4 Week Masters' Program Cybercrime Class
Zgette
Week5PowerPoints.pptxRobert M. Worley, Ph.D.
Holt, Thomas J. (2016). Crime Online (3rd ed.). Carolina academic press: Durham, NC.
Chapter 8: Taking Stock: The Current Status of
Cyberstalking Research Chapter 9: Terrorism and Technology:
Operationalizing Cyberterrorism and Identifying Concepts
Chapter 10: The Erotic Highway
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Chapter 8: Taking Stock: The Current Status of Cyberstalking Research
Cyberstalking Research
There has been a growth in research around cyberstalking, but there are many limitations
What are the commonalities between victims and offenders?
What conclusions can be drawn about predictors for perpetration and victimization?
Defining Cyberstalking
US model legislation defines stalking as:
“Any person who purposely engages in a course of conduct directed at a specific person and knows or should know that the course of conduct would cause a reasonable person to:
fear for his or her safety or the safety of a third person; or
suffer other emotional distress
is guilty of stalking” (National Center for Victims of
Crime, 2007, p. 24).
Cyberstalking may not need a fear criteria
Conceptualizing Stalking and Cyberstalking
Cyberstalking Statistics
The proportion of research on cyberstalking perpetration suggests that rates of offending among college students varies between 4.9 and 26.5% of samples
Victimization studies have a much greater range depending on sample size
National samples vary between 24.7% and 26%
College samples range between 6.3 and 42.8%
Offender Characteristics
There are some common characteristics among cyberstalkers
White
Heterosexual
Use email as common point of contact
May have low self-control
May target individuals with whom they have had a prior relationship
May have emotional or sexual abuse experiences
Victim Characteristics
There are several common characteristics identified in studies of cyberstalking victimization
Females
Young
Non-white
May spend time in online environments that expose them to motivated offenders
Future Research
There is a need for substantial research to better understand cyberstalking
More research on the role of defining cyberstalking and fear
Better information on the psychological consequences of victimization
How to respond to victimization effectively?
Chapter Nine - Terrorism and Technology:
Operationalizing Cyberterrorism
and Identifying Concepts
Introduction
Lack of a universal definition of terrorism
Globalization of commerce, information, and communications
Created a “technological house of cards”
People will exploit vulnerabilities
Threats to individuals, corporations
More significant threats to government and society
Greatest utility of Internet for terrorists is as a facilitator, not a trigger
Defining Terrorism
Dependent on the individual and social characteristics affecting defining body
Cultural norms
Religious ideology
Institutional history
Political/organizational agenda
Stability of government
Status of economic structures
Situational placement or vulnerability
Historical stratification
Defining Terrorism
Definitions by government entities have traditionally required the demonstration of three elements
The use of violence against non-combatants
Political objectives
The use of fear as a coercive tactic
Lack of international consensus
State-sponsored versus individual motivations?
Legal clarifications of sovereignty and extradition
A Working Definition?
Compile using characteristics
Presence of violence
Political
Fear or terror
Threats
Anticipated psychological reactions
Premeditation or system operations
Tactical, strategic, or combative methodology
Synthesis of Academic and Political Etymologies
Violence
Victimization of innocents
Methodical or serial operations
Advance planning
Criminal character
Absence of moral restraint
Synthesis of Academic and Political Etymologies
Political, social, or ideological motivation
Attempt to garner attention
Performed for audience
Unpredictable/unexpected
Intended to instill fear
Operationalizing Cyberterrorism
Convergence of terrorism and cyberspace
The premeditated, methodological, ideologically motivated:
Dissemination of information, facilitation of communication or attack
Against physical targets, digital information, computer systems, and or computer programs
Intended to cause harms to noncombatants and audiences
For purpose of effecting change
Includes propaganda, information, recruitment, training
Propaganda, Information Dissemination, and Recruitment
Fundamental to maximization of fear and longevity and growth of the group
Use of the Internet as a tool
Organizational websites
Include vilification of a particular group
Justifications from patriotism to divinity
Visual aids to illustrate victimization
Increasingly employed as medium of choice
Internet as a Medium of Communication
Terrorists use the Internet to communicate
Online dialogue is cheaper
International in scope
More widely accessible
Poses far less risk of discovery
Increasingly rely on technology for social networking and communication
Training, Research, and Facilitation
Ability to adopt training modules
Appropriate to resources available and current technological landscape
Globalization of communication, commerce and information has provided avenue for mass dissemination of rhetoric, propaganda, and instruction
Offer tutorials to geographically distance participants
Web-based learning
Training, research, pre-mission planning and coordination
Chapter 10: Industrial Control Systems and Cybercrime
Industrial Control Systems (ICS)
Industrial Control Systems (ICS) have become a vital resource in the operation of nearly all critical infrastructure in the US and around the world
Airports
Electrical grids
Power plants
Pipelines
Sewage
Vital to allow remote and cost-effective management of infrastructure equipment
Variants of ICS
There are three key forms of ICS
SCADA systems
Serve as top-level management systems for both acquisition and control
DCS
Serves primarily as a control system
PLC
Allow for management and communication of local devices
ICS Vulnerabilities
ICS were originally designed and implemented before the emergence of the Internet
They have not changed much making it possible to compromise the systems in various ways
Vulnerabilities and exploits used together
There are three forms of vulnerabilities present in ICS
Policy and Procedure
Platform
Network
ICS Attack Threats
There are multiple groups that may engage in attacks against ICS
Leisure cybercriminals
Industrial spies
Foreign intelligence services
Nation states
Disgruntled insiders
Criminal groups
Phishers
Spammers
Spyware authors
ICS Incidents
There have been various attacks against ICS over the last few decades
US compromise of Russian Pipelines in Siberia
Worcester Airport Hack
Queensland Sewage Hack
The Russia/Estonia Conflict
Stuxnet
Criminology and ICS
There is minimal research applying criminological research techniques to ICS
Typologies of offenders
Organizational composition of offenders
Attack techniques
Future Research
It is difficult to research ICS attacks from criminological perspectives due to the lack of data in this area
Rational Choice and Situational Crime Prevention may apply to ICS attacks though further study is needed
Simulation data may also help
Trend analyses are also valuable
Need for research on the overlap between virtual and real attack vectors
