scholarly journals Assessing police topological efficiency in a major sting operation on the dark web

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Requião da Cunha ◽  
Pádraig MacCarron ◽  
Jean Fernando Passold ◽  
Luiz Walmocyr dos Santos ◽  
Kleber A. Oliveira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Child Pornography ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
The Real ◽  
Online Systems ◽  
Topological Features ◽  
Random Failure ◽  
Sting Operation ◽  
Network Disruption ◽  
Topological Efficiency ◽  
Dark Web

AbstractThe networked nature of criminals using the dark web is poorly understood and infrequently studied, mostly due to a lack of data. Rarer still are studies on the topological effectiveness of police interventions. Between 2014 and 2016, the Brazilian Federal Police raided a child pornography ring acting inside the dark web. With these data, we build a topic-view network and compare network disruption strategies with the real police work. Only 7.4% of the forum users share relevant content, and the topological features of this core differ markedly from other clandestine networks. Approximately 60% of the core users need to be targeted to fully break the network connectivity, while the real effect of the arrests was similar to random failure. Despite this topological robustness, the overall “viewership network” was still well disrupted by the arrests, because only 10 users contributed to almost 1/3 of the total post views and 8 of these were apprehended. Moreover, the users who were arrested provided a total of 60% of the viewed content. These results indicate that for similar online systems, aiming at the users that concentrate the views may lead to more efficient police interventions than focusing on the overall connectivity.

scholarly journals The robustness of reciprocity: Experimental evidence that each form of reciprocity is robust to the presence of other forms of reciprocity

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (23) ◽  
pp. eaba0504
Author(s):  
David Melamed ◽  
Brent Simpson ◽  
Jered Abernathy
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Real World ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
The Real ◽  
Topological Features

Prosocial behavior is paradoxical because it often entails a cost to one’s own welfare to benefit others. Theoretical models suggest that prosociality is driven by several forms of reciprocity. Although we know a great deal about how each of these forms operates in isolation, they are rarely isolated in the real world. Rather, the topological features of human social networks are such that people are often confronted with multiple types of reciprocity simultaneously. Does our current understanding of human prosociality break down if we account for the fact that the various forms of reciprocity tend to co-occur in nature? Results of a large experiment show that each basis of human reciprocity is remarkably robust to the presence of other bases. This lends strong support to existing models of prosociality and puts theory and research on firmer ground in explaining the high levels of prosociality observed in human social networks.

Dark Web and Its Research Scopes

2019 ◽  
pp. 240-268
Author(s):  
Athira U. ◽  
Sabu M. Thampi
Keyword(s):  
Search Engines ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Child Pornography ◽  
Deep Web ◽  
Major Portion ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Illegal Activities ◽  
Dark Web

Internet has become the most unavoidable phenomenon in our daily life. Together with it has risen the most unfathomable aftermath of anonymity exploitation. The internet available for the normal users are limited to the sites that are directly indexed by common search engines. But apart from these contents, a major portion of the internet lies hidden from regular search engines and is not available to users resorting to ordinary browsers. This part forms the deep web and within it lies the darkest part also known as dark web. Several illegal activities take place in this darkest part, including child pornography, financial fraudulence, drug deployment, and many others. Thus, countermeasures to put a curb on these activities are very much required. The chapter focuses on the most relevant research areas and possible research scopes in the area of the dark web.

US crackdowns may impel global 'Dark Web' successors

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Child Pornography ◽  
Personal Privacy ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Core ◽  
Drug Sales ◽  
Legal Challenges ◽  
Evidence Collection ◽  
Dark Web

Subject The 'Dark Web'. Significance The 'Dark Web' has grown in prominence over the last few years. The term is associated with a shadowy, anonymous underworld online where criminals interact to engage in fraud, drug sales, child pornography trading, and weapons sales. It is also where political activists, dissidents, whistleblowers, police, spies and many others operate. While media depictions of cybercrime are often over-hyped, there is some accuracy in these presentations as they strike at the core of a problematic phenomenon: Tor-based websites hosting criminal services. Impacts Governments will have to consider the ramifications to personal privacy if police are able to fully crack Tor protocols. Law enforcement agencies attempts to access these communities create distinct legal challenges regarding evidence collection. Businesses will incur reputational damage if they do not appear proactive in dealing with cyber breaches.

scholarly journals Improve the Resilience of Multilayer Supply Chain Networks

Complexity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Xia
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Global Supply Chain ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Supply Chain Network ◽  
Network Resilience ◽  
Dynamic Features ◽  
The Real ◽  
Supply Chain Networks ◽  
Core Method

Due to the increasingly complex and dynamic features of global supply chain networks, it is challenging to provide high supply availability and network connectivity under unexpected disruptions. In this paper, we investigate how to improve the topology resilience of the supply chain network from its multilayer nature. We firstly conduct the study on the connectedness in the supply chain network from a topological perspective and adopt the t-core method to decompose the network into multiple layers. Then, we propose a layer-based rewiring algorithm to recover the network from disruptions. The experimental results in the real supply chain network show that our design greatly improves the network resilience under both random and targeted disruptions.

Cybersecurity Legislation

2020 ◽  
pp. 402-411
Author(s):  
Christopher Thomas Anglim
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Child Pornography ◽  
National Level ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Legislation ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Dark Web

This entry discusses the role of legislation governing cybersecurity and how this legislation seeks to control criminal activity on the dark web. As explained throughout this encyclopedia, the dark web consists of internet services that are accessible anonymously using “the onion router” (TOR). There has been a concentrated effort in recent years for federal legislation in the United States to be enacted to control the widespread criminal behavior that occurs on the dark web, which includes the sale of drugs, illegal weapons, and child pornography. Legislation, as the term is used in this work, refers to law enacted by a legislative body such as the US Congress. The article considers both existing relevant statutory law and proposed legislation on the local, state/provincial, and federal/national level. The focus will be on US federal legislation; however, the article will also consider US state and local legislation, the legislation from other nations, and international legislation.

The Dark Web

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Mancini ◽  
Lawrence A. Tomei
Keyword(s):  
Cyber Security ◽  
Child Pornography ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Known Unknowns ◽  
Research And Education ◽  
Space Range ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Dark Web

The Dark Web is its own clandestine network of thousands of websites that most of us do not even know exist, much less how to access. The Dark Web uses its own tools to keep users anonymous and their activities hidden. The Dark Web is so well concealed that the full extent of its use remains largely the topic of hushed conversations. From black market drug sales to child pornography, the Dark Web operates at two extremes of the Internet, from venues for anonymous whistleblowing on one end to unguarded censorship on the other. This article provides a primer for those interested in learning more about the “known unknowns” of the Dark Web. Readers will find an excellent opening manuscript for the newly launched International Journal of Cyber Research and Education as it sets the stage for future research in cyber security and law enforcement. The paper will examine three foundational questions for the reader: What constitutes the ‘deep/dark/underground' web and keeps it obscure and remote from the community of legitimate users? How can websites that occupy the same virtual space range exist in two parallel dimensions from discoverable to undiscoverable? And finally, how do the actors on the Dark Web mature from novice to advanced? Is it the same process followed by users of the known web? In the corpus of this article, the authors will briefly examine how online markets exist simultaneously on the Internet, serving clients in both known online environments as well as the more secretive, anonymous online world. They will examine how nefarious actors migrate from the “good” web to become novice and then advanced users of the “evil” environments. To the neophyte user, the process introduced herein may appear relatively straightforward. In truth, the notion that any but the most staunchly dedicated practitioner can become a vetted participant in the ‘dark web' is inconceivable. Even so, with the sheer volume of actors operating in numerous underground forums and marketplaces, the impact remains significant and growing geometrically. Government and industry from all over the globe are hindered in their ability to track and identify the truly advanced actors operating in these more secretive environments. We shall soon see why this is the case.

scholarly journals Anatomical integration and rich-club connectivity in euthymic bipolar disorder

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 1609-1623 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. O'Donoghue ◽  
L. Kilmartin ◽  
D. O'Hora ◽  
L. Emsell ◽  
C. Langan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bipolar Disorder ◽  
Graph Theory ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Clustering Coefficient ◽  
Type I ◽  
Subcortical Structures ◽  
Rich Club ◽  
Topological Features ◽  
Graph Properties ◽  
And Diffusion

BackgroundAlthough repeatedly associated with white matter microstructural alterations, bipolar disorder (BD) has been relatively unexplored using complex network analysis. This method combines structural and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to model the brain as a network and evaluate its topological properties. A group of highly interconnected high-density structures, termed the ‘rich-club’, represents an important network for integration of brain functioning. This study aimed to assess structural and rich-club connectivity properties in BD through graph theory analyses.MethodWe obtained structural and diffusion MRI scans from 42 euthymic patients with BD type I and 43 age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers. Weighted fractional anisotropy connections mapped between cortical and subcortical structures defined the neuroanatomical networks. Next, we examined between-group differences in features of graph properties and sub-networks.ResultsPatients exhibited significantly reduced clustering coefficient and global efficiency, compared with controls globally and regionally in frontal and occipital regions. Additionally, patients displayed weaker sub-network connectivity in distributed regions. Rich-club analysis revealed subtly reduced density in patients, which did not withstand multiple comparison correction. However, hub identification in most participants indicated differentially affected rich-club membership in the BD group, with two hubs absent when compared with controls, namely the superior frontal gyrus and thalamus.ConclusionsThis graph theory analysis presents a thorough investigation of topological features of connectivity in euthymic BD. Abnormalities of global and local measures and network components provide further neuroanatomically specific evidence for distributed dysconnectivity as a trait feature of BD.

scholarly journals The Dark Side of Engaging With Social Networking Sites (SNS)

2020 ◽  
pp. 615-627
Author(s):  
Eileen O'Donnell ◽  
Liam O'Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Sleep Deprivation ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Child Pornography ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Addictive Behaviour ◽  
Surface Web ◽  
Dark Web

Although social networking sites (SNS) may have some positive aspects, for example, connecting family members and friends who no longer live close enough to each other to meet in person, or for connecting people with similar health conditions who may need the support of others who understand and can manage the condition, or for groups of people with similar interests to engage and plan events and activities, there are also some possible negative aspects of engaging with SNS, for example, addiction or addictive behaviour, child pornography, cyberbullying, fake news, fear of missing out (FOMO), social comparisons, stalking, amongst many others, which can all lead to neglect of other duties, sleep deprivation, loneliness, isolation, depression, and so forth. The possible negative effects of engaging with SNS on the surface web will perhaps be also relevant to users of the deep and dark web. This article explores the dark side of social networking sites.

scholarly journals CARCC: Connectivity Autorecovering via Cooperative Communication

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulisses Rodrigues Afonseca ◽  
Camila Feitosa Rêgo ◽  
Jacir Luiz Bordim
Keyword(s):  
Wireless Ad Hoc Networks ◽  
Cooperative Communication ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Network Graph ◽  
Topological Information ◽  
Hoc Networks ◽  
Network Disruption ◽  
Selection Of

Wireless ad hoc networks are often considered an alternative for providing communication means to support urgent and temporary tasks. In such settings, network connectivity is a primary condition to allow nodes to exchange information. In this work we explore the use of cooperative communication (CC) techniques for improving network connectivity. The proposed solution, named Connectivity Autorecovering with Cooperative Communication (CARCC), monitors potential network disruption points and proactively creates cooperative links (CC-links). These links are used to regain network connectivity when necessary. CARCC allows the selection of suitable CC-links in O(Δ(G)×Λ) time, whereas a centralized approach takes O(V2×Λ) time, where Δ(G) is the degree of the underline network graph G(V,E) and Λ is the computational cost of selecting helper nodes. Although CARCC relies on localized information, it is able to provide comparable results of other noteworthy alternatives that require global topological information. The CC-links provided by CARCC reestablished network connectivity in over 91% in the evaluated settings.

Exploring and analyzing the dark Web: A new alchemy

First Monday ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Faizan ◽  
Raees Ahmad Khan
Keyword(s):  
Child Pornography ◽  
Free Expression ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Illegal Drugs ◽  
Large Share ◽  
Custom Made ◽  
Tor Network ◽  
Surface Web ◽  
Dark Web

The Tor network is an encrypted network that allows anonymous access to the Internet for its users. The Tor network also hosts hidden services which constitute the infamous dark Web. These hidden services are used to carry out activities that are otherwise illegal and unethical on the surface Web. These activities include distribution of child pornography, access to illegal drugs, and the sale of weapons. While Tor hidden services provide a platform for uncensored ventures and a free expression of thoughts, they are outnumbered by grey activities taking place. In this paper, we have collected the addresses of about 25,742 hidden services and analyze the data for 6,227 available services with the help of custom-made crawler in Python. We analyzed the dataset and manually classify the data into 31 different categories to identify the nature of content available on the dark Web. The results indicate that a large share of hidden services provide illegal content along with a large number of scam sites. Non-English content was also studied and categorized. Russian was the leading language of the dark Web after English and hidden services having forums and blogs were predominantly present over other content.

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