THE FUTURE / BLOG 10

I'm going to begin by piggybacking off of my last post on the Deep Web to introduce my post on the future of computer crime. The future is most certainly lying within Tor browsers where anonymity allows everybody to do anything that they would please. This includes hacking companies or banks, selling drugs or murdering via a livestream. The issue with the future of computer crime lies simply in the topic itself. Computer crime and, more specifically, anonymous computer crime is difficult to track by its nature and by the time things had added up for law enforcement, the culprit has moved on and away and becomes unable to be tracked again.

The future has written itself out for law enforcement. They have to be able to keep up with the cyber criminals and find productive and effective ways of capturing and prosecuting them. Legislation also needs to be updated to mirror the changing times that we are currently living in. If hacker groups are doing their activities but are benefitting the greater good, shall that be allowed? What are the boundaries that law enforcement can cross when it comes to spying on and watching over people's computer usage? If there is enough circumstantial evidence in a case where computer evidence gets encrypted, shall that be allowed and admitted as a guilty catch?

There are more and more tech-savvy criminals popping up all over the web and it's important for the future of criminal justice to follow suit. Future criminal justice majors such as myself will need to be taught much more about programming and tracing identities through computers as a part of their regular curriculum as opposed to an elective that you choose to take on your own. As much as I enjoyed this course, my head simply cannot wrap itself around the technological side of things with just one course. I unfortunately do not currently have the skills to be placed into any position where I would be relied on to track people's activities through a computer. With the right training, sure. But that training is something that will need to be implemented into college degree programs in the near future.

ROLLING STONE / BLOG 9

         Here I am yet again. Writing about the Deep Web. You know you start noticing things once you've learned about them? They've always been there but now you're more educated and can notice them? That's how I am with the Dark Net/Deep Web/etc. I'm seeing it everywhere! Most recently I was at work and I saw in the mess of magazines the November issue of Rolling Stone. Right on the cover was "The Dark Web: Inside the Hidden Internet". I wasn't able to read the issue but I was lucky enough to find the matching article on Rolling Stone's website.




         Aside from learning more about what I already knew about the Deep Web on how it's below the "Surface" and uses Tor browsers to keep user anonymous, I found more out. I had no idea that the government funds the majority of the Deep Web for good reasons. I was under the assumption that the Tor browser software somehow funded the Deep Web and that it was only used for bad. I also discovered more about the "layers" of the Internet. Yes, there is the "Surface" and the "Deep Web" but there is then the "Darknet" which is the most private, most protected aspect of the Deep Web. Ulbricht's case was mentioned as well as "Darkode", a mass hacker forum and community that was operating in the Deep Web and has now moved into the Darknet. Terrorists have been using this side of the Internet for recruiting purposes and planning out attacks. The Deep Web has just gotten scarier and scarier the more that I've learned about it.




         I decided to watch a YouTube video on the kind of things you can find. That was a mistake. It made me angry, upset and have so many other feelings. It now makes so much sense that the government funds this for good purposes because before I knew that I was always so confused how these people were able to get away with all of this stuff. I figured it was as simple as outlawing Tor browsers. When there are good things coming from the Deep Web, however, things get messy. As the article states, "The same tools that keep government agents and dissidents anonymous keep criminals virtually invisible too".

         I am so unbelievably fascinated by the Deep Web and I hope to learn more about it even after this course has finished up. I'm thankful that this Rolling Stone article highlighted all of the good things that it can be used for because after hearing about all of the murder, child pornography and drugs that can be viewed/purchased via the Deep Web, my heart can rest a little lighter now that I know it's being balanced out (if it can be balanced out at all) with the good.

Article link: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-battle-for-the-dark-net-20151022?page=2

ANONYMOUS / BLOG 8

         Jumping back to two posts ago here on my blog… something very interesting has happened today. The "hacktivist" group Anonymous has begun posting emails and phone numbers for alleged members of the Ku Klux Klan. 1,000 full identities are rumored to be exposed this Thursday. This is a black and white example of fighting evil with evil. On the numerous news sites reporting about this happening, although it's only been up for about a half hour, there are many people jumping to the defense of the KKK's anonymity. Yes, what the Klan does is hateful but an anonymous group giving up the information of another anonymous organization is wildly ironic.

         Ah, the power of the Internet. This was possible because Anonymous hacked into a "compromised" Twitter account that housed much of the email information that they eventually leaked today. Supposedly Anonymous and the Klan have had issues with each other in the past and Anonymous made it very clear in their leak today that they were not intending on bashing them for their use of free speech and that, although it is hateful, their speech is legal and shall remain so. That being said, Anonymous claims that the Klan's actions are terrorist-like and much more than an extremist or hate group.

         Although this news is unrelated to Chapter 11 in the text, law enforcement can be tied in because of the potential leak of political and enforcement leaders' names later this week. Anonymous has mentioned that they have information about the Ku Klux Klan that would link them to the Ferguson issues and if that ends up being true, the topic of police corruption will be raised and potential social distrust of police would skyrocket.

         Since this news is so recent and sudden, I have not yet formed an opinion on it. Although I am all for people owning up to their hateful behavior regardless of they believe they should be guarded by an anonymous curtain, the legitimacy of this leak is questionable at this point and repercussions from the Klan concern me. I'm not bothered by the irony of Anonymous leaking other organization's anonymous information because, as their group type "hacktivist" suggests, they get their information through hacks in compromised accounts and sites and that's just as they did with this situation.

Article link: http://www.ibtimes.com/anonymous-begins-publishing-ku-klux-klan-member-details-online-2164710

SILK ROAD / BLOG 7

         The subject of my blog post this week is more along the lines of Chapters 9 and 11. Chapter 10 not so much. But please, bear with me. After completing lab 7 (and slightly overlapping while completing it), I came across wired.com's "Story of Silk Road" Parts One and Two on Ross Ulbricht and everything prior, during and after the fall of the Silk Road.

         I cannot believe that I read the entire thing but I actually did. It was a page-turner. And by page-turner, I mean finger scroller. Since there weren't actual pages I don't know how long the two parts ended up being but it took about an hour to read leisurely. I was fascinated in myself for being so interested in this story. The author brings you on a trip through the rise and fall of the Silk Road, a Dark Web black market website focused on selling drugs and pornography. The story is told from many different angles between Ross Ulbricht, the creator and the different government agencies who were consecutively fighting to crack the case first such as the FBI, DEA and more. Mainly through Ross's journal that he kept on his computer, the reader is able to journey through Ross's life and how he changed internally as the success of Silk Road grew over time. At the peak of his empire, Ross was making $7 million a year. That was quite a substantial amount for the way that Ross was living (with a roommate with no lavish belongings).

         Prior to beginning lab 7 I had no idea about the Deep Web or how to access it. By completing the lab and reading this story I am confident that my base knowledge is set and now I can only begin to learn more. I was absolutely taken by how Agent Force in the story working for the FBI was able to con Ulbricht by chatting with him. Force was able to get onto Silk Road and begin conversing with Ulbricht, who favored community over anything. Force pretended to be a cartel head and over the course of a YEAR and A HALF gained his trust through (staged) assassinations, advice and simple friendship. Although Ross was intelligent and a good business man when it came to the Silk Road, he was not tech-savvy at all. That eventually led to his downfall and aided in his foolishness when he didn't realize or figure out that he was not talking to 'Nob' the cartel leader but instead Agent Force who was sitting in his family's living room on his laptop. The Rise and Fall of Silk Road was an incredible eye-opener that taught me so much about a topic I knew so little on; so little on that I didn't even know the subject itself before this week.

         If you are reading my blog and have never read the WIRED articles/stories on Ross Ulbricht, please do. It will be educational to any eye that reads it regardless of how little or much you know about the Deep Web or the Silk Road itself.

HATE GROUPS / BLOG 6

            Despite the downward slide in numbers of hate groups in America, the groups that are still around are reverting back to their old ways of communicating strictly by word-of-mouth. Leaving the Internet marks a big change in ways for these groups as they are going against what the entirely of the country is doing. While everybody has begun relying on technology to intervene into almost every aspect of our lives, hate groups strive to get back to their old ways so that they can conserve their power and regain strength after faltering in their numbers in recent years.

            The reelection of Barack Obama has been marked as the cause of the dwindling amounts of hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and more but the initial election of President Obama is what started sprouting so many groups up to begin with. Obama’s election made these groups angsty because of his race, naturally, but his reelection showed that the general public was okay with his background and that ostracizing realization is what could have made the groups lose steam. Now that the decline has begun, hopefully this decline can slide us back and past the numbers that were around pre-2008 and pre-Obama in the White House.

            How could these groups operate without any form of communication other than verbal communication? They are “everywhere” says a member of the Klan and with over 150 chapters in the country, it can’t be that difficult to come together when needed. But this does make me wonder if the violence and evil doings of these hate groups will become more centralized to the specific chapters within the groups instead of potentially mass events or occurrences because of this shift offline.

            This CNN article mentioned that another cause for the decline could be legislation shifting to the right and aligning more with these extremist’s views. Regardless of how these groups feel about the current political climate, the fact that they are moving off of the Internet is going to allow the groups to regain their strength in leadership again, which while stronger leadership in a group that spread so much hate is not necessarily what everybody wants, it is proven that having a leader in place diminishes chances of violent outbursts between the members of the group and the public and more specifically, the groups of people that the group is against.

Article link: http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/25/us/hate-groups-decline

SUBWAY NO WAY / BLOG 5

         After finishing up with my reading of chapter 8 on cyber obscenity, one story rang clear in my mind. That story is of fallen Subway spokesperson Jared Fogle who last month reached a plea agreement in his child pornography scandal. Jared Fogle was charged for possessing child pornography and for crossing state lines in order to have paid sex with minors. Fogle's plea deal would allow him to see between five to over twelve years in prison for his crimes. Aside from his jail time, Jared Fogle will also give money for damages to his victims.

         This much reported about story brings to light a very large issue of cyber obscenity that is child pornography. Child pornography has become such a large issue with trafficking of images of minors to producing and even creating digital versions of children inappropriately on the Internet. Fogle obtained his images from a man who was working for his Jared Foundation and instead of turning the man into the cops, took the creepy role and kept the images for himself and eventually acting on those desires of his that he had by then made clear.

            In this case, the term “child” is often misrepresented as many of the children involved were near legal age to consent to sexual relations. That does not make the acts of Jared and the man involved through the Jared Foundation any less guilty of their acts. These images are still around and will be around to haunt the victims for the rest of their lives. That is the main issue in my mind about cyber obscenity is that even if the images are of people who are of-age and even if it was consensual at the time does not mean that those people will feel the same way in twenty years when those images and/or videos will still be in perfect form to be replicated or sent around the Internet.

         What is the absolute worst side of this story, if there really could even be one, is that the man who worked for the Jared Foundation obtained these obscenities by secretly video taping the victims in his bedroom. These victims did not even know that they were being recorded and later passed onto Jared Fogle at all. $100,000 per victim may be a lot of money but it does not cover up any of the immoral acts that the man and Fogle did during this entire incident.

Article link: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/21/us/subway-jared-fogle-charges/index.html

FINGERPRINT BREACH / BLOG 4

            This story may be a popular one this week. I signed onto Facebook to see that a popular story currently is a data breach of the Office of Personnel Management where over 5.5 million fingerprints were accessed and stolen. The story originally was that "only" 1.1 million were compromised but that number jumped massively as the investigation continued. While the hackers did not get much from all of these fingerprints, as technology advances, fingerprints may be more useful for the hackers. As for right now, fingerprints do not allow enough access into the personal lives.

            This made me wonder what the future could hold for hackers and their victims in the future. As of right now, the only common sense thing that I could think of that my fingerprints link me to is my identity. They don't give you my social security number nor do they allow access to my banking account and routing numbers. But then I had to second-guess myself. I had remembered about my iPhone 6 sitting next to me. With one of the most recent operating system updates on my iPhone came fingerprinting "Touch ID" where I can unlock my phone, access Apple Pay and both Apple's App and iTunes Stores with the touch of my thumb or forefinger. Or any other finger that I decide to make my phone memorize for easy access. 

            I had just been talking with my roommates a few days earlier about how the Touch ID feature was one of the best additions to the new operating system and how I never knew that I needed it until I had it. With this personal realization comes the understanding that fingerprint scanners are going to begin to infiltrate the everyday person’s life in more ways over the years most likely. Once we as a society begin to become more reliant on them, that’s when hackers who have accessed this information that has affected over 21.5 million people will have more damage to cause.

            While not directly related to this week’s topic in the text, I felt that this story was meant to be on my Facebook. Fingerprints seem like a thing of the past when they are most likely going to be a part of our future. My prediction for the future is that we will become more reliant on our prints in places like the airport or bank in addition to other sensitive information like our social security number. Fingerprints are an obviously unique aspect of each of our bodies that it seems crazy that we’ve never really relied on them outside of a criminal investigation or something of the sort. Thankfully this breach occurred while we are less reliant on prints and over the years if we begin stretching towards the use of them, technology and security can learn with us so that a breach of this magnitude does not occur again. Maybe I could be entirely wrong in my prediction and maybe fingerprints will stop at Apple and iPhones.

Article link: http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/opm-5-6-million-fingerprints-not-1-1-million-were-n432281?cid=sm_tw&hootPostID=2b259895c48c0d9742f7bfbe0f5adfa4

ESPIONAGE / BLOG 3

            After reading through Chapters 3 and 4 in the text, I decided that I wanted to write this blog post on espionage. Espionage is a topic that I'm familiar with but not very well-versed on and even after reading through the chapter, I wanted to find how it can apply in the real world. Also, if you have been reading my blog then you are probably aware with the fact that I love CNN.com. I like how they organize and report their stories on their website and I find their personal opinions respectful. For this post, I read the article "Chinese cyber espionage group caught hacking defense, industrial base" written by Tal Kopan for CNN.com last month. I specifically chose this article because the title stood out to me for including both my topic of this week (espionage) and hacking, my loose topic of the last two weeks.


            The story being reported on involves a very sophisticated group of Chinese hackers that has been nicknamed "Emissary Panda". These hackers have been getting into highly secure systems and obtaining sensitive information from important organizations around the World. This is not the first time that these hackers have been getting into computer systems. In 2013, they hacked into the Russian embassy's website and spread their damaging software to all of the visitors of the site. Thus far, there have been over 100 attacks on 50 targets identified in the United States and United Kingdom.


            The group seems sophisticated because of how they are going about taking the information. While making themselves known early on, the hackers are managing to find credentials to obtain access to the sites and giving themselves enough time to make lists of all of the sensitive information on the site. Only then are they leaving the task to return and take only a small amount of said information. Experts have observed this activity to conclude that the group seems to be taunting the organizations being hacked on; how they are making it so obvious that they are hacking but will never be able to be caught. They've been found out and kicked off of sites only to later come back and find their way back in again.


            Two videos accompanying this article does clear the air with how this hacker group has affected national security within US borders. The Department of Homeland Security has claimed that there are no signs of "malicious activity" within their constrains. The United States as a whole, however, is blaming China for this entire ordeal. If they are truly the country or government program to be the source of this, that can only foreshadow larger issues in the future as we know how powerful China can be.

Article source link: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/05/politics/cyber-espionage-campaign-chinese/index.html

CYBERTERRORISM / BLOG 2

            Terrorism is by far my favorite topic within Criminal Justice. Although it could technically be labeled under Homeland Security, there are many bleed-overs into CRJS. I'm writing on this topic today after finishing up Chapter Three in "Digital Crime and Digital Terrorism" by Robert M. Taylor, Eric J. Fritsch and John Leiderbach. The one thing that always trips me up on the topic of terrorism is that it is always for a political goal. Simple "evil" happenings cannot always be labeled terrorism although they terrorize society. In Chapter Three I learned about cyberterrorism and how it is a new tactic to achieve the same end goal as what our minds think of when we think of 'terrorism'.

            This subject brought to my mind the scandal of WikiLeaks and made me interested to look into it fully since I never truly understood the situation 100% and see if it was at all any kind of terrorism. The United States had sensitive information leaked through WikiLeaks, which is an organization whose goal is to bring important information to the public through “innovative, secure and anonymous way for sources to leak information to our journalists”, per www.wikileaks.org. The biggest player in the 2010 WikiLeaks information leak was Julian Assange, the founder of the organization. He has been in the news constantly about this debacle. WikiLeaks posted a sensitive video involving the United States military but although this shook the US government, there didn’t seem to be a political agenda for Assange so this could not be considered terrorism. He is currently being held at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for sexual assault charges that were brought upon him three years ago and Swedish prosecutors have said that they may be trying him for his alleged sex crimes in 2020, according to CNN’s Ben Brumfield. Five years from now.

            Although the purpose of the WikiLeaks site is definitely not something that is popular with world governments, it cannot be considered any kind of cyberterrorism. I know that the chances were slim but it seemed plausible enough prior to my research into the organization for it to be so. I can see cyberterrorism becoming a primary security issue for the United States as technology gets more and more advanced and hackers learn more and more about said technology. ISIS specifically has proven themselves to be a very technology-savvy group and I hope that we never get into a cyber war with them or any other terror organization for that matter.

Article link: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/13/europe/wikileaks-assange-sweden-allegations/index.html

ASHLEY MADISON + TARGET / BLOG 1

         I decided to research into “the computer as an instrument of crime” as discussed following page 12 in “Digital Crime and Digital Terrorism” by Robert W. Taylor, Eric J. Fritsch and John Leiderbach. In light of the recent Ashley Madison, a website where users create accounts and chat with others in order to commit adultery affairs, hacking I became interested in how online information can be protected and how it can ultimately be stolen and used against society. I used two medias from CNN.com to fully understand what happened with the hack and what it means for cybersecurity in the future.

         In the article “Ashley Madison hack: The utter end of privacy” written by Jeff Yang for CNN.com, Jeff explains how “the Ashley Madison debacle has brought data invasion to the masses and crowdsourced it” through online tools that allow everyday individuals to search for family members and colleagues within the database’s list of paid members. He states that we are currently living in a post-privacy world and that the only way to hopefully remain unseen or uncovered in the future is to leave tiny, digital footprints. Which is something that many of us under the age of 45 already do not possess.

         In the video “Ashley Madison hack raises questions about security”, Alex Van Someren, a director with investment focus on cybersecurity, discusses how many companies have difficulties securing people’s data online and that banks and credit card companies “probably do it best of all”. He further delves into how the technology exists to keep data online protected and that it is not an “illusion” as prompted by the newsroom host but that the challenge is help companies (and especially start-ups) get a hold of the right tools. Standards are necessary in order for online consumers to be able to be smart about where they are inputting their personal data and can protect themselves individually site-by-site.

         The issue is not only how data is transferred throughout the Internet but also how it is being stored and looked after. A wide range of websites from banking to health care as well as dating sites carry the unmonitored risk to having data hacked into or erased. The Ashley Madison hack is not the first of its kind with Target, the second-largest discount retailing corporation in the United States just having a debit and credit card data leak in 2013 that affected almost 10 million of its customers that has lead to Target requiring chip-and-pin-enabled cards being required for their store brand REDcards, per www.corporate.target.com in April of 2014. These two stories both have brought to light the issue of cybersecurity and push forward the work towards a more safe and secured Internet. I believe that the next step is creating a mandated administrator who gives out titles to certain cites and companies who have the best kind of security out currently and requiring them to consistently update with the times so that scandals such as the Ashley Madison hack and the Target data breach do not occur as frequently.