The social network of hackers

Social researchers are facing more and more challenges as criminal networks are expanding in size and moving to the Internet. Many efforts are currently under way to enhance the technical capabilities of researchers working in the field of cybercrimes. Rather than focusing on the technical tools that could enhance research performance, this article focuses on a specific field that has demonstrated its use in the study of criminal networks: social network analysis (SNA). This article evaluates the effectiveness of SNA to enhance the value of information on cybercriminals. This includes both the identification of possible targets for follow-up research as well as the removal of subjects who may be wasting the researchers' time. This article shows that SNA can be useful on two levels. First, SNA provides scientific and objective measures of the structure of networks as well as the position of their key players. Second, fragmentation metrics, which measure the impact of the removal of n nodes in a network, help to determine the amount of resources needed to deal with specific organisations. In this case study, a tactical strike against the network could have had the same destabilising impact as a broader approach. The resources saved by limiting the investigation targets could then be used to monitor the criminal network's reaction to the arrests and to limit its ability to adapt to the post-arrest environment.     

The ecology of trust among hackers

Malicious hackers profit from the division of labour among highly skilled associates. However, duplicity and betrayal form an intrinsic part of their daily operations. This article examines how a community of hackers uses an automated reputation system to enhance trust among its members. We analyse 449,478 feedbacks collected over 27 months that rate the trustworthiness of 29,985 individuals belonging to the largest computer hacking forum. Only a tiny fraction of the forum membership (2.4%) participates in the vast majority (75%) of ‘trust exchanges’, limiting its utility. We observe a reporting bias where the propensity to report positive outcomes is 2.81 times greater among beginner hackers than among forum administrators. Reputation systems do not protect against trust decay caused here by the rapid expansion of the community. Finally, a qualitative analysis of 25,000 randomly selected feedbacks indicates that a diverse set of behaviours, skills and attitudes trigger assessments of trustworthiness.     

New Operators in Russian Agriculture

What has been happening as regards the organization of Russia's agrarian sector in recent years? Agronomists have expressed the most diverse, often diametrically opposed views on this topic. Some say that the reforms are "incomplete" (referring, in particular, to such aspects as the transformation of agricultural enterprises and the privatization of landownership). Others blame the reforms, coupled with various macroeconomic regulations, for the "collapse" of large-scale farming and the severity of the agricultural crisis. Still others say that the real reforms have not yet begun, and that what we see in agriculture is the "stabilization" and stagnation of economic forms.     

The Russian Federation Needs a New Criminal Code

The 1996 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation [CC RF] is very incomplete, as is particularly evident in many of its statutes. For instance, Article 2, Part 1, in defining the purpose of the code, cites the social values safeguarded by criminal law in a sequence corresponding to their relative importance in the Constitution of the Russian Federation: human rights and freedoms, property, public order, public safety, the environment, and the constitutional order of the Russian Federation.     

俄罗斯民法典中继承法律规范的新变化

俄罗斯自1 985年进行经济体制改革后,为反映改革后财产关系的重大变化并尽早结束改革时期各单行法相互抵触的局面,从1 992年开始起草第三部民法典,〔1〕历时近1 0年,于2 0 0 1年底颁布了第三部分。俄罗斯这部新民法典反映了俄罗斯市场经济体制变革的结果,其中许多规范都是对改革后形成的新的关系的调整。本文将研究的注意力集中在该法典第三部分第五编“继承权”〔2〕上,重点介绍和分析《俄罗斯新民法典》中继承法律规范的某些新的变化,以供中国的立法者和研究者借鉴参考。《俄罗斯新民法典》第五编“继承权”分为五章,共76条。这五章的标题…     

俄罗斯联邦新刑事诉讼法典中的证据法问题

20 0 1年 1 1月 2 2日 ,俄罗斯国家杜马通过了《俄罗斯联邦刑事诉讼法典》草案 ,新的《俄罗斯联邦刑事诉讼法典》于 2 0 0 2年 7月 1日生效。经修订的俄罗斯联邦刑事诉讼法典中涉及证据和举证证明的概念问题受到特别的关注。一、关于证据的概念及内涵1 92 2年和 1 92 3年通过的最早的两部《苏俄刑事诉讼法典》中没有证据的规范性定义。1 958年的《苏联和各加盟共和国刑事诉讼纲要》(第 1 5条 )和 1 960年的《苏俄刑事诉讼法典》(第 69条 )提出了这样一个证据定义 :“刑事案件的证据是调查机关、侦查员和法院据以判明危害社会的行为是否存在…     

A typology of hackers: Classifying cyber malfeasance using a weighted arc circumplex model

Cyber attacks continue to increase in frequency and variety, making cyber malfeasance a rising area of study and a major policy issue. Categorizing cyber attackers aids targeted organizations in efficiently directing resources to enhance security. However, extant hacker typologies do not fully account for the multifaceted nature of cyber malfeasance, including the rise in socially and ideologically motivated hacking (e.g. crowdsourcing, hacktivism). I clarify the current state of the field by uniting recent case studies on hackers with existing categorization techniques. Previous researchers have employed circumplex models—visualizations which depict relationships and boundaries between groups—as a way to organize hacker types. I propose an updated model—a weighted arc circumplex model—that is designed to represent the multidimensional nature of contemporary hacker types by offering a means of visually representing multiple motivations simultaneously. Finally, I demonstrate how archetypical circumplex models can be wed with sociograms to depict social and technical relationships between hacker groups.     

Editor's Introduction : The "New" Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

The Concept for Ensuring Internal Security Within the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs outlines goals, principles, and measures of ensuring internal security, defines threats to internal security and criteria for assessing the state of internal security, assigns responsibility for ensuring internal security, and sets out key areas of protection of internal security in the MVD.     

Persistence and desistance: Examining the impact of re-integrative shaming to ethics in Taiwan juvenile hackers

The Internet community has been addressing the unethical behavior of juvenile delinquents for years. Nevertheless, the concepts of hacker shame and ethics have received little empirical study from a theoretical perspective in the field of cyber criminology. Braithwaite's re-integrative Shaming Theory posits that it can restrain individuals from committing future offenses, and that those who participate in this shaming process are less likely to consider breaking the law in the first place. Among the abundance of criminological theories, the re-integrative Shaming Theory may be the most suitable theory to restrain hacker activities. This study focuses on the working relationship between nine juvenile delinquents and the shaming mechanism applied to them. However, applying this approach to reduce recidivism among computer hackers requires a great deal of time and effort. It is proposed that the state of shame or remorse is associated with the compounded affective processes of hacker ethics. The proposed solution creates a code of ethics for hackers, distinguishes right from wrong, and ensures a greater success for Braithwaite's re-integrative shaming methods. This paper discusses the problems and solutions related to the Shaming Theory, as well as their usefulness in the context of community-based restorative justice. It is argued that re-integrative shaming, without appropriate consideration for the offender's personal code of ethics, is insufficient when handling hacking offenses committed by juveniles. Our main concern is to find out how to help or encourage the offender's reintegration and re-entering into the community, and how s/he can avoid failure. It is hoped that our proposed strategy can prevent future offending behaviors by these juveniles. Implications drawn from the findings are discussed, and suggestions are offered to ensure the success of this theory when applied to juvenile hackers.     

Conversations with Russian mafiosi

Open interviews and unplanned conversations with criminals are an important part of ethnographic research in criminology. This paper presents an analysis of conversations with members of Russian criminal groups. An attempt is made to explore the value of these informal interviews, the danger of informal contacts with criminals, and the reliability of the information received.

Modernizing Russian Foreign Policy

The author argues that Russian foreign policy should focus not on enhancing Russia's status as a great power but on tapping external resources to facilitate the country's modernization. This means relying on instruments of "soft power" and seeking to integrate with the European Union (EU). It also means promoting a new vision of European security in place of the remnants of the cold war.     

论俄罗斯联邦检察院在俄罗斯生态法实施中的监督功能

建立完善、有力的生态法律监督机制,是保障生态法律实施的重要条件.俄罗斯自独立以来,在法律监督方面不仅继承了前苏联的先进做法,而且根据国情又不断地加以创新.俄罗斯联邦检察院作为俄罗斯法律监督的主要国家机关,在俄罗斯生态法实施中所起到监督作用是全面的、深入的.通过对俄罗斯联邦检察院进行生态法实施监督的法律依据,监督的具体领域,专门的自然保护检察院在俄罗斯生态法实施中的作用,以及俄罗斯联邦检察院对生态法实施进行监督的方式做了具体分析,阐述了俄罗斯联邦检察院在俄罗斯生态法实施中的监督功能.     

俄罗斯森林法若干基本理论问题研究

对他国法律的考察,重在解析其中所蕴含的理论问题,以找到理论与实践、“本土化”与借鉴之间的结合点。本文结合俄罗斯联邦森林立法和其他立法的具体实践,重点研究了俄罗斯联邦森林法的调整对象、森林关系的主体、客体及俄罗斯联邦的森林权属等几个基本理论问题,旨在为我国森林法律制度的建立、健全或完善提供有益的参考。     

Russian roulette with a knife

The following case report describes an accidental stabbing that occurred on Halloween. The unwitting victim, while preparing for a holiday charade, stabbed himself with an ornamental dagger. By placing himself in a potentially hazardous situation, the victim's behavior entailed risk taking. The psychological implications of such risk taking are complex, and may be compared to such behaviors as russian roulette, gambling, and parasuicide.     

俄罗斯总统制剖析

本文介绍了俄罗斯现行总统制的主要内容和特点,分析了以总统制为核心的俄罗斯国家权力机制的诸多方面,并联系近年来俄罗斯政坛权力斗争的实例,适当将俄罗斯与其他国家的总统制度作比较,得出俄罗斯是一个集权于总统的总统制国家的结论。