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APPENDIX THREE: THE COMPUTER: CYBERCRIMINAL OR
CYBERCOP? 539
Criminal Activities in the Cyber Age
Today nation-state militaries are reliant on advanced information
technology for threat detection, weapon launch, guidance, and detonation.
Within societies, cyber technologies offer law enforcement personnel new
methods for catching criminals and terrorists. Simultaneously, these
technologies offer criminals and terrorists the chance to attack nation-states and
influence societies in ways never before anticipated. A criminal, terrorist, or
state-sponsored computer information or network attack is difficult to predict or
expose since these activities occur in the interdependent public, military, and
private domains, and are often anonymous. Thus the military cannot stand
between the threat and the public as it once did. Instead, the role of law
enforcement agencies has increased dramatically to counter this
criminal/terrorist threat. This fact is underscored by the creation of a Homeland
Security Department in the US that has as one of its functions the protection of
the US technological infrastructure.
People don’t completely understand the consequences of the use of
computers, can’t watch certain aspects of a state or criminal’s
cybermobilization, and don’t understand the fog and friction of the computer
environment in which they operate. Plus they must deal with both military and
societal threats simultaneously. Criminals and terrorists capitalize on this
uncertainty. In many cases, states aren’t even sure who the players are since
criminals and terrorists hide behind the façade of a nation-state or Internet
infrastructure to perform their activities–at times giving their activities the
appearance of state sponsorship.
Controlling the consequences of the use of computers demands target
intelligence far beyond that required by most weapons, a fact most criminals
and terrorists recognize as an advantage. Law enforcement agencies can’t
respond indiscriminately. They must spend much time and effort on each issue.
Criminals/terrorists usually don’t care if their attacks have secondary
consequences since the generation of chaos detracts attention from the source of
539 Ms. Karen Matthews contributed over half of the material in this article. At the time,
Ms. Matthews was an Army Reserve Major working for the Foreign Military Studies
Office. She drew upon her vast experience and training in computers, law enforcement,
and digital forensics in support of this article. Given the evolving nature of the topic,
she has provided websites throughout the article for easy reference to current
information. She has also provided a bibliography at the end of this article.
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