Crime and Violence: Forces for Good or Evil?

1. Crime and Violence: Forces for Good or Evil? Cybercrime Dr Helen Jones

2. The exponential growth in the computer industry and subsequent growth in access to the internet for all has also led to the exposing of ‘new’ forms of criminal behaviour. In particular incidents of internet fraud, phishing and identity theft have been exposed as well as a perceived rise in sexual offences. Reporting of chat-room activities in particular has highlighted the vulnerability of the young specifically and the wider population generally. Ease of access to and familiarity with the internet has lured the public into a sense of false security, built on trust. (…more)

3. Lecture outcomes • By the end of the lecture students will be able to: • critically evaluate assumptions and stereotypes surrounding cyber crime; • appreciate the impact of the Internet on traditional crimes; • discuss the different forms of cyber crime that exist; • understand the cost of various cyber crimes.

4. Extent of computer use and know-how • UK - 81% of households had access to a computer in the home in 2002 (Department for Education and Skills, 2003: 4). • Home Office on Internet Crime http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/internet-crime/

5. (http://www.internetworldstats.com/top20.htm)

7. http://www.esafe.com/csrt/security-statistics.aspx

8. How much is SPAM? • Average SPAM per day per person = 18.5 • Loss in productivity is equivalent to $21.6 billion per year at average US wages. • 21% of spam in January 2005 was porn. • Spam now accounts for around 90% of all email. • Consumer Report's 2007 "State of the Net" survey

9. ‘New’ forms of criminal behaviour? 30 countries prohibit, in some statutory form all, or most, of the following acts: • unauthorized access; • illicit tampering with files or data (e.g., unauthorized copying, modification, or destruction); • computer or network sabotage (e.g., viruses, worms) • use of information systems to commit or advance “traditional” crimes (e.g., fraud, forgery, money laundering, acts of terrorism); • computer-mediated espionage; • violations against privacy in the acquisition or use of personal data; • theft or damage of computer hardware or software. ‘The Transnational Dimension of Cyber Crime and Terrorism’ (Sofaer and Goodman, 2001),

10. How ‘new’ are these? • simply ‘traditional’ crimes wrapped up in websites and emails? Can digital crimes leave digital fingerprints?

11. Legislation – a global problem? Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/185.htm Article 23 – General principles relating to international co-operation UK Government The Computer Misuse Act 1990 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1990/Ukpga_19900018_en_1.htm Section 4 Territorial scope of offences under this Act

12. Punishing the hackers, spammers or providers? Teenager accused of leading £12.5m cyber crime team The Guardian Saturday December 1 2007 http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/dec/01/hacking?gusrc=rss&feed=technology • A New Zealand teenager is facing a 10-year jail term after being accused of leading an international group of computer hackers called the A-Team that infiltrated more than a million computers worldwide and swindled their owners out of £12.5m. The 18-year-old, working from his bedroom, is said to have collaborated with American associates in hijacking hundreds of thousands of computers around the world. Other Hackers • Raphael Gray: The unemployed Welsh 19-year-old famously hacked Microsoft founder Bill Gates's credit card details and sent him a shipment of Viagra in 2001. He was sentenced to three years' community rehabilitation. • Kevin Mitnick: The FBI launched a three-year manhunt to stop him from breaking into networks and stealing software at companies including Motorola. He was jailed but now advises companies on cyber crime. • The Pentagon hackers: Two California teenagers were given three years' probation in 1998 for assaults on sensitive military computers. • Joseph McElroy: In 2004 a teenager escaped jail after sparking a nuclear panic by hacking into a top secret US research centre. He triggered a slow-down that caused technicians to press "the panic button".

13. Experts have warned that the new breed of TV download services may leave some web surfers struggling to cope with slow internet connections. Services such as Channel 4's 4oD, the BBC iPlayer and Sky Anytime allow users to download TV programmes and watch them on their computers. But many consumers are unaware that the system continues to send files to and from a computer even when the program appears to have been closed. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/jul/30/news.digitalvideo A zombie computer is a computer attached to the Internet that has been broken into by a hacker, usually through a computer virus. The hacker can then perform malicious tasks under remote direction. Most owners of zombie computers are unaware that their computer is being used in this way. For more on ‘zombie computer take a look at: http://www.crime-research.org/news/07.05.2006/1978/

14. Detective Chief Superintendent Len Hynds, head of the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit in the UK (now become part of the Serious Organised Crime Agency) • MOTs for computers and driving licences for computer users. • Future crimes?

15. Illegal downloads – costs to students Music and maybe essays? Internet Literacy Handbook – http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/internetliteracy/hbk_EN.asp 2006 - Josephson Institute of Ethics - 60 per cent of U.S. high school students said that they had cheated in the previous year. Electronic detection tools such as Turnitin

16. Who is to blame? • Shi ("Carl") Huang, a senior at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent, Ohio, and a Chinese national in the country on a student visa, hacked his teacher's computer using a guessed password and obtained test questions. He was caught and given an "F" for the course, having been a straight-A student previously; the school also suspended Huang and is pressing criminal charges which could affect his ability to stay in the country. Now Huang and his parents are suing the teacher, James Zagray, the Kent board of education, and three school administrators, saying the boy was entrapped into the misconduct, that the teacher did not reach out sufficiently as he struggled with the course, and that the district mishandled the disciplinary process. Demands include monetary damages as well as changes to Huang's grade and other records. • http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/1946331 (2007)