Tag Archive for: cyber crime

Underground web – the cybercrime challenge

Cybercrime isn’t an emerging threat, it has already arrived, and law enforcement must adapt quickly to meet the challenge that it poses.

At the launch of the Australian Cyber Security Centre in November 2014, Prime Minister Abbott underlined the importance of cybercrime in the Government’s thinking, estimating that cybercrime costs Australia around $1.2 billion per year. That number would seem conservative as most cybercrime incidents go unreported—especially at the top end of the private sector, with few companies coming forward with information on their losses resulting from cybercrime. As more and more of us go online, and companies increasingly switch to an online business model, criminality has also shifted its focus.

Cybercrime isn’t an emerging threat, it has already arrived, and law enforcement must adapt quickly to meet the challenge that it poses. This new reality is explored in the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s latest report Underground web – the cybercrime challenge. In the report’s introduction Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin explains:

‘Cyber technologies create a new paradigm for the criminal – a more sophisticated method to attack the vulnerable – and a new fear for the victim. No longer is the evidence of the perpetrator visible to the victim…Modern cybercrime draws no distinction between government targets, larger corporations and individual users. Its sole purpose is to exploit vulnerabilities for gain.’

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Cyber wrap

Bitcoin Logo - Bitcoin Accepted Here Neon SignAs allied forces begin the air campaign against Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria, there are concerns in the US that IS could turn to cryptocurrencies to bolster their already substantial funding base. Reports have stated that ISIS already generates upward of US$3 million per day from oil revenues, kidnap for ransom, taxation, theft, and pillaging, and these funds could be added to through the use of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. The US military is studying these types of currencies to determine if they can be traced and to see how they could be used by groups such as ISIS. A US Defense official stated that ‘We’re trying to do our best to understand the true scope of the threat that we are dealing with. …We have to fully understand all of the components and functions of the adversary across the globe—not just in Syria and Iraq—and the manner in which those adversaries raise, hide and move money.’

But if ISIS are using bitcoins, they’ll find themselves in a difficult financial position as the value of the cryptocurrency has fallen to its lowest level for almost a year, having lost 18% of its face value over the weekend. Since December 2013, when it reached the highest value of US$1,100 per unit, it has decreased to US$290 per unit, illustrating how volatile an investment it can be. Read more

You may not be interested in the internet but the internet is interested in you: the international scrap over cyber continues @ the ITU

At an ASPI national security lunch talk last week, Roger Wilkins, Secretary of the Attorney General’s Department, gave a wide-ranging talk that examined Australia’s national and international efforts to counter cyber crime. He warned against the temptation to create rules to govern the internet, despite the obvious temptation to do so. And, although he indicated that a ‘paradigm shift’ was required, he warned that the last thing any government should do is ‘gum up’ the internet as a source of innovation and free enterprise. His comments reflected a debate that is taking place within most nations and on the international stage (see my previous post): to what extent should a government or the international community have control over the internet?

This week is one of high activity as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) began hosting its two-week World Conference. While this might seem mundane, its significance is hard to underestimate. First established in 1865, the ITU creates worldwide standards, coordinates shared global use of the radio spectrum and improves the infrastructure of telecommunications. It has become the wing of the UN with prime responsibilities for information technologies. This is the first time that the ITU has overseen a major overhaul of telecommunication regulations since 1988, when it helped develop the current standards. Given the expansion of internet use and data volumes being exchanged between networks, the ITU wants to introduce internet governance rules. Some 124 input documents have been submitted by the 193 member states, with around 450 proposals under consideration. Many nations, including the US, Canada and a number of European states, are deeply concerned that the ITU is expanding its remit to cover the internet when it should confine itself to telecommunications. Of particular concern are security and spam issues, with the worry being that censorship or control of the web will become the norm. Read more

Reader response: Australia and norms in cyberspace

It was hard not to crack a wry smile when reading Tobias Feakin’s post on the Budapest Conference on Cyberspace. Let’s just say that the position of the blocs settling behind a more ‘rules-based’ approach, on one hand, and a ‘norms-based’ approach sit very uneasily with track records, both documented and rumoured.

The incongruities of diplomacy aside, the debate about a more voluntary and organic ‘norms-based’ or an enforceable ‘rules-based’ approach to cybersecurity is an important one to have.

There has already been some movement towards a rule-based approach with regards to some aspects of cybersecurity, with Australia becoming the most recent nation to sign and pass enabling legislation for the convention on cybercrime, a treaty acceded to by most European states, Japan, and the United States, and which covers issues such as computer-based fraud, unauthorised access to systems, child pornography production and distribution, and copyright infringement. Read more