by Kris Hauser
With technological advances come new challenges — including cybercrime.
What exactly is cybercrime? Its most basic definition is the use of a computer for illegal purposes. Cybercrime is multifaceted, and includes phishing scams, identity theft, fraud, malware distribution, cyberstalking, trafficking in child pornography, and ransomware attacks.
As technology develops, criminals adopt new methods to harm their victims. Cybercriminals have many ways to gain access to our computers. They target individuals, businesses, and national infrastructure, using the Internet to exploit weaknesses and elude capture. As cyberattacks get more sophisticated, law enforcement and the public must understand this modern-day threat and know the resources available to fight it.
Cybercrime, especially when it involves the Internet, represents an extension of long-time criminal behavior plus some newer illegal activities. Most cybercrimes target information belonging to individuals, corporations, or governments. Although these attacks do not occur physically, they are directed against one’s virtual body, the set of informational characteristics that identify people and entities on the Internet. In the digital age, our virtual identities are crucial elements of day-to-day life: We are a collection of numbers and identifiers in computer databases owned by governments and corporations. Cybercrime highlights the importance of networked computers in our lives, as well as the vulnerability of our individual identities.
An important aspect of cybercrime is its non-local character. Actions can occur in areas separated by vast distances. This poses severe challenges for law enforcement, since previously local or national crimes may now require international cooperation. A good example is if someone accesses child pornography within a network based in a country where it isn’t illegal. Is that person committing a crime in his own nation? And where do cybercrimes take place? Cyberspace is a richer version of the space where a telephone conversation occurs — somewhere between the two individuals conversing. Because the Internet is a worldwide network, it offers criminals places to hide in the real world, as well as the network itself. Cybercriminals operate anonymously, making it challenging for law enforcement to identify the perpetrators. However, just as individuals walking on the ground leave indicators that a skilled tracker can spot, cybercriminals leave evidence that may reveal their identity and location.
Types of Cybercrime
According to data from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the top three reported cybercrimes in 2021 were phishing scams, non-payment/non-delivery scams, and personal-data breaches. The victims lost the most money to business-email-compromise scams, romance-and-confidence schemes, and investment fraud.
Phishing scams use phone calls, emails, or text messages to trick individuals into providing personal or sensitive information. They often use spoofing techniques to appear legitimate, and lure victims into revealing data that criminals can misuse.
In non-payment/non-delivery scams, a buyer pays for goods or services found online, but never receives them. They also include situations where one sells an item online and ships it, but never receives payment.
Personal-data breaches occur when unauthorized individuals gain access to confidential information. The consequences of a data breach can be severe and far-reaching. Criminals (i.e., hackers) use the compromised data for illegal activities such as identity theft, financial fraud, spamming, and extortion.
Cybercrime significantly impacts society, and causes hundreds of billions of dollars in financial losses globally. This not only affects corporations, but everyday citizens whose data and financial security are at risk. Cybercriminals also target supplier companies to indirectly gain access to larger organizations and corporations. By infiltrating a smaller, linked business, hackers can eventually reach a larger, protected target.
Role of Law Enforcement
Malicious cyber activity threatens public safety and our national and economic security. Law enforcement is vital to ensure cybersecurity.
Law enforcement achieves our nation’s cybersecurity objectives by investigating a wide range of cybercrimes, from fraud and theft to child exploitation, and capturing and prosecuting those who commit these crimes.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) tactic for battling cybercrime “is to impose cost on cyber adversaries around the world.” It aims to change the behavior of criminals and foreign adversaries who believe they can compromise U.S. networks, steal financial and intellectual property, and put critical infrastructure in danger without facing risk themselves.
The FBI is the primary federal agency that investigates cyberattacks. It gathers and shares intelligence, and engages with victims while working to unmask those committing cybercrimes.
The FBI’s adversaries look to utilize gaps in its intelligence and information security networks. To close these gaps, the agency seeks to collaborate with federal counterparts, foreign partners, and the private sector. These alliances allow the FBI to defend networks, ascribe malicious activity, sanction bad behavior, and take the fight to our foes overseas.
The FBI has trained cyber squads in each of its 55 field offices. It also maintains a rapid-response Cyber Action Team that can deploy across the country within hours to respond to major incidents.
IC3, a division of the FBI, gathers reports of Internet crime from the public. The center’s Recovery Asset Team has helped freeze hundreds of thousands of dollars for victims of cybercrime.
CyWatch is the FBI’s 24/7 operations center and watch floor, providing around-the-clock support to track incidents and communicate with field offices across the country.
Local law-enforcement agencies are at the forefront of responding to cybercrime. Tackling this issue helps them fulfill their mission and serve their local communities, including their most vulnerable residents.
To fight cybercrime, local law-enforcement agencies must first determine what resources are available. Many agencies turn first to the federal government. The FBI and the U.S. Secret Service are well-equipped to investigate cybercrime, and the FBI has a worldwide reach that is especially important for combating cybercriminals. However, the federal government cannot manage every cybercrime case or bring every cybercriminal to justice. This puts a considerable burden on our local law-enforcement agencies.
Whether local law enforcement is equipped to perform cyber investigations comes down to the skills and training of its officers and the tools available to them.
Some law-enforcement agencies have cybercrime investigators and digital-forensics specialists, but many lack the personnel, budget, or expertise to pursue these cases. One popular solution is for agencies to combine their resources. At a 2014 conference, FBI Assistant Director Joe Demarest said that “combating cybercrime is a team sport.” “Whether it is local, state, or federal level agency, one agency can’t do this alone.”
Here are notable federal agencies that focus on combating cybercrime:
• FBI Cyber Task Force: The FBI maintains dedicated cyber task forces across the United States, collaborating with state and local law-enforcement agencies.
• Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA): Created in 2018, CISA offers resources, threat reports, and intelligence to strengthen cybersecurity.
• Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3): Established in 2000, IC3 is a platform for individuals to report cybercrimes, helping law enforcement track and prosecute cybercriminals.
• National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C): Founded in 1978, NW3C provides training and technical support to law enforcement for cybercrime cases.
Many local police departments across the United States now require specialized training in digital forensics and cyberthreat analysis. These programs seek to help officers identify digital evidence and understand the complexities of cyber investigations.
Many cybercrime investigative teams and task forces exist across the country. The Secret Service has organized and set up several Electronic Crimes Task Forces (ECTFs) in the United States and overseas. Created via the Patriot Act of 2001, their purpose is to prevent, detect, and investigate cybercrime. Task-force participants include law-enforcement agencies and private companies that are often targeted by cybercriminals.
To give local law-enforcement agencies access to digital forensics expertise, the FBI operates several Regional Computer Forensics Laboratories (RCFLs) nationwide. They are both forensics labs and training centers, and provide reinforcement for criminal investigations involving digital data.
Law-enforcement officers and civilian personnel at law-enforcement agencies have multiple ways to get the training needed to become successful cyber investigators. Makers of digital forensic tools and software offer training on their programs. Additionally, multiple schools and private trainers offer cyber-investigation training. However, the best option may be the National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI), which provides free services for agencies seeking to train their officers.
The NCFI is tasked with training and equipping local law-enforcement agencies in digital evidence collection and cybercrime investigation. The NCFI states on its website that its training is based on the Secret Service’s “successful cyber investigative strategy, which relies on partnering with and sharing information between academia, private industry and law enforcement.” The NCFI opened in 2008, and “has trained over 18,000 local, state, tribal, and territorial law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and/or judges from all 50 states and five U.S. Territories.”
Law-enforcement agencies also work closely with private technology companies and cybersecurity firms. These collaborations promote the utilization of complex cybersecurity tools and real-time threat intelligence, helping address cyberthreats more effectively.
What Can We Do?
First, our local law-enforcement agencies must encourage victims to report cybercrimes. Many people hesitate to do so. They think the amount of money stolen is too small to be concerned about, do not believe anything can be done to rectify the situation, or don’t know how to report a cybercrime. Reporting these incidents will help law-enforcement officers detect trends and identify new tactics used by criminals.
To reduce the risk of cybercrime, individuals and companies should update their software programs, use strong passwords, use different passwords for each account, and look out for phishing attempts. These practices will make it harder for cybercriminals to succeed.
Community programs may exist in your area, such as Cybersecurity 101 workshops offered at community centers and libraries that can help raise awareness about this problem.
Cybercrime won’t go away. As our world becomes more interconnected and technologically advanced, the dangers we face will evolve. However, with the correct resources, public education, and strong relationships between law enforcement and the community, we can stay one step ahead of cybercriminals. By remaining aware and informed, the public and law enforcement can work together to counter these digital threats.