impersonate corporate officials, call employees asking for login information, or instruct them to send money. Phishers hope that employees will simply comply with a request they believe is coming from their boss.
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Billions of people use search engines such as Google every day to look up information, videos, local businesses, and more. Most searches conducted are fairly innocent and will not attract the interest of federal authorities, such as the FBI. Unfortunately, there are some search terms that could catch their attention, and that may even leave you facing 
It was in late 2018 when Russian citizen, Anton Bogdanov, was deported from Thailand to the United States. Recently, at the end of April, the US Federal Court leveled several accusations against him. Included in those accusations was the 
On November 2, 1988, a cyber worm was disseminated on the Internet from a computer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Thirty years ago, the Internet was a different place; there were only 60,000 computers online, most of them at prestigious colleges and universities or research centers.
Of those, 6,000 computers were infected over the course of 24 hours. The worm hit computers running a certain version of the Unix operating system. Infected computers began to run very slowly with many vital functions delayed for days. It was hard to ascertain the amount of monetary damages caused. Estimates ranged from $100,000 to millions of dollars.
Who was behind this first-of-its-kind attack? A 23-year-old programmer named Robert Tappan Morris from Cornell. Morris hacked into the MIT computer system from Cornell to cover his tracks.
Morris maintained that the worm was more of a test and that he surprised himself at how quickly it spread. He tried to issue a statement through a friend with details on how to remove the worm, but ironically, the message could not be disseminated due to the slowness of the Internet for those affected.
Federal prosecutors charged Morris with the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and he was the first person found guilty under the law. Morris did not have to go to jail. Instead, he was sentenced to probation, a fine and 400 hours of community service.
It is said that the Morris Worm has served as inspiration for generations of computer hackers. Indeed, the weaponization of the internet has become more sophisticated over the last 30 years. As hackers’ attacks have become more potent and the number of Internet users has skyrocketed, the federal government has because more involved in catching hackers and charging them with crimes.
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which seeks to remind businesses and the public of the 
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