Book
Review of Cybercrime – The Reality of the Threat
Nicholas
Chantler
Queensland
University of Technology, Australia
Nigel Phair,
Cybercrime: The Reality of the Threat, August 2, 2007, BookSurge
Publishing, 190 pages. ISBN: 978-0980342109
If you're
looking for introductory text on what cyber crime is, then this is the
one! But don't expect and in-depth academic text. This self-published
book is very much a book for the operational practitioner. An easy to
read text that provides a broad overview relating to Federal Agent Nigel
Phair’s experience whilst working at the Australian High Tech Crime Centre
in Canberra and as a member of the Australian Federal Police. Some
comments may seem to appear rather glib, along with several assumptions,
but don't be put off; the book has merit and Phair provides a good insight
for the newcomer wishing to learn about the domain of cyber crime.
The
introduction, I presume in an effort to allay our fears, states "The
Internet is not of the Wild West, as was once portrayed in American
Western movies. It is just another public place and Internet users need
to use real-world sensibilities when operating in the online
environment." Phew, thank goodness for that! But his statement is quickly
followed by a darker one of impending doom; "the communities trusting
e-commerce activities, will slowly erode over time as personal users
either become victims of online crime or know someone who has." He then
briefly mentions ‘the profile of cyber crime criminals’ and how the
hacking the counterculture has completely changed into well-organized and
hierarchical groups of criminal syndicates that have realized there is
substantial money to be made by criminal activity online. A geographical
overview of the cyber crime elements are presented as the only real risk
from Eastern Europe, Asia and West Africa. This is just too brief. His
Eastern European perspective focuses only on the Russian Mafia and one
incident involving a Romanian National. Asia, primarily relates to issues
in China, although Singapore and Korea do get a mention. West Africa,
primarily focuses on Nigeria and Kenya; with the Nigerian activity
relating to the infamous "Nigerian letters."
The rest of
the book addresses the cyber crime activities under the broad headings of:
o
Unwanted Software;
o
Identity Crime;
o
Phishing;
o
Critical Infrastructure Protection;
o
Intellectual Property;
o
Communications;
o
Terrorism; and
o
Enforcement.
Under the
heading "Unwanted Software" hacking activities are mentioned. Not only
are they apparent from outside an organization, but also from the inside.
This is where ‘spyware’, a software program, collects information about
the user without the consent of the user and sends it to third-party
without the user's permission or knowledge. Phair explains ‘spyware’,
‘adware’ and ‘cookies’. He considers the impact of this software, and
explains what trojans, key loggers, rootkits, viruses, ransom ware, worms,
botnets, denial of service (dos), extortion and spam, all mean in the
cyber crime arena.
Then
‘Identity Crime’ is explained from the perspective of phishing for
information; proof of identity; how financial data is lost; how identities
are sold; and, the age old problem of correctly identifying Internet
users. The section under ‘Phishing’ considers the origins, along with the
tools and techniques, of specific cyber-criminal activities such as
pharming, severe phishing, vishing and authentication. The size of this
problem is also presented which leaves the reader with the opinion that
this aspect alone is only ‘the tip of the iceberg’ of cyber crime. ‘Money
Laundering’ has been around for a long time. But since the further
development of technology, there seems to be so many more ways to be able
to launder money. Phair considers what one does with the proceeds of
crime. He explains alternative remittance systems (such as ‘hawallahs’),
and the financing of terrorists.
The National
Information Infrastructure (NII) is something that we all rely on; but, I
suspect we all tend to take for granted. It is our life-blood for
telecommunications and computer networks – never mind what’s connected to
it (banks, stock market etc.). Nigel Phair reminds us that ‘Critical
Infrastructure Protection’ is paramount in guarding against the collapse
of the NII. This involves consideration of the risks to; and also from,
the Internet itself. There are those perceived foreign threats;
environmental factors (fires, floods etc.); and, then there is SCADA
(supervisory control and data acquisition). SCADA involves all those
simple electronic controlled things, sluice gates, sewage control, weather
stations, security cameras, traffic controls, gates, etc. All these things
seem innocuous until connected to the internet for communication. The
trouble is when an unauthorized user gets access and starts to control
SCADA devices, things can go wrong. Nigel Phair mentions the unique
‘sewage-case’ in Queensland.
‘Intellectual property’ focuses on software piracy and the sharing of
files through some of the well-known peer-to-peer systems such as napster,
grokster, and kazaa. It’s an area of concern that also addresses the
difficulty in identifying users; and the issues of jurisdiction. The
continued technical growth in telecommunications and the concerns it
raises are presented in the ‘Communications’ section. Don’t be too
concerned with the ‘technocrat verbology’ that follows. Nigel presents in
plain-English an overview of the technology with some of the weaknesses,
the risks and the threats. These include wireless devices, VoIP
(voice-over-internet protocol) - such as Skype and Google-talk, third
generation phone systems, issues with caller ID, clipping, v-bombing, sim
boxing, internet dumping, PABX hacking, phoneline scanning, voicemail,
cloning, Bluetooth, and RFID. He also relates these technologies to issues
of privacy.
The final
two sections consider ‘Terrorism’ and ‘Enforcement’. Here Nigel Phair
explains how terrorists capitalize on the anonymous nature of
communications on the internet. He also mentions information warfare
(considered of military importance) and the distributed denial of service
(ddos) attacks. Politically motivated groups seem to be associated with
the cyber terrorist activities and Phair gives good reasons why. There are
many aspects that cyber criminals use which are also available to the
cyber terrorist. In the final section ‘Enforcement’, Nigel presents some
recommendations and perspectives relating to the law enforcement response,
the role of ISPs, and civil prosecution. He reminds us that cyber crime is
a global jurisdiction issue; and, he suggests that perhaps there should be
an economic consideration in combating crime; allocating resources to make
punishment more severe or more certain; and, consider creating severe
fines as opposed to imprisonment.
Now the
book’s conclusion may seem rather abrupt and pithy – it is very brief –
with statements like “information technology has transformed the way we
live in a very short time.” But it does make the point that his main
message is “the requirement for swift and coordinated international action
to keep Cyber criminals in check.” I must say that I was surprised and
disappointed to find virtually no information about credit card fraud and
the "carders", ATMs (automatic teller machines), hardware hacks and forged
documents; along with a greater scope of explanation of other types of
"rogue code" such as time bombs, growths, rabbits and tumors. An issue in
dealing with any topics such as this, is the dynamic nature of the changes
within ICT (information communications technology). The cyber crime
environment is no different; consequently, it is very likely that by the
time you have read this book a new way of committing a cyber crime is
being developed. Don't expect a perfect document, some of the statements
are without any references and you will find typos; never-the-less it is a
very good beginners guide.
