Intentions and Cyberterrorism

This chapter focuses on intentions and cyberterrorists. In defining cyberterrorism as the use, or threat of use, of cyberspace to deliver violence, through the disruption or destruction of digital data, the chapter captures potentially novel behaviour. It highlights the claims made by intelligence officials about terrorists’ intentions of using cyberspace. It then interrogates to what extent this matches the literature on terrorist motivations and intentions, and whether cyberspace is an attractive means for carrying out terrorist attacks. Finding that a simple cost–benefit analysis does not favour cyberspace as a means of carrying out terrorist acts, the chapter interrogates the vectors of change both on the intentions and capability side of the assessment. It closes with the analysis of a hypothetical case that would match the definition of cyberterror: a religiously inspired version of the Ashley Madison hack.

Justify my love: Cognitive dissonance reduction among perpetrators of online and offline infidelity

A longitudinal survey study was conducted to examine which strategies for reducing cognitive dissonance were used among men engaging in infidelity. Data were collected in two waves, 1 month apart ( n time1 = 1514, n time2 = 425), from a sample of male users of Ashley Madison, a “married dating” site targeting users who are seeking to engage in infidelity. Because perpetrators of infidelity may justify their behaviors differently depending on whether they cheated in an online environment, both online and offline infidelity behaviors were considered. Results indicated that attitude change and self-concept change were positively related to online infidelity, while only self-concept change was positively related to offline infidelity, suggesting their differential effectiveness for various communication media. Self-concept change, attitude change, and denial of responsibility were negatively related to psychological discomfort and perceived negative impact at time 2, indicating their relative success for reducing negative psychological outcomes compared to other strategies such as adding consonant cognitions.

Hacking a reputation: crisis communication and the Ashley Madison data breach

[Para. 1] At a time where online activists are targeting and obtaining the intellectual property of companies on a regular basis, how should a company communicate and mitigate the data breach to ensure that its valued customers feel protected, or in the best case scenario, prevent it altogether? The adoption and implementation of a sound crisis communication and management strategy is thus a fundamental operative for the success of any organization. Organizational crises can fundamentally disrupt and harm companies, organizations and individuals alike; they are characterized as “non-routine, severe event[s] that [can] destroy [its] reputation or operations” (Koerber, 2017). When a crisis arises for an organization, it is imperative that they have a strong sense of clarity regarding the issue at hand – specifically, they must understand the context and “background narrative that gives interpretative shape to [its] foreground issues” (Arnett, Deiuliis, Corr, 2017). Perhaps most emblematic of these background narratives is the circulation of competing information and perspectives, by both social media and traditional news sources. With the rise of social media and the 24/7 news cycle, a new sense of power and inflated ability to frame an issue has been afforded to many publics – particularly due to the ability of these mediums to rapidly transmit and receive information. These affordances have the potential to be either beneficial or detrimental to a company when faced with a crisis. While an organization can benefit from strategic media relations and effective crisis communication, even the most established of firms can have their voice become convoluted or be reprimanded if communication is poorly executed.

Hacking a reputation: crisis communication and the Ashley Madison data breach

[Para. 1] At a time where online activists are targeting and obtaining the intellectual property of companies on a regular basis, how should a company communicate and mitigate the data breach to ensure that its valued customers feel protected, or in the best case scenario, prevent it altogether? The adoption and implementation of a sound crisis communication and management strategy is thus a fundamental operative for the success of any organization. Organizational crises can fundamentally disrupt and harm companies, organizations and individuals alike; they are characterized as “non-routine, severe event[s] that [can] destroy [its] reputation or operations” (Koerber, 2017). When a crisis arises for an organization, it is imperative that they have a strong sense of clarity regarding the issue at hand – specifically, they must understand the context and “background narrative that gives interpretative shape to [its] foreground issues” (Arnett, Deiuliis, Corr, 2017). Perhaps most emblematic of these background narratives is the circulation of competing information and perspectives, by both social media and traditional news sources. With the rise of social media and the 24/7 news cycle, a new sense of power and inflated ability to frame an issue has been afforded to many publics – particularly due to the ability of these mediums to rapidly transmit and receive information. These affordances have the potential to be either beneficial or detrimental to a company when faced with a crisis. While an organization can benefit from strategic media relations and effective crisis communication, even the most established of firms can have their voice become convoluted or be reprimanded if communication is poorly executed.

It`s all in the game of love: exploring the use of gamification in online dating platforms

This major research paper investigates the relationship between gamification and online dating sites. Past research has described gamification as the incorporation of game-like properties in non-game settings. Gamification has been applied to a multitude of domains, including the online dating sector. However, research exploring this relationship is absent from the literature. Researchers have found that online romantic relationships develop and progress differently, depending on the platform on which they originated. Therefore, gamification may affect the courtship process and relationship success of online daters around the globe. This paper explores three main research questions: (1) What are the features of gamification? (2) Which online dating sites are the most and least gamified? (3) Is gamification having an effect on the number of people who use online dating sites? To answer these questions, 10 popular online dating sites were explored: Ashley Madison, Christian Mingle, eHarmony, JDate, Lavalife, Match.com, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, Tinder, and Zoosk. Using a series of data collection tables and continuums, each of the 10 online dating sites were qualitatively analyzed based on their launch date, user utility figure, and inclusion of game-like properties. This study found that across all 10 of the online dating sites, platform organization, platform dynamics, user engagement, and reward quantification were recurrent themes that appeared to be gamified to varying degrees. Additionally, it was discovered that gamification was integrated in more recently developed platforms to a greater extent. Furthermore, it was found that the more gamified dating sites retained a larger number of active users. This study proposes that a trend toward gamification is emerging. However, this major research paper is merely a pilot study, and additional, in-depth research is crucial to our understanding of gamification as it relates to online dating. Keywords: gamification, online dating, online dating site, platform, play, user

It`s all in the game of love: exploring the use of gamification in online dating platforms

This major research paper investigates the relationship between gamification and online dating sites. Past research has described gamification as the incorporation of game-like properties in non-game settings. Gamification has been applied to a multitude of domains, including the online dating sector. However, research exploring this relationship is absent from the literature. Researchers have found that online romantic relationships develop and progress differently, depending on the platform on which they originated. Therefore, gamification may affect the courtship process and relationship success of online daters around the globe. This paper explores three main research questions: (1) What are the features of gamification? (2) Which online dating sites are the most and least gamified? (3) Is gamification having an effect on the number of people who use online dating sites? To answer these questions, 10 popular online dating sites were explored: Ashley Madison, Christian Mingle, eHarmony, JDate, Lavalife, Match.com, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, Tinder, and Zoosk. Using a series of data collection tables and continuums, each of the 10 online dating sites were qualitatively analyzed based on their launch date, user utility figure, and inclusion of game-like properties. This study found that across all 10 of the online dating sites, platform organization, platform dynamics, user engagement, and reward quantification were recurrent themes that appeared to be gamified to varying degrees. Additionally, it was discovered that gamification was integrated in more recently developed platforms to a greater extent. Furthermore, it was found that the more gamified dating sites retained a larger number of active users. This study proposes that a trend toward gamification is emerging. However, this major research paper is merely a pilot study, and additional, in-depth research is crucial to our understanding of gamification as it relates to online dating. Keywords: gamification, online dating, online dating site, platform, play, user

Connecting evidence-based policing and cybercrime

PurposeThis paper explores the various challenges associated with policing cybercrime, arguing that a failure to improve law enforcement responses to cybercrime may negatively impact their institutional legitimacy as reliable first responders. Further, the paper makes preliminary links between cybercrime and the paradigm of evidence-based policing (EBP), providing suggestions on how the paradigm can assist, develop, and improve a myriad of factors associated with policing cybercrime.Design/methodology/approachThree examples of prominent cybercrime incidents will be explored under the lens of institutional theory: the cyberextortion of Amanda Todd; the hacking of Ashley Madison; and the 2013 Target data breach.FindingsEBP approaches to cybercrime can improve the effectiveness of existing and future approaches to cybercrime training, recruitment, as well as officers' preparedness and awareness of cybercrime.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research will benefit from determining what types of training work at the local, state/provincial, and federal level, as well as evaluating both current and new cybercrime policing programs and strategies.Practical implicationsEBP approaches to cybercrime have the potential to improve police responses to cybercrime calls for service, save police resources, improve police–public relations during calls for service, and improve police legitimacy.Originality/valueThis paper links cybercrime policing to the paradigm of EBP, highlighting the need for evaluating and implementing effective evidence-based approaches to policing cybercrime.

The Worst You’ve Ever Sounded

Chapter 5 focuses on the modern epidemic of public shaming. In 2014, someone leaked the raw, out-of-tune vocals of pop star Britney Spears attempting a studio take of her song “Alien.” Shame storms promptly followed. By connecting voice shaming to concomitant practices of sex shaming and slut shaming, the chapter asks what we think we gain when we judge, police, and dehumanize musicians at their worst moments. Do people shame musicians out of a putative love for music? Or is music simply an excuse, or an accomplice? Given the deluge of leakable data today—think of Ashley Madison, Panama Papers, congressional dossiers, revenge porn—provocative analogies materialize between our myths of secure networks (a technical impossibility) and our idealizations of pitch-perfect (infallible, unassailable) lyric voices. The chapter asks whether Spears’s naked voice can be heard not as shameworthy detritus best left on the cutting room floor, but rather as an object of clickbait that always already implicates our own aural vulnerability and consumer complicity.

Automated and/or authentic intimacy: What can we learn about contemporary intimacy from the case of Ashley Madison’s bots?

In July 2015 the well-known affairs Web site, Ashley Madison, was hacked and both customer details and internal company correspondence were stolen, and later dumped online for public access. In the analysis of the data, it became clear that the site had extensively used bots to attract customers. This paper brings together these bots with a short story by Candas Jane Dorsey about the discomfiting potential of human-machine intimacies. I use the two to help me explore what I argue is an inbuilt and little discussed expectation/requirement of “authentic” intimacy: humanness.