Exploring the Intersections of Technology, Crime, and Terror

Abstract The Internet and computer-mediated communications (CMCs) have drastically changed the way that individuals communicate and share information across the globe. Over the last two decades, financial institutions, private industry, and governments have come to rely on technology in order to access sensitive data and manage critical infrastructure, such as electrical power grids. As a consequence, the threat posed by cybercriminals has increased dramatically and afforded significant opportunities for terrorist groups and extremist organizations to further their objectives. The complex and intersecting nature of both crime and terror make it difficult to clearly separate these issues, particularly in virtual environments, due to the anonymous nature of CMCs and challenges to actor attribution. Thus, this study examines the various definitions for physical and cyberterror and the ways that these activities intersect with cybercrime. In addition, the ways that terrorists and extremist groups use the Internet and CMCs to recruit individuals, spread misinformation, and gather intelligence on various targets are discussed. Finally, the uses of computer hacking tools and malware are explored as a way to better understand the relationship between cybercrime and terror. Keywords: cybercrimecyberterrorhackinghacktivismmalware Notes Steven Furnell, Cybercrime: Vandalizing the Information Society (Boston: Addison-Wesley, 2002) ; David S. Wall, “Cybercrimes and the Internet, ” in Crime and the Internet, ed. David S. Wall (New York: Routledge, 2001), 1–17. Heather DiMarco, “The Electronic Cloak: Secret Sexual Deviance in Cybersociety, ” in Dot. cons: Crime, Deviance, and Identity on the Internet, ed. Yvonne Jewkes (Portland, OR: Willan Publishing), 53–67. Jake Brodscky and Robert Radvanovsky, “Control Systems Security, ” in Corporate Hacking and Technology-Driven Crime: Social Dynamics and Implications, ed. Thomas J. 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Alshech, “Cyberspace as a Combat Zone: The Phenomenon of Electronic Jihad, ” MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis Series 329 (Washington, DC: The Middle East Media Research Institute, 2007). Foltz, “Cyberterrorism, Computer Crime, and Reality” (see note 34 above). Hollis Stambaugh, David S. Beaupre, David J. Icove, Richard Baker, Wayne Cassady, Wayne P. Williams, Electronic Crime Needs Assessment For State And Local Law Enforcement (Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, 2001). Foltz, “Cyberterrorism, Computer Crime, and Reality” (see note 34 above). Marjie T. Britz, Computer Forensics and Cybercrime, 2nd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2009). Thomas J. Holt and Heith Copes, “Transferring Subcultural Knowledge Online: Practices and Beliefs of Persistent Digital Pirates, ” Deviant Behavior 31 (2010): 625–654. Gary Bunt, Islam in the Digital Age: E-jihad, Online Fatwas and Cyber Islamic Environments (London: Pluto Books, 2003) ; Lachow, “Cyber Terrorism” (see note 6 above). Ibid. ; Marc Sageman, Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty First Century, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008). James J. F. Forest, ed. , Influence Warfare: How Terrorists and Governments Struggle to Shape Perceptions in a War of Ideas (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2009) ; and James J. F. Forest, “Influence Warfare and Modern Terrorism, ” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 10, no. 1 (2009): 81–90. Ibid. Tammy Castle, “The Women of Stormfront: An Examination of White Nationalist Discussion Threads on the Internet, ” Internet Journal of Criminology (2011), http: //www. internetjournalofcriminology. com/CastleChevalierTheWomenₒfStormfrontAnExaminationₒfWhiteNationalistDiscussionThreads. pdf; Stormfront website. www. stormfront. org; Robert W. Taylor, Eric J. Fritsch, John Liederbach, and Thomas J. Holt, Digital Crime and Digital Terrorism, 2nd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2010). Taylor et al. , Digital Crime and Digital Terrorism (see note 47 above). See the website http: //www. newsaxon. com for details. Gabriel Weimann and Katharina Von Knop, “Applying the Notion of Noise to Countering Online Terrorism, ” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 23 (2009): 883–902. Britz, “Terrorism and Technology” (see note 22 above) ; Lachow, “Cyber Terror” (see note 6 above) ; Sageman, Leaderless Jihad (see note 44 above). Vivian Salma, “Ask a Terrorist, ” Newsweek, 19 December 2007, http: //www. newsweek. com/2007/12/19/as-a-terrorist. html. See http: //www. resistancerecords. com for details. Taylor et al. , Digital Crime and Digital Terror (see note 47 above). For a description of this and several other terrorist-created video games, see Madeline Gruen, “Innovative Recruitment and Indoctrination Tactics by Extremists: Video Games, Hip Hop, and the World Wide Web, ” in The Making of a Terrorist, ed. James J. F. Forest (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005). Britz, “Terrorism and Technology” (see note 22 above) ; Lachow, “Cyber Terror” (see note 6 above) ; Sageman, Leaderless Jihad (see note 44 above). Taylor et al. , Digital Crime and Digital Terrorism (see note 47 above). Britz, “Terrorism and Technology” (see note 22 above) ; Max Kilger, “Social Dynamics and the Future of Technology-Driven Crime, ” in Corporate Hacking and Technology Driven Crime: Social Dynamics and Implications, ed. Thomas J. Holt and Bernadette Schell (Hershey PA: IGI-Global, 2010), 205–227. Kilger, “Social Dynamics and the Future of Technology-Driven Crime” (see note 58 above). Paul A. Taylor, Hackers: Crime in the Digital Sublime (New York: Routledge, 1999). Gordon R. Meyer, The Social Organization of the Computer Underground (Master's thesis, Northern Illinois University, 1989). Ibid. Taylor, Hackers (see note 60 above). Ibid. Taylor et al. , Digital Crime and Digital Terrorism (see note 47 above). Bill Chu, Thomas J. Holt, and Gail Joon Ahn, Examining the Creation, Distribution, and Function of Malware On-Line (Washington, DC, National Institute of Justice, 2010), http: //www. ncjrs. gov. /pdffiles1/nij/grants/230112. pdf. Ibid. Ibid. Thomas J. Holt, “Examining the Origins of Malware, ” Paper presented at the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Conference, Saint Louis, MO, January 2008. Ibid. ; Thomas J. Holt, Joshua B. Soles, and Ludmilla Leslie, “Characterizing Malware Writers and Computer Attackers in Their Own Words, ” Paper presented at the International Conference on Information Warfare and Security, Peter Kiewit Institute, University of Nebraska Omaha, April 2008. Thomas J. Holt, “The Attack Dynamics of Political and Religiously Motivated Hackers, ” in Cyber Infrastructure Protection, ed. Tarek Saadawi and Louis Jordan (New York: Strategic Studies Institute, 2009), 161–182. Ibid. Denning, “Cyberconflict as an Emergent Social Phenomenon” (see note 3 above). Ibid. ; Taylor, Hackers (see note 60 above). Ibid. Denning, “Cyberconflict as an Emergent Social Phenomenon” (see note 3 above). Sean Paul Correll, “An Interview with Anonymous, ” PandaLabs Blog, 29 September, 2010, http: //pandalabs. pandasecurity. com/an-interview-with-anonymous/. Taylor et al. , Digital Crime and Digital Terrorism (see note 47 above) ; Denning, “Cyberconflict as an Emergent Social Phenomenon” (see note 3 above). Ibid. ; Kilger, “Social Dynamics and the Future of Technology-Driven Crime” (see note 58 above). Denning, “Cyberconflict as an Emergent Social Phenomenon” (see note 3 above). Holt, “The Attack Dynamics of Political and Religiously Motivated Hackers” (see note 71 above) ; Michael Ward, “Anti-Cartoon Protests Go Online, ” BBC News, 8 February 8, 2006, http: //news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/technology/4691518. stm. Ibid. Denning, “Cyber Conflict as an Emergent Social Phenomenon” (see note 3 above). Dorothy E. Denning, Information Warfare and Security (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1999). Ryan Naraine and Dancho Danchev, “Zero Day: Coordinated Russia vs Georgia cyber attack in progress, ” ZDNet, 11 August 2008, http: //www. zdnet. com/blog/security/coordinated-russia-vs-georgia-cyber-attack-in-progress/1670. Taylor et al. , Digital Crime and Digital Terrorism (see note 47 above). Britz, “Terrorism and Technology” (see note 22 above) ; Denning, “Cyber Conflict as an Emergent Social Phenomenon” (see note 3 above) ; Lachow, “Cyber Terror” (see note 6 above). Ibid. Ibid. See Paul K. Kerr, John Rollins, and Catherine A. Theohary, The Stuxnet Computer Worm: Harbinger of an Emerging Warfare Capability (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2010). Mark Clayton, “Stuxnet Malware is ‘Weapon’ out to Destroy … Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Plant, ” Christian Science Monitor, 21 September, 2010, http: //www. csmonitor. com/USA/2010/0921/Stuxnet-malware-is-weapon-out-to-destroy-Iran-s-Bushehr-nuclear-plant. Brodscky and Radvanovsky, “Control Systems Security” (see note 3 above) ; Denning, “A View of Cyberterrorism Five Years Later” (see note 6 above). Clayton, “Stuxnet Malware is ‘Weapon’ out to Destroy … Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Plant” (see note 91 above). Ibid. Brodscky and Radvanovsky, “Control Systems Security” (see note 3 above) ; Kilger, “Social Dynamics and the Future of Technology-Driven Crime” (see note 58 above). Clayton, “Stuxnet Malware is ‘Weapon’ out to Destroy … Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Plant” (see note 91 above). Kim Zetter, “DHS Fears a Modified Stuxnet Could Attack US Infrastructure, ” Wired Threat Level, 20 July, 2011, http: //www. wired. com/threatlevel/2011/07/dhs-fears-stuxnet-attacks/. Brenner, Cyberthreats (see note 4 above). Clayton, “Stuxnet Malware is ‘Weapon’ out to Destroy … Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Plant” (see note 91 above) ; Kerr et al. , The Stuxnet Computer Worm (see note 90 above). Brenner, Cyberthreats (see note 4 above) ; Chu et al. , Examining the Creation, Distribution, and Function of Malware On-line (see note 66 above) ; Kilger, “Social Dynamics and the Future of Technology-Driven Crime” (see note 58 above). Chu et al. , Examining the Creation, Distribution, and Function of Malware On-line (see note 66 above) ; Taylor et al. , Digital Crime and Digital Terror (see note 47 above). Holt, “Examining the Origins of Malware” (see note 69 above). Brenner, Cyberthreats (see note 4 above) ; Kilger, “Social Dynamics and the Future of Technology-Driven Crime” (see note 58 above). Holt et al. , “Characterizing Malware Writers and Computer Attackers in Their Own Words” (see note 70 above). Britz, “Terrorism and Technology” (see note 22 above). Brenner, Cyberthreats (see note 4 above). Correll, “An Interview with Anonymous” (see note 77 above) ; Kevin Poulsen, “In ‘Anonymous’ Raids, Feds Work From List of Top 1, 000 Protesters, ” Wired, 26 July, 2011, http: //www. wired. com/threatlevel/2011/07/opₚayback/. Brenner, Cyberthreats (see note 4 above) ; Taylor et al. , Digital Crime and Digital Terror (see note 47 above). Department of Defense. Department of Defense Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace, (Washington DC: Department of Defense, 2011), http: //www. defense. gov/news/d20110714cyber. pdf. Ibid. Ibid. Brodscky and Radvanovsky, “Control Systems Security” (see note 3 above) ; Kilger, “Social Dynamics and the Future of Technology-Driven Crime” (see note 58 above). Ibid. Ibid. Adam M. Bossler and Thomas J. Holt, “On-line Activities, Guardianship, and Malware Infection: An Examination of Routine Activities Theory, ” International Journal of Cyber Criminology 3 (2010): 400–420; Chu et al. , Examining the Creation, Distribution, and Function of Malware On-line (see note 66 above). Ibid. Taylor et al. , Digital Crime and Digital Terrorism (see note 47 above). Bossler and Holt, “On-line Activities, Guardianship, and Malware Infection” (see note 115 above). Brenner, Cyberthreats (see note 4 above). Chu et al. , Examining the Creation, Distribution, and Function of Malware On-line (see note 66 above). Joshua Sinai, “Using the Internet to Uncover Terrorism's Root Causes, ” in Influence Warfare, ed. James J. F. Forest (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2009). Thomas J. Holt, “Exploring Strategies for Qualitative Criminological and Criminal Justice Inquiry Using Online Data, ” Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 21 (2010): 300–321. Chu et al. , Examining the Creation, Distribution, and Function of Malware On-line (see note 66 above) ; Thomas J. Holt and Eric Lampke, “Exploring Stolen Data Markets On-line: Products and Market Forces, ” Criminal Justice Studies 23 (2010): 33–50. Brian Krebs, “Terror Webmaster Sentenced in Britain, ” Washington Post, 5 July 2007; Kimberly Kiefer Peretti, “Data Breaches: What the Underground World of “Carding” Reveals, ” Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal 25 (2009): 375–413. Additional informationNotes on contributorsThomas J. Holt Thomas J. Holt is an associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University.