Lawful Trojan Horse

News outlets don't usually report on training methods in counter-cyberterrorism, particularly lawful trojan attacks. Instead they describe recent cyberterrorist attacks, or threats, or laws and regulations concerning internet privacy or identity theft. Yet Europe is looking to do just that to head-off the next major cyberattack by creating rules for how member states should react and respond. Several news outlets, for example, reported that Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) were using a Trojan Horse to access the smartphone data of suspected individuals before the information was encrypted. Although the urge to strike back may be palpable, hacking-back can put power back into the hands of the suspect. The consensus now is that government action is preferable to hacking-back at attackers.

Digital Security Strategy

This chapter analyzes digital security strategies for the 21st century. The chapter begins by examining different types of cyberattacks, such as identity theft, malware, and phishing. Next, the chapter reviews statistics about cyberattacks in the US and the world, focusing on the monetary costs. The typical targets of cyberattacks are then considered, followed by a discussion about how to prevent cybercrime. The chapter next reviews digital security indicators that can provide valuable information about cybercrime and cyberattacks. After this, the chapter discusses cyberwar, which involves cyberattacks not just used against individuals and companies, but against entire states. The chapter concludes by advancing a digital security strategy that can be used in the 21st century.

Scanning Hybrid Transaction Algorithm for Secure Financial Transactions

Identity theft is a frightening and often very serious concern to everyone. A novel risk-mitigation algorithm, the Hybrid Transaction Algorithm, is given in an effort to provide individuals with peace of mind (HTA). With the random codes, the proposed HTA aims to implement two-factor authentication. This kind of user authentication has been generally recognized, and many businesses have begun to employ it as a security feature. This may be used to identify people and provide a secure method of buying products online. The suggested method involves using mobile devices to log into card accounts using an application in order to examine the randomly generated code. This is then entered when required on an online retailer's website in order to verify the person making the transaction. This reduces the chance of an unauthorized user using someone else's details to make fraudulent transactions. Identity thieves cannot use stolen card information to make transactions unless they have a valid code. This, in turn, protects both the customer and the credit card companies, who may be financially affected. We give one case study to demonstrate the security of our methodology in order to better understand how it may safeguard someone from having a stolen credit card used. Keywords: Two-Factor Authentication; Hybrid Transaction Algorithm (HTA); AES Encryption; SHA–256.

Identity Theft and Older Adults: How Minorities and the Poor Suffer the Worst Consequences

Society’s growing reliance on technology to transfer and store private information has created more opportunities for identity thieves to access personal data. Prior work using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) Identity Theft Supplement (ITS) showed that baby boomers were significantly more likely than Millennials to be victims of identity theft and that older people and minorities experience more severe economic and psychological consequences. This study examines how socioeconomic status, demographic characteristics, and incident-specific factors relate to how much money is stolen during identity theft, the likelihood of experiencing out-of-pocket costs, and emotional distress among identity theft victims age 65 and older. Using combined data from the 2014 and 2016 NCVS-ITS, this study examines the correlates of financial and psychological consequences of identity theft among 2,307 victims age 65 and older. Older Black victims are more likely to have greater amounts of money stolen and are more likely feel distressed than older non-Latino white identity theft victims. The most disadvantaged older adults living at or below the federal poverty level are nearly five times as likely to suffer out-of-pocket costs. The length of time information is misused and the hours spent resolving identity theft are significantly associated with emotional distress. More than one-third of older victims experience moderate to severe emotional distress following identity theft, and those who can least afford it suffer out-of-pocket costs. Greater advocacy and psychological support are needed to help older adults recover, in addition to tools to protect their personal information from misuse.

Privacy and Usability in COVID Enrollment Apps

Enrollment apps for COVID-19 vaccinations are meant to be privacy-enhancing, but poor design puts privacy at risk. We report on a qualitative exploration of the experiences of older adults attempting to register for vaccination. We engaged in a think-aloud protocol with six participants over age 65 over Zoom as they used the New York state vaccination portal. Authentication requirements were: Medicare ID, DOB, address, and phone (optional). For this cohort, Social Security numbers were the default Medicare ID. We found that a privacy-enhanced authentication option exists, but efforts to use privacy-preserving enrollment were confounded by security-enhancing timeouts. Choosing to use the time-consuming privacy-preserving authentication increased the risk that available vaccines were taken. As a result, older adults reliant on volunteers to enroll revealed sensitive information and risked identity theft. A design that was meant to be privacy-enhancing by offering multiple avenues for authentication and ensuring logout via timeouts created a system where the more secure option was not effectively available due to a competing security mechanism. This was exacerbated by a counter counting down the number of vaccine sites available, similar to a well-known stress condition used to create cognitive load in laboratory experiments. All six participants used privacy-sensitive information to enroll; provided adequate information for identity theft; and all six encountered stop points. The countdown of available vaccination sites, the time required for insurance validation as an alternative to Medicare ID, and logging off after inactivity to prevent session theft each are good practices; but fail together.

The Sociology of Personal Identification

Systems drawing on databases of personal information increasingly shape life experiences and outcomes across a range of settings, from consumer credit and policing to immigration, health, and employment. How do these systems identify and reidentify individuals as the same unique persons and differentiate them from others? This article advances a general sociological theory of personal identification that extends and improves earlier work by theorists like Goffman, Mauss, Foucault, and Deleuze. Drawing on examples from an original ethnographic study of identity theft and a wide range of social scientific literature, our theory treats personal identification as a historically evolving organizational practice. In doing so, it offers a shared language, a set of concepts for sensitizing researchers’ attention to important aspects of personal identification that often get overlooked while also facilitating comparisons across historical periods, cultural contexts, substantive domains, and technological mediums.

Cybercrime: Thieves, Swindlers, Bandits, and Privateers in Cyberspace

This chapter describes the definitions and scope of cybercrime including an outline of the history of hackers and the role of criminal networks and markets in the dissemination of malicious software and other contraband such as illicit drugs, stolen credit cards and personal identification, firearms, and criminal services. Different cybercrime types and methods are described, including the widespread use of ‘social engineering’ or deception in computer misuse and identity theft. The challenges facing law enforcement in the suppression of cybercrime and the important role of private and public partnerships, as well as cross-national cooperation in the suppression of cybercrime is illustrated.

The financial and psychological impact of identity theft among older adults

Background and Objectives Society’s growing reliance on technology to transfer private information has created more opportunities for identity thieves to access and misuse personal data. Research on identity theft specifically among adults age 65 and older is virtually nonexistent, yet research focusing on victims of all ages indicates a positive association between age, minority status, and more severe economic and psychological consequences. Research Design and Methods Identity theft measures come from a sample of more than 2,000 self-reported victims age 65 and older from the nationally representative National Crime Victimization Survey Identity Theft Supplements administered in 2014 and 2016. Regression was used to examine how socioeconomic status, demographic characteristics, and incident-specific factors relate to how much money is stolen, the likelihood of experiencing out-of-pocket costs, and emotional distress among older identity theft victims. Results Older Black identity theft victims were more likely to have greater amounts of money stolen and were more likely feel distressed by the incident than older White victims. The most disadvantaged older adults living at or below the federal poverty level were significantly more likely to suffer out-of-pocket costs. The length of time information was misused, experiencing subsequent financial problems and problems with friends/family, and the hours spent resolving identity theft were positively associated with emotional distress. Among those age 65 and older, age was not significantly associated with losses or emotional distress. Discussion and Implications Older adults living in poverty need more resources to assist with recovery and reporting identity theft to law enforcement. Limiting the extent of losses from identity theft and reducing the length of time information is misused may reduce the emotional toll of identity theft on older victims.

Automated Teller Machine-Based Voting System

Voting is a critical element of any election which involves the processes of electing leaders or representatives into positions of authority in a democratic system of government. In most developing countries of the world, this process is usually marred with challenges of confidentiality, integrity, availability and auditability such as falsification of results, identity theft, theft of ballot boxes, multiple voting problems, over voting, and electoral fraud. This paper presents a framework for Automated Teller Machine-based voting system that solves the aforementioned challenges of the current voting system by using the existing Automated Teller Machines and debit cards issued for voting. Going further to implement the solution proposed in this paper will enhance and guarantee the credibility of the electoral processes and show a true reflection of the wishes of the people.