REGARDING A NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE WITH LINK AND EXCERPT BELOW:
Some individuals with technical computer expertise have
become a special kind of computer hacker that perform volunteer service,
often in cooperation with police agencies, in using their home computers
to perform detective work in the tracking and identification of
perpetrators of cybercrimes. Police forces welcome the assistance as they
are frequently both short staffed and short on the technical investigation
skills needed for this work. One focus area of cyberdetectives is to
catch those distributing and selling child pornography. Another area of
concentration is investigating the computer virus incidents and attempting
to pinpoint their source. A police concern is that these amateurs will
violate laws in their procedures and make subsequent arrests less tenable
legally or evidence unusable in court. One motivation of the
cyberdetectives is to rid the internet of illegal activities and make it
safe and secure for legitimate internet users.
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204-4584
jwne@astro.temple.edu
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Source: New York Times (NYT)
Author: MATT RICHTEL
Title: In the Pursuit of Cybercriminals Real Detectives Turn to Amateurs
Source Date: May 17, 2000
Resource Type: News Article
Description/Keywords: Cybercrime, Amateur Dectectives, Cyberdetectives,
Child Pornography, Computer Viruses, Solving
Crimes, Perpetrator Identification
URL: Listed Below Article Summary
(Free Registration Required by the New York Times)
May 17, 2000
In the Pursuit of Cybercriminals Real
Detectives Turn to Amateurs
By MATT RICHTEL
Within hours after a destructive
computer program began
circulating this month, borne by an
e-mail marked "I Love You," a
handful of high-tech detectives around
the globe leaped into action.
Scrutinizing clues left in the
programming code, and pursuing
evidence accumulated in hidden
corners of cyberspace, the detectives
homed in on several suspects in the
Philippines. And within days, Onel A.
de Guzman, whose name the
investigators had turned up, came
forward and said it was possible he
had unleashed the rogue program.
But the detectives are unlikely to
testify at trial, or receive official
commendation. That is because they
are not police officers, but ordinary
citizens, like a retired software
entrepreneur in Cambridge, Mass.,
and two Swedish computer security
experts.
They are among a growing number of
Net habitus turned cybersleuths
whose work has become vital to the
pursuit of Internet criminals. In the
spirit of members of a neighborhood
watch program, they protect their turf
on the Internet and point law
enforcement officials to leads.
Armed with home computers and technical expertise, the cybersleuths
themselves say there are only a few hundred of them.
But these amateur detectives have pursued suspects in some of the most
highly publicized cybercrimes, assisting in an area where law enforcement
officials say they lack resources and sometimes expertise. Police agencies
have even deputized cybersleuths and worked with them in the most
critical parts of investigations.
"It's like a computer game," said Paul E. Coggins, United States
Attorney in Dallas. "They're playing catch-the-crook."
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