Cyber terrorism challenges: The need for a global response to a multi-jurisdictional crime

With the widespread concerns about cyber terrorism and the frequent use of the term “cyber terrorism” at the present time, many international organisations have made efforts to combat this threat. Since cyber terrorism is an international crime, local regulations alone are not able to defend against such attacks; they require a transnational response. Therefore, an attacked country will invoke international law to seek justice for any damage caused, through the exercise of universal jurisdiction. Without the aid of international organisations, it is difficult to prevent cyber terrorism. At the same time, international organisations determine which state court, or international court, has the authority to settle a dispute. The objective of this paper is to analyse and review the effectiveness and sufficiency of the current global responses to cyber terrorism through the exercise of international jurisdiction. This article also touches upon the notion of cyber terrorism as a transnational crime and an international threat; thus, national regulations alone cannot prevent it. The need for an international organisation to prevent and defend nations from cyber terrorism attacks is pressing. This paper finds that, as cyber terrorism is a transnational crime, it should be subjected to universal jurisdiction through multinational cooperation, and this would be the most suitable method to counter future transnational crimes such as cyber terrorism.     

网络犯罪刑事管辖权研究

网络空间的全球性、开放性、不确定性和非中心性,使存在于网络空间的网络犯罪对传统的刑事管辖提出了挑战,传统刑事管辖理论似乎难以统领各国网络犯罪管辖实践。对传统刑事管辖理论进行全方位反思,探讨和研究网络犯罪刑事管辖权对理论和实践都具有重要意义。     

Government protection against terrorism and crime

A game theoretic model is developed where a government protects against a terrorist seeking terrorism and criminal objectives. A terrorist can recruit a benefactor providing funds by remaining ideologically pure, or may resort to crime. The model accounts for the players’ resources, unit costs of effort, unit benefit and valuations and contest intensities for terrorist and crime objectives. We determine and quantify how these factors and the government impact a terrorist’s terrorism and crime efforts and relative ideological orientation on a continuum from being highly ideological to being highly criminal. We also consider how the terrorist group is impacted by support of benefactor(s), the central authority’s ability to impose greater sanctions for terrorist activities compared to criminal actions and the ideological orientation of the group’s leadership. We discuss insights from the model and consider a few historical perspectives.     

Online victimization risk and self-protective strategies: developing police-led cyber fraud prevention programs

ABSTRACT

The prevalence and impact of cyber fraud continues to increase exponentially with new and more innovative methods developed by offenders to target and exploit victims for their own financial reward. Traditional crime reaction methods used by police have proved largely ineffective in this context, with offenders typically located outside of the police jurisdiction of their victims. Given this, some police agencies have begun to adopt a victim focused, crime prevention approach to cyber fraud. The current research explores with a sample of two hundred and eighteen potential cyber fraud victims, the relationship between online victimization risk, knowledge and use of crime prevention strategies. The study found those most at risk of cyber fraud victimization despite accurate perceptions of risk and knowledge of self-protective behaviors in the online environment underutilise online prevention strategies. This research has important implications for police agencies who are designing and delivering cyber fraud education. It provides guidance for the development of effective prevention programs based on practical skills development.     

海盗行为和海上恐怖主义行为的比较研究

海盗行为和海上恐怖主义行为受国际政治经济因素的影响,近年来在国际上呈现愈演愈烈之势。本文通过对国际条约中有关两者的定义和主要管辖机制的对比分析,试图找出两者的共同之处,以期对打击两种犯罪提出建议。     

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.     

论海盗罪普遍管辖权机制的局限性与变革

对国际社会来说,海盗仍然是一种严重威胁,尤其是在索马里地区,海盗异常猖獗。由于海盗对国际贸易和世界安全的破坏,对海盗罪的普遍管辖权已得到各国的普遍承认,但现行国际法关于海盗罪的规定却存在许多＂空白＂,普遍管辖权不能涵盖所有的海盗行为,因此,国际法应该进行相应的变革以应对海盗的威胁。这些变革应包括对海盗罪重新定义,建立危险海域的护航机制,推动区域性打击海盗机制的建立及由安理会提供必要的授权。     

The future of terrorism research: a review essay

This essay sets forth a research agenda to begin filling some key gaps in terrorism studies. Since the September 2001 Al Qaeda attacks against the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon that claimed over 3000 lives, interest in terrorism research has increased. After these attacks, the United States and other governments prioritized the scientific study of the causes of and responses to terrorism. Importantly though, our review of the terrorism literature demonstrates that despite this progress, intriguing questions remain underexplored or altogether unexplored. This essay identifies four gaps in terrorism studies: (1) employing non-terrorist comparison groups, (2) broadening the dependent variable (focus of study), (3) exploring exceptions/anomalies to “established” findings, and (4) engaging measurement issues. We discuss these issues and outline a research agenda that could begin to fill these gaps.     

United States' and Australian principles on internet jurisdiction: A case for Australia to consider United States' hegemony on jurisdiction

The United States and Australia have been facing the issue of internet jurisdiction. The United States is an epitome of a country that has considered the challenges posed by the internet to the traditional law. It has developed its own tests to help resolve the issue, which have evolved over time and in comparison with other jurisdictions, and it has been successful. Conversely, the Australian legal system is in a stage of infancy regarding such challenges and has developed its own approach. This paper focuses on the anomalies between the United States' and Australian principles or approaches to internet jurisdiction by analysing and discussing the three leading cases that are benchmarks in the respective jurisdictions. Finding the fundamental difference between the two approaches, the paper elucidates the United States hegemony on internet jurisdiction by comparing the shortcomings of the respective cases. Finally, this paper makes a case for the Australian courts to consider an approach based on the one practised by the United States courts to tackle the ever-evolving issue of internet jurisdiction.     

Green houses for terrorism: measuring the impact of gender equality attitudes and outcomes as deterrents of terrorism

Recent research suggests that there are links between terrorism and gender inequality. This study is a cross-national times series estimation for 57 countries for the period 1994–2002 to examine the impact of attitudes and actual outcomes of gender equality on levels of terrorism experienced by a country using World Values Survey and Global Terrorism Database. The results suggest that actual outcomes of gender equality have a significant and consistently negative impact on terrorism. Women’s actual advancement and equality in higher education, jobs and political representation are more effective in reducing terrorism than cultural attitudes supporting these rights. Additionally, comparing attitudes and outcomes of gender equality in a country, I find there is a gap between the two. This study has important public policy implications for focusing on greater levels of social, economic, and political gender equality for reducing the levels of terrorism.     

恐怖主义犯罪原因研析——兼论恐怖主义犯罪研究的方法论

恐怖主义犯罪是为实现一定的政治目的,通过暴力或暴力威胁以及其他非暴力手段制造社会恐怖,侵害他人生命财产的犯罪行为。其在犯罪主体、动机、目的、行为等方面都具有自己的特点,因而不能用传统的个体论的方法探究其产生的根源,而必须将之作为一种犯罪现象从宏观的角度用整体论的方法去研究。作者借鉴著名犯罪学家迪姆凯尔和默顿的犯罪学理论,通过对恐怖主义犯罪现象进行分析,认为恐怖主义犯罪的原因在于各特定社会的文化目标的冲突以及对制度化手段的不同选择。因而只有尊重各种文明的独特性,协调它们的冲突,才是治理恐怖主义犯罪的根本策略。     

A social psychological critique of the Saudi terrorism risk reduction initiative

Of great concern to policy makers and detention system administrators who face the need to release detainees suspected of terrorism is how to do so in ways that minimize risk to national security. Among responses taken by detention system administrators is the establishment of so-called ‘deradicalization’ (or ‘disengagement,’ or ‘terrorism risk reduction’) programs in which select detainees may participate to promote their own release. The present analysis critiques the Saudi terrorism risk reduction initiative in accord with two social psychological theories that are especially pertinent to the topic – identity theory and frame alignment theory – and offers policy suggestions based upon the theoretical strengths and weaknesses of the Saudi model.     

Cigarette Smugglers: A Note on Four ‘Unusual Suspects’

The smuggling of contraband cigarettes is discussed in relation to numerous financial and social issues. Cigarette smugglers are often portrayed as ruthless and dangerous individuals, and according to official and media accounts a clear link has been established between cigarette smuggling and ‘criminal and terrorist organisations’. The aim of this article is to challenge this stereotypical image of the cigarette smugglers based on the presentation of the stories of four smugglers interviewed in Greece and the UK.     

A social graph based text mining framework for chat log investigation

This paper presents a unified social graph based text mining framework to identify digital evidences from chat logs data. It considers both users' conversation and interaction data in group-chats to discover overlapping users' interests and their social ties. The proposed framework applies n-gram technique in association with a self-customized hyperlink-induced topic search (HITS) algorithm to identify key-terms representing users' interests, key-users, and key-sessions. We propose a social graph generation technique to model users' interactions, where ties (edges) between a pair of users (nodes) are established only if they participate in at least one common group-chat session, and weights are assigned to the ties based on the degree of overlap in users' interests and interactions. Finally, we present three possible cyber-crime investigation scenarios and a user-group identification method for each of them. We present our experimental results on a data set comprising 1100 chat logs of 11,143 chat sessions continued over a period of 29 months from January 2010 to May 2012. Experimental results suggest that the proposed framework is able to identify key-terms, key-users, key-sessions, and user-groups from chat logs data, all of which are crucial for cyber-crime investigation. Though the chat logs are recovered from a single computer, it is very likely that the logs are collected from multiple computers in real scenario. In this case, logs collected from multiple computers can be combined together to generate more enriched social graph. However, our experiments show that the objectives can be achieved even with logs recovered from a single computer by using group-chats data to draw relationships between every pair of users.     

A Time-Series Analysis of Terrorism: Intervention,Displacement, and Diffusion of Benefits

This paper discusses the perception that displacement in terrorism is inevitable; that antiterrorism efforts merely relocate terrorism in some way. Using quarterly time-series data from the Global Terrorism Database (1994–2013) and the vector autoregression framework, we test the following hypothesis: the target-hardening efforts within the United States (US) after September, 11, 2001 reduce attacks on domestic US targets, but increase attacks on US targets abroad. To provide a more comprehensive test, we also provide dynamic impact factors and variance decompositions. The results of this intervention analysis show no support for displacement, and instead provide support for a diffusion-of benefits hypothesis. We also discuss how criminological and especially crime-prevention knowledge can guide and encompass the study of terrorism.     

A study on the forensic mechanisms of VoIP attacks: Analysis and digital evidence

This paper discusses the use of communication technology to commit crimes, including crime facts and crime techniques. The analysis focuses on the security of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), a prevention method against VoIP call attack and the attention points for setting up an Internet phone. The importance of digital evidence and digital forensics are emphasised. This paper provides the VoIP digital evidence forensics standard operating procedures (DEFSOP) to help police organisations and establishes an experimental platform to simulate phone calls, hacker attacks and forensic data. Finally, this paper provides a general discussion of a digital evidence strategy that includes VoIP for crime investigators who are interested in digital evidence forensics.     

Guidelines for the identification of unknown samples for laboratories performing forensic analyses for chemical terrorism

Since the early 1990s, the FBI Laboratory has sponsored Scientific Working Groups to improve discipline practices and build consensus among the forensic community. The Scientific Working Group on the Forensic Analysis of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Terrorism developed guidance, contained in this document, on issues forensic laboratories encounter when accepting and analyzing unknown samples associated with chemical terrorism, including laboratory capabilities and analytical testing plans. In the context of forensic analysis of chemical terrorism, this guidance defines an unknown sample and addresses what constitutes definitive and tentative identification. Laboratory safety, reporting issues, and postreporting considerations are also discussed. Utilization of these guidelines, as part of planning for forensic analysis related to a chemical terrorism incident, may help avoid unfortunate consequences not only to the public but also to the laboratory personnel.     

公民权、行政权和司法权的三权博弈——从行政诉讼受案范围演变的视角解读与展望

在行政诉讼法律制度中,行政诉讼的受案范围与诉讼的三方参与人关系重大,行政诉讼受案范围则成为解开三者复杂关系的逻辑起点。本文从行政诉讼受案范围发展演变的视角来论证三权的博弈,并对受案范围的发展进行了学理上的分析和展望。     

A survey of current social network and online communication provision policies to support law enforcement identify offenders

Online forms of harassment, stalking and bullying on social network and communication platforms are now arguably wide-spread and subject to regular media coverage. As these provision continue to attract millions of users, generating significant volumes of traffic, regulating abuse and effectively reprimanding those who are involved in it, is a difficult and sometimes impossible task. This article collates information acquired from 22 popular social network and communication platforms in order to identify current regulatory gaps. Terms of service and privacy policies are reviewed to assess existing practices of data retention to evaluate the feasibility of law enforcement officials tracking those whose actions breach the law. For each provision, account sign-up processes are evaluated and policies for retaining Internet Protocol logs and user account information are assessed along with the availability of account preservation orders. Finally, recommendations are offered for improving current approaches to regulating social network crime and online offender tracking.     

A Situational Model for Distinguishing Terrorist and Non-Terrorist Aerial Hijackings, 1948–2007

Despite the centrality of situational variables to crime theories, they remain uncommon in criminology. Based on the hypotheses drawn from the literature on situational determinants of crime, we examine whether aerial hijackings perpetrated by terrorists are situationally distinct from other aerial hijackings. We define terrorist hijackings as those that include threatened or actual use of illegal force or violence to attain a political, economic, religious or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation. Other aerial hijackings include those perpetrated for transportation or extortion purposes. Using a newly updated dataset, we examined 1,019 aerial hijackings that occurred around the world from 1948 to 2007, out of which we classified 122 as terrorism. Results provide strong support for the argument that situational factors measuring organizational resources distinguish terrorist from non-terrorist aerial hijackings, and partial support for the argument that situational factors measuring publicity distinguish these events.