Responding to classmates discussions on Combatting Cyber Crime With Technology
Review the posts of your fellow learners and respond to at least two. In your response posts, you must do one or more of the following:
- Ask an analytical question.
- Offer a suggestion.
- Elaborate on a particular point.
- Provide an alternative opinion supported with research.
Be sure to support your initial post and follow-up posts with scholarly examples from the module readings and additional literature where appropriate. You must cite all references according to APA style.
Classmate # 1 Charles
Between 2002 and 2004, a group of cyber-criminals known as Shadowcrew dealt in stolen credit card and personal information, and their crimes have been estimated to cost over $4 million. They used phishing and spamming techniques to capture credit card numbers, then purchase items with the stolen card numbers, and send the merchandise to specified addresses. The criminal group reached 4000 members at its peak. One of the main administrators of the site, Aleksi Kolarov was arrested a decade later in Paraguay. Kolarov pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit identity theft and access device fraud, and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.
When asked how cyber-criminals such as Kolarov are caught, Chris Painter, Deputy Chief, Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, credits the ability to trace communications when attacks begin. He added that these crimes are profit based, and therefore, there are money trails to follow. He gives much credit to “good old-fashioned investigations” (Greene 2006). The “good old-fashioned” tactic used in this case was the arrest of a Miami, Florida hacker named Albert Gonzalez, an administrator for Shadowcrew, who cooperated with law enforcement, became an informant, and created an electronic porthole for federal agents in New Jersey to track and record transactions through a modified, encrypted computer board. This was completed during a year-long operation known as “Operation Firewall”. On a side note, while working as an informant for federal law enforcement, Gonzalez was working his own scheme stealing millions of dollars from banks, businesses, and consumers. He was caught in 2008, and is now serving a twenty year federal prison sentence (Sherman, 2013).
Classmate # 2 Jessica
The article I chose was a woman was sentenced for cyber stalking. She started sending texts, phone calls, and posting things on social media. She had never met the person she was harassing but did not stop. The FBI stepped in and tried to see who was behind all of these texts and phone calls. The woman was threatening her and they needed to find out who it was. The FBI caught the woman months later by a video call. The suspect was demanding 100,000 dollars to stop so they set up a meeting and that is how she was arrested. The technology that was used was the computer, they used the video chat to set up a in person meeting so they could arrest her. She was sentenced to 22 months in jail.
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Response to Charles
The peer delves into one of the most infamous cybercriminals in recent history known as Shadowcrew. The criminals were infamous for stealing credit card information of millions of customers through phishing and spamming techniques. The group mainly stole credit card information and committed device fraud. The peer points out that technology has played a key role in aiding in the arrest of some of these criminals in the recent past. Through following money trails, some of the criminals have been apprehended and brought to justice.
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