DRAFT THESIS PROJECT

WHAT ARE THE METHODS THAT CAN BE EMPLOYED TO REDUCE THE THREAT TO THE NATION’S CYBER SYSTEMS

A Master Thesis

Submitted to the Faculty of

American Public University

By

Daniella Rowell

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts

March 2016

American Public University

Charles Town, WV

A dynamic cyber terrorism framework. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security by Ahmad, R. & Yuns, Z., 2012 advance an upsurge of cybercrime over the past few years. This increase is related to the dynamism shown by the integration of cybercrime in the execution of conventional crimes. This literature resource is important to this research as it explores a rather sensitive sector within the borders of the United States which is national security. The United States has many enemies most notably terrorists who target systems of the country’s defense systems. An analysis of this literature breaks down the attacks already conducted against the defense infrastructure as well as highlighting vulnerabilities existing within the sector. As a matter of fact, double standards of some security personnel raise an unprecedented risk since terrorist end up gaining inside knowledge on how to attack systems. Many at times cyber terrorism is neglected when expounding on the scope of cybercrime as more conventional cyber-attacks such as fraud, cyber defamation amongst other get a fair share of attention. A shift from the more obvious forms is evident in this literature as cyber terrorism is not a new form of attack in the context of the United States. As it's rightly opened in this literature, the start of the next world war could be a blackout but not a bang as many people expect. A single code could be enough to put everything in our country to stand still ranging from trains, airport operations, and power plants amongst others. Consequently, this research shall explore the perceived complacency within the defense department so as to make recommendations on how to prevent such attacks. In addition, the defense may have to ensure that its personnel’s loyalty is to the United States and its people alone and that no form ill-intended collaborations shall be made to expose the system’s vulnerabilities to an enemy. Moreover, the public is charged with responsibilities of understanding cyber terrorism to enable them to raise alarm whenever queer activities in the neighborhood are detected.

This literature resource is relevant to the research paper as it creates a general picture of what cybercrime is. Brenner, W. 2010 literature Cybercrime defines literature in its very nature. It occurs in two basic ways which either happen independently or simultaneously. On one hand, computers can be used in the perpetration of cyber-attacks but could be targeted on the other hand. This model carries a lot of weight in understanding how the legal definition of cybercrime is arrived at. Some individuals are ignorant of activities they perform using personal computers in the household such that they perpetrate cybercrime blindly. A good example is accessing a person’s computer without permission or accessing a Wi-Fi network in a similar context. One may be innocent while doing such actions yet they are legally defined as forms of cybercrime. This literature stresses on the need of the public to be aware of cybercrime as it is in order to empower them from falling victim as well as ending up being charged out for their ignorance. Determining who is and who is not a serious cyber-criminal is not easy thus a severe punishment may place upon a person guilty of cyber criminality even if it’s directed towards a family member. The relevance of this literature to the research paper is underlined by the fact that by helping an ordinary citizen understand that spying on a girlfriend’s computer or accessing a wireless network without an owner’s authorization may land them into trouble prevents a would-be cyber-criminal. Interestingly the general state of the country’s cyber systems is generated from a wide range of statistics including minor cases as this. Therefore addressing minor cases will ultimately act as an amendment or intervention of the general picture.

Theories of crime play an integral role in helping us understand elements of crime such as causes, predisposing factors, and motivations which are vital for intervention strategies. Merton, K. in his Social Theory and Social Structure, 1968 links deviance to societal pressures placed upon individuals. This literature is important to this research as cyber criminality is predominantly motivated by profit making. Today’s society defines success according to material wealth and factors like level of education, moral lifestyle or status. Disturbingly, the avenue of achieving this success in the United States are not accessible to everyone. The research shall analyze the meritocracy myth which criticizes the society which is ruled by the gifted elite. The US social classes are said to have a no room for others due to decreased social mobility. The US economic situation is worse than it’s thought of given the unequal distribution of wealth and the unprecedented widening inequality between generations. Moreover, it’s believed that there is an unequal access to education in the United States, with social status being the main determining factor of opportunities. Students from upper-class families are well prepared at each level of the education system which reflects in the job market thereafter. Cyber criminality consequently is one of the many ways that frustrated citizens turn to in a bid to achieve access. The society does not tolerate people who do not achieve or strive to achieve success hence its utility is priceless to the perpetrator. However, cybercrime is not committed by the deprived sections of the society alone as there are varying motivations with some affecting the upper and ruling classes.

Global interconnectedness has increased over the past decades especially after the birth of the internet. Further technological advancement has eased communication with people able to communicate from every corner of the world. The United States is one of the major countries that have contributed hugely towards global interconnectedness with numerous groundbreaking inventions being made in the country. In War and Peace in the Law of Islam by Khaddar, Majid, religious affiliations contribute to the emergence of new crimes which aim at advancing the supremacy and dominance of each belief. Most notably is the conflict that exists between Islamic states and Christian states. There exists a historical competition for supremacy between these two religions and the way each reacts to technology and cyber is different. This paper shall seek to reveal any relationship between cybercrime and religion and how each religious reacts to it. It’s worth noting that religious groups have actually fallen victim of cyber-attacks through hacktivism, denial of service attacks among other. Although an explicit criminalization of cybercrime does not exist in any religion, there exists general condemnation of crime. An all-around approach to fighting cybercrime shall not leave the factor of religion on cybercrime given that it is an already known motivator of cyber criminality. Moreover, just as conventional crimes are disapproved in the religion, cybercrime should be added to the list to enable people relate to it in a divine manner. Different religious groups in the United States must further ensure that their information systems and information are well secure since technology has affected all social spheres inclusive of religion.

Victims of crime are in most cases neglected due to the fact that more attention is given to the crime itself and the perpetrator. Jaishankar, K. in his book Cyber Criminology delves into a matter of importance in the United States by outlining all persons and groups that are affected by a crime. It’s true that the criminal justice performs the role of administration of justice but to what extent is the harm caused to a victim repaired? Many at times courts administer justice victims through fines which benefit the state. This research shall seek to disclose crimes that require direct victim compensation and those that are punishable by way of fines payable to the state. In addition, this literature expounds on ways that ordinary people increase the likelihood of being victims of cyber-attacks. In the wake of rampant technological advancement, people’s lifestyle has been really affected. Digital communication has been adopted as the most reliable and efficient mode of communication. Nevertheless, most users of this mode of communication are somehow complacent as basics cyber security are ignored. Its due to such issues that people continue to suffer either directly or indirectly. Direct victimization in this context occurs when individuals suffer the loss of information, defamation, credit card fraud, digital piracy amongst other. On the other hand, indirect victimization occurs when people we care about fall victim of the aforementioned cyber-attacks Scholars believe that there exists a relationship between any form of crime including cybercrime and psychological suffering.

The next literature as used in this research is Crime in the United States 2009 by Press, Bernan. This publication is a compilation of FBI’s annual report from its Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCRRP). Perpetrators of cybercrime are profiled into various characteristics such as age, sex and race. It was discovered the age of committing cybercrime in the United States has fallen to just 17 years. In other words, minors have gained the technique of executing both sophisticated and basic forms of cyber security. This literature’s relevance in the research paper is priceless given that juvenile delinquency broadens the scope of causes and risk factors of criminality. This is because childhood experiences parental determinisms play a pivotal role in causing crime amongst youths. Moreover, its opined that youths in the United States are at an increased risk of being victims of cybercrime than youths in other countries. A general increase in criminal activities by minors without any doubt highlights how our socializing agents have failed. Sociologists highlight the various agents of socialization namely; family, education, religion, and media. Socialization at school is done by teachers and most notably peers. The latter is attributed to the diminishing moral values in the society. In fact, the main motivating factor of cyber criminality among minors is the need to match peers, as well as stand out as the smartest amongst peers. Therefore, in order to ensure the security of the nation’s cyber systems, there is need cleanse our socializing agents to ensure that only values are instilled in the young minds.

Cybercrime in Progress. Theory And Prevention Of Technology-Enabled Offenses by Holt, Thomas J, and Adam M. Bossler, 2015 is an interesting piece of literature as it examines the notion that cyber criminals are people with a high level of technological knowledge. The synopsis shows that perpetrators of cybercrime are not necessarily technology gurus but have a high interest in technology. Some perpetrators are mere consumers who purchase software for this purpose and undergo online training on how to stage attacks. It’s fascinating that some perpetrators are mere ‘foot soldiers’ of masters who keep them updated and provide guidelines on how to commit these crimes. This literature highlights the utility of a well-measured approach of securing our cyber systems. The enemy according to this literature is not a person but masses of people, networks and more complex groups that a casual approach to this matter will fail terribly. In addition, regional and international cooperation is vital given that a nation’s power of jurisdiction rest within its borders. The research shall test the importance of the proposed collaboration and whether past collaborations in fighting crime were fruitful. Moreover, matters that reduce the efficiency of cybercrime prevention partnership shall be examined. Cybercrime affects all countries and each nation dreams of safe and secure cyberspace. If the cyberspace is not secure, a country cannot talk about being safe because whereas a strong a military is a sign of national safety, many forms of warfare exist other than the physical one.

This literature dubbed Apple vs. The federal government as put forward by Benner, Eric in Apple Fights Order To Unlock San Bernardino Gunman’S iPhone, New York Times, 2016, displays the implications of technology in the United States. This has been an ongoing saga whereby the federal government was demanding that Apple cooperation creates a backdoor to aid investigation of a suicide bomber. The phone was locked using a four digit password and was believed to valuable information for investigations. Therefore, the only way to unlock the device is through the company. This scenario is valuable to the research paper as it presents a dilemma whereby technology impedes the efficiency of the nation’s law enforcement. After a cyber-attack has happened, the only piece of evidence is the trail in a digital device. The research shall explore ways in which this impediment can be overcome. Moreover, an analysis of the United States laws shall be done to determine whether other factors such as technology exceed the nations’ collective needs for safety and justice. The challenge in the above-discussed scenario is rather challenging because there has been past collaboration between digital device entities and Law enforcement with over seventy such cases in the books. However, the need to secure our cyberspace cannot be a factor of violation of rights of citizens most notably the first amendment rights because breaking the law while enforcing it is a futile activity.

The next literature is derived from Principles of cybercrime by Clough, J., 2010 which supports the multi-dimensional approach to fighting cybercrime. Being a problem facing all countries, international bodies such as the United Nations need to increase interventions to this matter. Understanding at an international will be of great benefit as other political instigated cybercrime shall increase due to stern penalties and embargoes placed when a country contravenes international standards. This research shall seek to determine whether cybercrime is given enough considerations by the international law as other forms of crime such as war crimes, genocide among others. Cybercrime in the United States has been used in a number of occasions to perpetrate hate crimes based on religious, racial, sexual and political prejudices. The extent to which hate crimes can impair national peace and stability is immense given the diversity of United States population. This problem extends to other contexts because the world is undergoing political and democratic revolution owing from modernization and globalization. Another perspective in securing US cyber systems according to this literature is ensuring that gaps in law are appropriately eliminated. Yes, cybercrime has a legal definition in the nation but to what extent is our empowered to ensure that all necessary convictions happen. There are numerous cases of people going scot free as a result of incapacitation of the law. It's important for the law to keep up with technology or else technological advancements will benefit criminals more.

Goodman in his book Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It explains how digital devices considered irrelevant to cyber security are soft targets for cyber criminals. A printer, mass storage device, cell phone, payment facilities, tablet among others deserve the same cyber security measure accorded to bigger devices. The study shall expound on the various ways US citizens neglect simple but vital procedures that can save them from cyber-attacks. It’s unfortunate that some people start using certain digital services without making an effort of gathering information on how to maintain a high-security discipline. Cyber criminals are everywhere and will attack anyone be it a carwash client who trust the cleaner. As a matter of fact, some accidents are not natural as people with vested interests are capable of causing them in various forms such gas leaks, fire, road and train accidents, staging stampedes through planned blackout among others. What is important is to adopt a principle of taking anything for granted as it’s earmarked in this literature. Digital devices are good and they make life easier, however, the cost of possible suffering due to negligence may be too expensive to make them desirable. With over 1.6 billion people connected to the internet as of 2012, there exists an increased number of targets as well as perpetrators globally. The detailed nature of this literature acts as an informative tool especially because anyone can relate to almost each given aspect of cybercrime.

As Kirwan, G., & Power, A. opine in their publication The psychology of cybercrime: Concepts and principles, some cyber criminals have mental disorders that increase their inclination towards cyber criminality. Some perpetrators of computer related crimes are believed to have inferiority complex whereby they experience feelings of great power by inflicting pain and suffering on other people. The research paper shall build on this literature by trying to understand the virtual world and the psychological factors behind cyber criminality yet perpetrators could not do similar acts in the real world with or without anonymity. Moreover, there exists a rather misleading perception that law enforcement is limited to the real world and not the online or virtual world too. For example, some people who perpetrate cyberbullying or child pornography are less likely to carry out similar offenses to target victims in the real world. The writers illustrate how different groups respond to cybercrime whereby the government reacts with laws, organizations with policies, traders with terms and conditions, users with peer pressure, technicians with code but no response seeks to understand human behavior. As a result, the US needs to focus on how criminal behavior and populations reveal in cyber population in a bid to understand cybercrime accordingly. The research shall focus on people in a bid to understand this phenomenon as they are a reality. Cyber psychologists have identified six concepts of cybercrime namely anonymity and self-disclosure, dark tetrad of personality, pseudo-paradoxical privacy, impulsivity, cyber immersion and self- presentation online. Therefore proper profiling of cyber criminals is an essential step towards securing the nation’s cyber systems.

Criminology: The key concepts by O'Brien, M., & Yar, M. authenticates the concept of adaptation of appropriate policies in the war against cybercrime. In the end of 2015, the US congress gave consent to the Cybersecurity Act of 2015which was later assented by president Obama. This act aims at combating cybercrime through the creation of a framework that will propagate information sharing between the private sector and federal government. This was not the first legislation of its kind as there have been many other legislations and a host of other bills all targeting cyber criminality. The multiplicity of legislations and bills emphasize the seriousness of cybercrime in the United States. Moreover, since each law is unique or has a wider scope, this shows that cybercrime is a diverse and complex phenomenon which call for more research to unearth underlying concepts. Moreover, this research insists on the need for decentralizing the war against cybercrime by utilizing the education system with the duty to train students on measures of avoiding victimization, how to handle a cyber-attack and risks involved in its indulgence. By so doing, there shall be a majority of informed people contrary to vice versa which would be very risky.

Computer forensic investigations are applied in both civil and criminal lawsuits. Cybercrime and cloud forensics by Ruan, K. explain what cybercrime is and ways that it can be investigated. This literature is crucial to the research topic as it complements other thoughts discusses before. For example, being able to detect and charge cyber criminals depends on proper investigations for a conviction to happen. The literature refers to the computer as the most powerful tool for criminals. Computer forensic investigators are the professionals charged with the responsibility of collecting evidence. Moreover, they are able to detect the source of a threat or an attack as well as recommending safety measure to avoid feature attacks. Computer forensic investigators are important in the research topic of protecting the US cyber systems because they have valuable knowledge for the achievement of a safe virtual world in the US. This paper shall further examine ethical dilemmas faced by these professional while executing their duties and factors that reduce their efficiency. Appropriate recommendations shall be made to ensure that they work in a favorable environment that will enable them to increase the output. These professional should be impartial given that there is an already existing outcry that computer forensic investigators present evidence as they want to appear in the courts.

Bibliography

Ahmad, R. & Yuns, Z. A dynamic cyber terrorism framework. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security, 10(2), 149-158.

Brenner, Susan W. Cybercrime. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger, 2010.

Merton, Robert King. Social Theory and Social Structure, n.d.

Khadduri, Majid. War and Peace in the Law of Islam. Clark, NJ: Lawbook Exchange, 2007.

Jaishankar, K. Cyber Criminology. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2011.

Press, Bernan. Crime in the United States 2009. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Group, 2009.

Holt, Thomas J, and Adam M Bossler. Cybercrime In Progress. Theory And Prevention Of Technology-Enabled Offenses, n.d.

Benner, Eric. "Apple Fights Order To Unlock San Bernardino Gunman’s IPhone". Nytimes.Com. Last modified 2016. Accessed March 3, 2016.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/technology/apple-timothy-cook-fbi-san-bernardino.html.

Clough, J. Principles of cybercrime. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Goodman, M. Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It. New York [New York]: Doubleday, 2015.

Kirwan, G., & Power, A. The psychology of cybercrime: Concepts and principles. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, 2012.

Kirwan, G., & Power, A. Cybercrime: The psychology of online offenders. Cambridge Cambridge University, 2013.

O'Brien, M., & Yar, M. Criminology: The key concepts. London: Routledge, (2008).

Ruan, K. Cybercrime and cloud forensics: Applications for investigation processes. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, 2013.

12