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Cybercriminals – Cowardly thugs hiding behind Computer Screens

By Randy Gonzalez
Some criminals attempt to “justify” their thieving propensities by suggesting they
don’t take large valued merchandise, or they do it to “test” another’s cyber system. The
inference of course is that they are somehow harmless. Criminals typically seek to ruse
their law enforcement detractors, or any other person who questions what they do. They
rationalize their thefts are non-violent and confined to smaller amounts of dollar losses,
for which the items are easily replaced. Their matter-of-fact justifications don’t justify the
unlawful taking of someone else’s personal or business property. They’re still criminals
none the less and a breach of security means a contravention of the criminal laws.
For the net hoodlum operating in cyber space, their thinking plays an interesting con
game, which they later rationalize and excuse as some “noble cause”. Bottom-line
though, they’re criminals like their non-virtual counterparts. When caught, they invent all
kinds of excuses and whine about their “victimization”. One wonders, when they sit there
all day in front of their computers, what part of their anatomy are they really playing with
most of the time? Some of these thieves try to scheme us with creative criminality, like
“ransomware”, email schemes, credit card scams and other intrusive losses. The list of
types of attacks is endless, as is the maliciousness behind the various illicit efforts for
unmerited personal gain. Criminals no matter where they operate do so in a self-indulgent
passion to misuse and abuse others for private purposes.
As always, one of our critical concerns is the injury, the loss and damages, caused
to others as a result of internet criminality. Make no mistake, criminals choose to commit
crimes of their own free will for the sake of getting something they didn’t earn or
deserve. Make no mistake criminals dislike the responsible nature in others. Electronic
breaches of the law are not unlike similar malevolent premeditated street-level crimes, in
terms the psycho-dynamics. Some cyber criminals pose a danger to our banks accounts,
while others risk the collapse of our economic system. And still others endanger our
national security. In the amative stimulation for power and control, criminals will use any
means. Like bank robbers or assailants on the street, cyber villains should receive the
same levels of punishment. And, their conviction and subsequent sentencing should be
sure, swift and certain and for long periods of time.
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Criminals freely choose their particular criminogenic instigations. Of which, Cyber-

crime involves billions of dollar losses every year to a global community. According to
one source, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), under the auspices of the FBI, in
2007, the agency received nearly a quarter million complaints regarding internet crimes.
This likely has increased to more significant levels of late, and represents the tip of the
proverbial cyber-criminal iceberg. No doubt a wealth of information flowing through the
internet signifies targets of opportunities for criminals.
Naturally, what we often forget is that there is a difference between reported
criminality and actual criminality, or otherwise known as the “dark figure of crime”.
There’s a sizeable portion of criminal activity that goes unreported and therefore not
investigated. Investigatively, law enforcement endeavors to respond efficiently as
possible, given the resources available. And yet, the nature of virtual crime is complex,
with such diverse challenges, as email and texting scams, business and banking
intrusions, to commercial fraud, money laundering and market manipulations.
Electronic thievery, organized crime and terrorism, as well as other associated
criminalities, present unique demands for law enforcement. However, valiant efforts
continue, and the law enforcement, intelligence communities and private security forces
remain undaunted in dedicated persistence. That’s part of the key to an effective
investigation, methodical tenacious due diligence in application of effective resources. To
rigorously search for every possible clue, cluster and clamor of activity, the investigative
process must implement creative and proactive tactics.
Investigators gather the facts and analyze the evidence, apply rationality and reason,
as well as ensure the critical implementations of forensic applications. Competent
expertise is essential in the utilization of logical deductions. If in doubt as to how to
proceed, where to go or what to look for, then efforts utilize those who have the know-
how in this particular realm. The hunt for the thugs and terrorists who hide behind a
computer screen is never ending. Sinister, wicked and malevolent, with malice
aforethought, the “evil” cybercriminals fester adversely affects us all. Countermeasures
have to be consistently applied, updated and reinforced. Vigilance has to be tirelessly
maintained. You never know when they might strike. An individual, a group or other
criminal enterprises, stay relentless in illegitimate pursuits at the expense of others.
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To this end, from an investigative standpoint, such activities are still basically crimes
against people, places, and properties. So, in a sense, we’re still dealing with the
fundamentals of a criminal investigation. None the less, the criminal has taken his, her or
their activities into an electronic neighborhood. Within this virtual world, the criminal
can inflict horrendous damages to the selected objective.
To deal with such criminals, it is incumbent upon professional law enforcement
agencies at all levels, as well as private commercial entities, to invest all available
resources where possible, in a “cyber unit”. Special expertise is required within the
virtual world of electronic anonymity. Upon development of a “cyber squad”, the next
step involves the assignment of qualified staffing. The basics in organizational structure
and design remain similar to other managerial frameworks.
That is, you need to plan, organize, budget, development and staff accordingly to fit
the needs of the organizational environment. Expert support services should be lined up
to assist the investigative team where ever necessary. For which, investigative personnel
must either have the technical and tactical expertise, or strive to learn and acquire the
essential fundamentals through appropriate educational training resources. Investigators
must be determined to ferret out the criminal by enhancing their skills.
Within the scope of “white collar” criminality, organized crime, and particularly those
criminals within an electronic landscape, investigating Cybercrime may not seem as
glamorous as other investigative processes. Frequently, we forget the impact of
commercial crimes (e.g. embezzlement, fraud, identity theft, internet schemes, etc) is ten
to twenty times greater than the usual street crimes. For instance, murder, rape, and
robbery investigations (i.e. Part I Index Crime of the U.C.R.), while vitally urgent to
resolve, tend to be more sensationalized by the various media. More so, than say hacking
into the local bank, or stealing someone’s credit card information.
Typically, the new investigator will be searching for action, adventure and excitement.
Television and the movies have done much to fuel illusions, misconceptions and less than
obvious deceptions about certain types of criminal investigations. Comically, we know
that a major crime has to be solved within the telecast of an hour’s worth of viewing. In
the real world however, we recognize it doesn’t happen like that. If you think otherwise,
good luck and try to forget television portrayals projecting creative crime fiction.
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That’s why the right personnel must be selected to fit within the scope of the unique
challenges confronted by an ever expanding cyber world. Some investigations may take
extraordinary amounts of time and resources to culminate solvability. Effective
investigators must assert a high degree of patience and persistence. It might not be too
untypical that such cases might require a couple of year’s commitment.
From an investigative perspective, you’ll want quality over quantity, facts instead of
fiction and dedication to critical thinking skills. Dealing with a criminological problem
necessitates the insistence upon avoiding fallacies of inference for the sake of subjective
validation. Without a doubt, people do this every day. They allow emotions, feelings and
reactivity to cloud the deduction reasoning aspects of problem-solving. Even though,
we’re affected by our emotional influences, an astute investigator learns to balance
between the two. Nothing is foolproof except the fool who proves you wrong.
All too often, based on a superficial assessment of a crime problem, we falter to the
slant of hasty generalizations about people, places and property. In short, we must bear in
mind people commit crimes because that’s what they want to do. To the extent possible,
we try to steer clear of logical fallacies. While this is not likely in an absolute sense, we
strive to test and evaluate our inclinations toward cognitive bias. This of course suggests
applying rigorous mental aptitude outside the proverbial box of toxic thinking.
No one is immune from biased pursuits to support investigative actions. But, in the
overall process, it’s important to ensure a strong devotion to professional training and
ongoing development of experience. During the course of an investigation, we want to
look into every nook and cranny and leave no stone unturned. In support of relentless acts
of discovery, one considers his or her perception of the facts versus the absence of facts.
Three points are relevant. One is how do you know a certain crime has occurred? Another
is how do you prove it based on what is known?
And, for a third possibility, is your theory of the crime valid? So, in short, how do you
know and what do you mean serve to substantiate the necessity for evidentiary criteria.
For the investigator, researcher or other practitioner, certain attributes are worth
emphasizing. These include: self-discipline in thinking processes, lawful means to reveal
the facts, bias control, efficient documentation, proficient capabilities and thorough
utilization of forensic applications. Networking with others remains essential.
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By use of various techniques and tactics, the more skillful investigator is creative,
adaptive and inventive. That’s because productive investigations do not fit a simplistic
template of trouble-free functionality, or “profiling” like on TV. One must focus and
direct the scope and extent to which the investigative process develops. You consider
how to determine the nature of the criminality under inquiry, like statutory authority of
the investigation, appropriate jurisdiction, and lawful provisions.
As such, you also consider the issues as applied to the specific incidence, such as
identity theft, email threat, electronic commerce, fraudulent activity, offenses against
electronic properties, and sexual harassment or cyber stalking. Critical concepts to
preliminarily assembling an investigative process necessitate an assessment of expertise
needed to address digital evidence criticality and “crime scene” procedures.
When dealing with digital evidence, proper levels of Cybercrime capabilities must be
used, along with unique needs regarding seizure, analysis, storage, retrieval and transfer
of evidentiary artifacts. Additionally, the investigator has to appreciate there must be
thorough documentation, preservation and otherwise protect investigative processes for
lawful review by competent authorities. Overall, we must satisfy the fundamentals, as
suggested by the basics of who, what, where, when, why and how.1
Within the framework of the inquiry, efforts are directed to ensure proper legality in
proven methodology, forensic processes and specialized expertise for all digital evidence
collection, analysis and security. Investigative processes strive for the ongoing safeguards
of logical deduction. This applies equally to the efforts directed toward locating and
identifying, if possible, all suspected criminal participants. But, it doesn’t stop there; as
such persistence also includes unmasking any and all collaborators.
Three key points in the overall perspective can be offered as reveal the perpetrators,
restore and recover properties and services, and resolve the criminality of the incident.
Expedient proactive well-planned efforts in apprehension, collection of evidence and
prosecution of offenders helps reduce opportunities for misadventure. In addition,
promotion of professional interaction among key investigative resources, such as people,
places and properties, further enhance preventive countermeasures.

1
Swanson, C.R., Chamelin, N.C., Territo, L., Taylor, R. W., Criminal Investigation – 10th Edition, (New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009), pages 49-50;
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As to the latter issue, an investigator, whether corporate or public agency, ought to

realize that criminality is selfishly motivated, highly personal, ego-centric and willfully
premeditated. Criminals know exactly what they are doing. Criminal nature comes in all
sizes, shapes and socio-economic backgrounds and pay grades. Criminal behavior, even
in cyberspace, is a rational choice and for the sake of self-gratification for personal gain.
Aside from many sociological theories of a deterministic nature, you are dealing with
people who want to commit criminal activity for their particular proclivities.
With a self-centered focus and disdain of others, if given the opportunity in the work
place, computer users can easily decide to become computer abusers. By doing so, they
become a problem for the business, the organization or the government. From their
lifestyle patterns, in the choices they have made, people who choose to commit crimes
against their employers, the government, other people’s employers or any entity in
particular. They are acting out their brand of salaciously devious behavior.
Their individual perspective is one of risk taking in order to achieve immediate
satiation for the anticipated gain. This action comes at the expense of others. Unlike those
who choose not to commit e-crimes, the computer criminal does so without wanting to
perform the legitimate commitment to do the work necessary to acquire the same
objective by lawful means. For the e-criminal, “business” activity means getting away
with something, faking a “cause”, or conjuring all kinds of excuses. In contrast to those
around him or her, working lawfully for commensurate compensation is not as exciting as
taking it without having to wait for it. No matter the pretext, they’re still criminals.2
As mentioned earlier, criminals will use anyone to ensure their illegitimate successes.
They can be anyone, from colleagues to vendors and so on. Criminality knows no
boundaries or respects any institution. How often have your heard, “that person didn’t
seem the type”. There is no perfect so called “profile” of the typical criminal. In fact,
from a security standpoint, you should be concerned with monitoring everyone’s activity.
We can’t overlook the essential protection necessary within any setting. Security of
computer systems and networks is crucial if not critical and vital. A criminal today can
operate secretly in cyberspace, a cowardly thug behind a computer screen.

2
Samenow, S., Inside the Criminal Mind – Revised and Updated Edition, (New York, NY: Crown
Publishers, 2004), pages 71-72;