Problems of counteraction to cybercrime and cyberterrorism in Ukraine
Date: January 02, 2005Source: Computer Crime Research Center
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• virus-makers – a term virus-maker was first introduced by members of Stealth, a famous group of virus creators, these people are involved in creating computer viruses, they are often called vexers (from Virus EXchanER) or technorats;
• carders – (from card) one of the most closed communities in the computer underground almost in all countries of the world due to its relation to law, these people have chosen examination of features of credit cards and ATMs as their specialty, carders are famous for their illegal machinations with credit cards and successful hacks of ATMs, carders create there own societies (carderplanet.ru is the most known carders forum in Russia) with strict hierarchy and high level of personal conspiracy;
• phreakers - (from phreak) people who advocate the science and art of illegal connection to phone networks; late in the 1980s, along with the introduction of new, more protected standards of communication, such legendary concepts as “blue box” have sunk into oblivion; at present phreakers are mainly interested in cellular and satellite communication, they create the most marginal, criminogenic and illegal communities like carders .
Outlining of typical models of various categories of cybercriminals, knowledge and consideration of peculiarities of these people helps to reveal and investigate such crimes in good time .
Speaking about psychological relation of criminals to the committed act, in most cases computer crimes are performed intentionally. Software developers and security officers virtually cut down the probability of damage to computer systems by accident or carelessness.
Most computer crimes are accomplished intentionally. Software developers and specialists of security services practically reduced possibility of casual or careless harm for interests of users.
According to expert estimation of the Interpol, statistic interrelation of different reasons for computer crimes is the following:
• mercenary motives - 66 per-cent;
• political reasons (terrorism, political actions) - 17 per-cent;
• research curiosity - 7 per-cent;
• hooligan reasons and naughtiness - 5 per-cent;
• revenge - 4 per-cent.
Prevention of crimes committed using global computer networks should prescribe the following:
• suppression of computer crimes – undertaking measures to stop activity of people who prepare or attempt to commit a crime;
• preclusion of crimes – definition of people who plan certain crimes and undertaking measures to exclude realization of these intentions;
• precaution of crimes – revealing and removing of reasons and conditions of committing crimes on the network, establishing people inclined to commit such crimes, undertaking of some kind of influence on them.
Each of these approaches includes measures of general and individual character in respect of the given persons.
The most efficient part of salvation of this multifold problem of computer crimes prevention refers to organizational technical and legal approaches. The first prescribes mainly preventing computer crimes through measures of technical character: creation of architecture, protocols, hardware and software of processing systems that will prevent or impede criminal activity. The second approach proposes improvement of legal mechanism: strengthening of legal base, clear definition of corpus delicti for computer crimes, maintaining their efficient detection, investigation and legal prosecution.
It is noteworthy that lately the role of legal salvation of problems related to assuring of global networks security become more evident. For the last years governments of many countries took drastic steps to counteract computer terrorism. In particular, in 2002 Pentagon granted one of the biggest scientific institutions of the USA – a Carnegie Mellon University the amount of $35.5 million to conduct researches in the sphere of fighting computer terrorism. A five-year grant has been provided for development of identifying technologies that are to protect users on the Internet from unauthorized access to their confidential data.
A special Center for Computer Security and Communications Protection conducts research into creation of elements of artificial intelligence that could maintain automatic protection of information from hacker attacks without human assistance. Besides, they research possibilities to use individual features of users: their signatures, fingerprints, appearances and voices to suppress unauthorized access to data. Scientists believe that a symbiosis of these two technologies will be utilized in the future .
A new law has come in force in Great Britain; it equates computer hacker to Irish Republican soldiers. This law is to enhance suppression of different groups that use the territory of the UK for their actions. According to this document, if a hacker hacks a computer system that maintains national defense of the country, and if he attempts to influence somehow the governmental bodies or to threaten society, he will be charged with terrorism and will face all the ensuing consequences.
Thus activity on counteraction to cybercrime in Ukraine should be systematic and complex. It is necessary to build this job on the basis of clear cooperation of all law enforcement agencies, introduction of efficient techniques to reveal and prevent such kind of crime, and also on the background of improvement of legal norms. Today, none of the states is able to resist this wrong without assistance. Fighting computer terrorism, and against terrorism as the whole, is not for separate countries, therefore it is essential to maintain cooperation of secret services, including national security services and special units fighting terrorism at national, regional and international levels.
References
1. Victor Luneev. XX Century Crime: Global, Regional and Russian Tendencies. М., 1997.
2. Convention on Cybercrime http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/185.htm.
3. Cyber Crime Statistics. http://www.crime-research.ru/news/29.07.2004/1314/.
4. Ukraine: 45 million EURO losses from cyber attacks. http://www.crime-research.ru/news/30.07.2004/1320/.
5. 2004 CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey Continue but Financial Losses are Down. http://i.cmpnet.com/gocsi/db_area/pdfs/fbi/FBI2004.pdf.
6. Vladimir Golubev. Cyber Crime: Motivation and Subject. http://www.crime-research.ru/news/2004.10.21/1547/.
7. Erick S. Reimond. New Hacker Dictionary. - М.,1996.
8. Alexander Chernavski. Computer Underground in the Context of Modern Cyber Culture. - Computer Crime and Cyber Terrorism, Zaporozhye, №2, 2004.
9. Vladimir Golubev, Alexander Golovin. Problems of Investigating Cyber Crime. http://www.crime-research.org/library/New_g.htm.
10. D. Malyshenko. Counteraction to Cyber Terrorism – The Crucial Task of Modern Society and Government. http://oxpaha.ru/view.asp?13341.
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