Cyber Today: Unrestricted Content And Cyber Laws

Introduction:

Cybercrime today is something that is in the news on a daily basis. We as consumers and as individuals are under attack and need to understand how to protect ourselves. Identifying and knowing what cyber and cybercrime consists of is the first step. This course, introduced us to Cybercrime. What exactly is cybercrime? Cybercrime is wide and rampant due to the ease and use of the internet. The lead investigative federal agency is the FBI. The FBI investigates cybercrimes made by criminals, overseas adversaries and terrorists. The nation’s critical infrastructure are targets, both private and public networks. Ordinary users are under attack for identity theft and fraud. Cybercrime committed by computer enthusiasts that want bragging rights or businesses wanting a competitive edge. There are those that also wish to do harm.

Cyberwar, Organized Crime and Hackers

Cyberwarfare, we ask ourselves. It is not new and from the articles, I have read it has been going on for some time. Cyberwarfare is attacked via computers and networks that are politically engaged by nation-states on other nation-states. These attacks can include cyberespionage and or military conflicts. Cyberwarfare is the use of technology to attack a nation, causing comparable harm to actual warfare. ‘Cyberwarfare’ does not imply scale, protraction or violence, which are typically associated with the term ‘war’. The Cyberwar superpowers. Who are they? From an article in 2016 and not much has changed, the superpowers consist of five (5) the United States, China, Russia, Israel, and the United Kingdom. These cyber superpowers have responded to a rapidly growing number of attacks in recent years. We then moved on to organized crime in the cyber world. The Internet provides anonymity to users. That makes it an open field for criminals and organized crime. The use of information systems is for not only the hackers and decoder but is now open to the use of drug dealers, extortionists and illegal gaming. Money or currency is also part of this digital world. The Transitional Criminal Organizations (TOC) have moved to this digital world, as we know it the Internet of Things. President Trump issued E.O 13773 on February 9, 2017; it was on Enforcing Federal Law with Respect to Transnational Criminal Organizations and Preventing International Trafficking. The order reaffirms the commitment of the U.S. government to address the acts of TOC and protect communities and individuals. To combat Cyberwar there is Digital forensics. It is an application of scientific techniques to investigate digital crimes and attacks, also known as computer forensics. In the ’70s and ’80s, digital forensics was primarily performed by police and federal law enforcement. In 1984, the FBI launched the Magnet Media program; it focused on digital records. Later, in the ’90s and 00’s the spread of online child pornography and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq where the US troops would capture laptops and phones from the enemy was high and they needed to extract useful information. Digital forensics tools can differ from digital forensics examiner, but some of the tools in their tool kit could contain packet sniffers or powerful software platforms that multifunction.

Dark Web

The Dark web is something we should also know about and be aware of at all times in the cyber world. The dark web is a term for the part of the internet that is not indexed by search engines. To access the dark web, an anonymizing browser is used called Tor. Tor stands for The Onion Router. Tor browser gives you access to .onion websites that are only available within the Tor network. The Tor is free and open-source. It could be the first means of getting to the Dark Web. As I understand it, the Dark Web is not all bad, however, as learned in the course it is where criminals go be anonymous and hide their criminal activities.

The Critical Infrastructure

Our attention turned towards our nation’s critical infrastructures and how crippling it would be if any of the 16 had cybercriminal activity beyond repair. The Department of Homeland Security has identified sixteen (16) critical infrastructures (sectors) that if attacked would be brought out the country to a halt for a time. These sectors if attacked would have negative national security, economic, public health, and safety on our country. These sectors are identified as the following: Chemical, Commercial Facilities, Communications, Critical Manufacturing, Dams, Defense Industrial Base, Emergency Services, Energy, Financial Services, Food and Agriculture, Government Facilities, Healthcare and Public Health, Information Technology, Nuclear Reactors, Materials and Waste Sector, Transportation Systems, Water and Wastewater Systems.

Cyber Laws

What laws protect us against cyber? The Cybersecurity Legislation 2019 – From the National Conference of State Legislature, State legislatures continue to advance policy proposals to address cyber threats directed at governments and private businesses. During that conference, over three hundred bills were introduced by states. There were states that approved the cybersecurity legislation in 2019 that includes:

• Requiring government agencies or businesses to implement training or specific types of security policies and practices
• Creating task forces or commissions
• restructuring government for improved security
• studying the use of blockchain for cybersecurity
• providing for the security of utilities and critical infrastructure
• exempting cybersecurity operations information from public records laws
• addressing the security of connected devices
• regulating cybersecurity within the insurance industry
• Providing funding for improved security measures

So we are moving towards implementing laws.

Conclusion

As I conclude, the future may seem a bit, concerning when you think of technology as I do, but the key is to build in security into all processes possible. Companies have been trying to do this but continuously face pushback from a lack of resources and a funding perspective. Technology is not going away, it is only growing leaps and bounds and we need to learn how to defend ourselves against the hackers and cybercriminals that wish to do harm. Awareness and education is the best practice, as I have learned in this course. Years ago, I was a Jr. Security Analyst at a local statewide bank. The lead and I were the security team supporting the users of this statewide bank. A national bank acquired the statewide banks so layoffs were pursued, one of them being the lead. I relied on him for training and education but I knew enough about the security components of our system that I uncovered a potential issue. The lead had set the thousands of user ids to delete the day of his scheduled day to leave the company, even mine. This would have left every teller, every user locked out of the banking systems. When I discovered this, I validated my findings and knew I had to take this to management for mitigation immediately. This cybercrime committed in 1989 could potentially affect our local statewide financial sector. I made changes to the users and the lead removed. The reason the lead gave for his conduct was, it was a joke, but I can only imagine just how that day would have turned out otherwise. Banking activity could not have taken place; the users could not service the customers and the chaos at our data center, specifically my desk. I will always remember this incident and know that it was a cybercrime and the cybercriminal was someone we knew, someone we trusted, from the inside and someone that was out to do harm.

References:

1. Critical Infrastructure Sectors https://www.dhs.gov/cisa/critical-infrastructure-sectors
2. Cyber Crime https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/cyber
3. Digital Forensics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_forensics
4. Pam Greenberg – http://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology/cybersecurity-legislation-2019.aspx
5. Pam Greenberg-Lesley Kennedy – http://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology/telecom-it-privacy-security.aspx
6. Tor (anonymity network) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network)
7. 2019 Crowdstrike Global Threat Report https://go.crowdstrike.com/2019-Global-Threat-Report.html?ctm_campaign=2019GTR_Google_Search&ctm_source=Google&ctm_medium=PPC&ctm_term=cyber%20warfare&gclid=Cj0KCQjwuZDtBRDvARIsAPXFx3DKNGq6JMNGCqIaVGg-on7bGZu5BfZiyKUDDuFSlNwafP2Qk5fiSDkaArPjEALw_wcB
8. What Is Critical Infrastructure Protection (cip)? https://www.forcepoint.com/cyber-edu/critical-infrastructure-protection-cip
9. What Is Cyberwarfare? – Definition from Whatis.comMargaret Rouse-Kevin Ferguson-Margaret Rouse-Margaret Rouse – https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/cyberwarfare
10. Who Are the Cyberwar Superpowers? Keith Breene – https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/05/who-are-the-cyberwar-superpowers