Welcome to the Crime Lab! Here you will find information about cyber crimes and what happens to people who commit them.
Officer Ward
Cyber Defender & Detention Center Security Officer
Officer Ward believes that most people who disrespect the privelages of Cyberspace are more ignorant than criminal, and that most cyber criminals can be rehabilitated into faithful cyber citizens through education about the dangers of delinquency in Cyberspace.
Working closely with Commander Omni and the Cyber Defense Academy, Officer Ward hopes to secure Cyberspace for everyone.
It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do
- John Baptiste Moliere
Cupcakes
Interests:Coaching softball, fishing, catching cyber criminals
January 17, 2011
Cyber Crimes - Cyber Monday Crackdown
Woohoo! I love reading articles about good guys capturing cyber villains and putting a stop to their evil deeds. I just read this great piece about a massive crackdown on Cyber Monday . For those of you who don’t know, Cyber Monday is the peak online holiday shopping day, similar to how Black Friday is the peak day for in-store holiday shopping. Unfortunately, right alongside all the great deals from honest online retailers, there are a lot of dishonest Web sites trying to fool good folks out of their hard-earned money.
And, thankfully, now there are a lot less deceitful retailers on the Internet because ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) shut down over 80 online stores that sold counterfeit goods. Take THAT, cyber pirates! I wonder if Captain Jack Plunder was caught? Part of me hopes he was, but the selfish part of me hopes he wasn’t. I want to be the one to take him down.
posted by Officer Ward
topic: Cyber Crimes
December 7, 2010
Cyber Criminals - Reformed Criminals
I’m not sure what to think about Nils capturing cyber criminals for us. Has he turned over a new leaf? Is he trying to fool us into trusting him? I suppose we will just have to wait and see…
But I’m not a man of waiting! I’m a man of action!
I did some research, and it turns out that cyber criminals becoming good guys isn’t an impossible thing. I mean, take ex-hackers David Allouch and Mohammed Bahga, for example. Those are two former criminals that now spend their considerable talents keeping people safe from the bad guys. Mr. Allouch has started several companies, one of which is designed to keep websites safe. Mr. Bahga, on the other hand, is a security engineer (which is a fancy term for a professional cyber cadet).
So maybe there is hope for him after all. I’ll do the right thing and (cautiously) give him the benefit of the doubt. It is the season of forgiveness, right?
posted by Officer Ward
topic: Cyber Criminals
November 19,2010
Cyber Crimes: Wikileaks: Afghan War Diaries
I’ll be honest with you, cadets. This month’s topic is tough. It involves a topic that a lot of people have VERY strong feelings about one way or the other. I know how I feel about it, but I’ll do my best to present you the facts without coloring it with my opinion. Still, I have to say that what happened is a crime, as it involved leaking classified materials.
A public website published over 90,000 classified US military documents about the war in Afghanistan. The military was outraged, claiming that the leaked documents could threaten the security of the forces overseas. The editors of the website, on the other hand, argued that the public had a right to know the information. What do you think, cadets? Should the documents be available to everyone or is the risk to our security not worth it?
posted by Officer Ward
topic: Cyber Crimes
October 4,2010
Cyber Crimes: Dealing with Cyber Bullying
Hey cadets! How are you enjoying National Cybersecurity Awareness Month? Kind of a mouthful, isn’t it? I wish it had a catchier title. I think I’ll just call it NCSAM. That’s waaay easier.
Moving on.
As I’ve said before, Cyber bullying is when someone uses technology (usually a computer) to bother another person. This can mean anything from receiving nasty emails from someone or having someone post mean things about you on an online forum. Sometimes the victims of cyber bullying don’t even know who it is that’s pestering them!
If you ever become the victim of cyber bullying or know someone that is, it’s important that you tell a trusted adult right away. You’ll probably be tempted to try to deal with the bully yourself, but believe me, this can make things way worse. Instead, just document exactly what happened by saving it to a folder on your computer, taking a screen capture, or copying the offensive things into a word document. Once this is done, tell a trusted adult about it. This way the bully won’t get away with being a jerk and you won’t feel powerless about being harassed whenever you go online.
You should also check out Hint Sheet #4: Dealing with Cyber Bullying and Hint Sheet #5: Reporting Cyber Bullying for more tips. If you witness cyber bullying, try and help out the victim. Sometimes having someone on your side can make all the difference! Cyber bullying is a serious problem, but with your help we can put an end to it!
posted by Officer Ward
topic: Cyber Crimes
August 31, 2010
Cyber Criminals - The Bad Hatter
Knowledge is the best weapon against cyber crime. It's important to know as much as you can about cyber criminals so you can learn how to defeat them.
Alias: The Bad Hatter
Real Name: Unknown
Location: Cyberspace Detention Center
Primary attack: Hacking
Weakness: Overconfidence
Well that was an…adventure… The Bad Hatter was one of the most intense, unbelievable baddies we’ve ever come up against. I’ve got to say I’m extremely proud of all the cadets for defeating him.
I’d love to tell you all about the Bad Hatter, but there’s a little problem. We still have him trapped in that old PC that Erika lured him into, and there’s no way we’re plugging it back in to question him. He’s just too dangerous.
Here’s what we know – the Bad Hatter is some sort of living computer program that’s capable of controlling reality. How it came about is anyone’s guess and how he’s able to warp the world around him is a question I don’t think we’ll ever answer. Maybe twenty years from now when we have the technology to deal with him we’ll let him out, but until then…I’ll sleep better at night knowing he’s trapped and powerless.
posted by Officer Ward
topic: Cyber Criminals
June 28,2010
Cyber Crimes: Copyright Infringment
Whoa, talk about a major slip on my part! I was reading through some of my older blog posts and I realized something – I’ve mentioned something called “copyright” a few times now but never really said what it is. I think now is the perfect time to fix that.
Copyright law is a set of rules that protects the creator of an original work from having his or her work copied. For example, the blog I’m writing is an original work of mine. Because everything on this website is protected by a copyright (see the bottom of the page), anyone copying it without permission would be breaking the law. This crime is known as copyright infringement. It is punishable with very serious fines.
Now, it’s important to keep in mind that the copyright law changes from country to country, so be careful! What might be legal in one nation could be a crime in another. Basically, it all comes down to this, though – no one likes a copycat, so do your best to be original!
posted by Officer Ward
topic: Cyber Crimes
May 26, 2010
Cyber Criminals - Reomel Ramones and Onel de Guzman
Way back in the year 2000, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and cavemen rode around on wooly mammoths, people around the world received emails with “ILOVEYOU” as the subject. The email also had an attachment with it that read “LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT”. Of course, people opened the email because they were curious who had sent it. Unfortunately for them, the email didn’t contain a letter from a secret admirer, but instead it held a nasty worm.
This worm, called “The Love Bug,” would then send a copy of itself to every email address in the victim’s address book. Once it had infected a system, the worm would make several nasty changes to the computer’s operating system. The cyber criminals, Reomel Ramones and Onel de Guzman, launched their cyber attack from their homes in the Philippines. Once they were caught, the Filipino government enacted “The E-Commerce Law” to make sure such terrible cyber crimes would never go unpunished.
In my opinion, this worm was particularly cruel. Not only were its victims’ computers infected, but they had their hopes crushed, too! I’m sure they would’ve rather had the love letter than the worm…