Sage Video

Cybercrime: a changing cyber-threat landscape

Sage Video

Cybercrime: technology and crime

1. Do you agree or disagree with the way that Dr. Wall characterizes cybercrime? Explain.
2. What do you think about Dr. Wall’s distinctions between cybersecurity and cybercrime?
3. What do you think about what Dr. Wall calls the ‘transformation test?’ Do you think this is a useful way to distinguish between types of cybercrime?

Sage Video

Jon Heidt discusses criminological theory: What is the value in learning about criminological theory? How can students benefit from having an understanding of criminological theory in their studies or a future career?

1. Can theories with origins pre-dating the internet be used to help understand cybercrime?
2. What do you think about Dr. Heidt’s discussion of the link between research, theory, and policy, particularly his cautions? Further, do any of his insights potentially apply to the area of cybercrime?

Podcast

Criminal – break the internet

1. The hacker in this podcast describes duping people into handing over their AOL login credentials. At its core, has security hacking changed significantly since this point?
2. Hacker subculture, as indicated here, is often characterized by frequent ‘one-up-manship’. Does this make criminal hackers different from other criminal subcultures or similar?
3. What role do you think boyish masculinity and youth played in the antics/escapades of the featured hacker?
4. Thoughts on the legal treatment of the hacker featured in this podcast?

 

Podcast

This American Life – small scale sin: prologue

1. Does the ‘low-level credit card fraud’ and other scams described here count as hacking?
2. What role do you think boyish masculinity played in the antics/escapades of these hackers?
3. What role do you think youth played in the antics/escapades of these hackers?
4. What role do you think class/and socio-economic class played in the antics/escapades of these hackers?
5. Can you identify any potential techniques of neutralization used in this podcast?

 

Podcast

This American Life – small scale sin: act three

1. Many hackers may do crimes as youths and then mature into careers as professionals. Should they be allowed to redeem themselves professionally like this? Should other kinds of criminals? And is this like other kinds of crime where people ‘age out’?
2. What do you think about his experience in prison? Is prison too ‘nice’? Or, rather, does it reflect negatively on his life before/after prison that he enjoyed prison?
3. Can prisons be a source of prosocial bonds?
4. Thoughts on how the hackers’ skills allowed them to integrate into the prison underground economy?

 

YouTube Video

TedX – hackers are all about curiosity, and security is just a feeling, Chris Nickerson

1.  Do you agree that curiosity is a primary motivator for hackers?
2.  Is there are relationship between youth and curiosity evinced in this talk about becoming a hacker?
3.  Does his pathway into hacking sound familiar? Do you think his narrative sounds similar to those for people in other fields?
4. What do you think about his discussion about what a ‘real’ hacker is?
5. What do you think about his discussion of ‘having plans’ for dealing with information security?

 

 YouTube Video

 TED - Hackers: the Internet’s immune system, Keren Elazari

1.  Do you think hackers are necessary for a healthy and secure information technology ecosystem?
2. Does combating hackers also mean combating innovation?

 

YouTube Video

Equifax: last week tonight with John Oliver (HBO) (may include content objectionable to some)

1. Should companies be allowed to retain so much sensitive data? And should such companies play such a central role in our economy considering the risks associated with data breaches?
2. From your perspective, is Equifax responsible for the data breach described in this video? If so, how should the company and the breach be handled by authorities? Should Equifax be punished? If so, how?
3. Do you think the arguments made by John Oliver against Equifax are fair?

 

Podcast

Darknet Diaries – ep. 5: #ASUSGATE

1. What do you think about the way ASUS handled the reporting of the major security vulnerability described by the interviewee?
2. Were the ASUS router in question to be implicated in a major breach, who would be more responsible—the attacker who exploited the vulnerabilities or ASUS for failing to make a more secure device and take reported vulnerabilities seriously?
3. Is shaming a company an effective way to change their security practices? Is it an ethical way to change their practices?
4. Can ‘full disclosure’ of a security vulnerability ever be justified? Or a ‘partial disclosure’?

 

Podcast

Darknet Diaries – ep. 10: misadventures of a Nation state actor

1. Should governments be allowed to hack other governments? If so, should these acts be regulated more strictly under international law?
2. How do you think it would feel like to be a state-actor involved in hacking these networks? What sorts of pressures would you be under? Would you experience any thrills? Might these emotional aspects influence how you go about the hack?

 

Podcast

Darknet Diaries – ep. 14: #OpJustina

1. Can a DDoS attack against a hospital ever be justified, even considering the act being protested in this story (a ‘medical kidnapping’)?
2. In this scenario, would the DDoS attack be considered an act of hacktivism or digilantism?

Podcast

Darknet Diaries – ep. 16: Eijah

1. What do you think about the motivations given by Eijah? Do you think he may have been making ‘mountains out of molehills’ or do you think his grievances were legitimate and deserved his ire?
2. Are there any criminological theories you could use to explain Eijah’s behaviour based on his story?

 

YouTube Video

Knock-Off Nigel

1. Do you agree with the characterization of pirates given in this industry-sponsored advertisement?
2. How do content industries benefit from portrayals of piracy like those given in this advertisement? Consider the various subtexts of the video in your response.

Podcast

Criminal – Gil from London 

1. Put yourself in the victim’s shoes. Do you see how she could have fallen in love with the fraudster? And how would you feel finding out it was a scam?
2. Imagine you are trying to combat romance scams. Does the story given by the victim give you any insights into policies, practices, or interventions you could change that might have prevented her victimization?

 

YouTube Video

TedX – a story about fishing, hacking and theft, Glen Gooding

1. Do contemporary data breaches and ‘hacking’ related thefts constitute new crimes or are they ‘old wine, new bottles’?
2. Why do you think the IT security profession does not have a lot of women in the ranks?

Podcast

Darknet Diaries – ep 2: the peculiar case of the VTech hacker

1. Should companies be allowed to harvest that much data from children? Even with parental consent?
2. What do you think about the way VTech handled the uncovered security vulnerabilities?
3. What do you think about the way the vulnerability was disclosed by the hacker?
4. What do you think about the consequences VTech faced in this story? Fair? Unfair? Enough? Not enough?
5. Do you think vulnerabilities like those discussed here present significant opportunities for child exploitation?

YouTube Video

Is the internet a haven for misogyny?

1. Put yourself in the shoes of a woman experiencing online misogyny (or, if you are a woman who has experienced online misogyny, reflect on your experiences). Do you think you’d be able to separate the online hate and threats from your ‘real life’ experience? Would it make you feel less safe offline? What kinds of worries might you have about your private, public, and professional relationships?
2. Regarding online misogyny, is the solution to hateful speech to engage in ‘more speech’ that counters hate speech?
3. Reflect on the debate that occurs in this video. One side argues that the internet should be preserved as an open forum. When hate speech is allowed to proliferate, however, can we consider the internet to truly to be an open forum?

 

YouTube Video

Online Harassment: last week tonight with John Oliver (HBO) (may include content objectionable to some)

1. Are strategies like ‘simply stop using the internet’ or ‘hop off social media’ actually viable for victims of online harassment in contemporary society?
2. How do we distinguish between speech that should be protected and harassing/threatening speech?
3. How should police handle issues like online harassment and threats?
4. Do women and men have different experiences of the internet? If so, why?
5. Should revenge porn be criminalized?

 

Podcast

Criminal – eight years

1. Put yourself in Melissa’s shoes. How would you cope with eight years of harassment?
2. What role, if any, do you think gender played in the harassment discussed in this podcast?
3. Does the transnational nature of this crime make it potentially easier to deal with because of the distance? Or harder because of the difficulty in gaining legal recourse?

Sage Video

Policing cybercrime: the challenges, part 1

1. What do you think of Dr. Wall’s concept of the ‘reassurance gap’? Do you think this plays a tremendous role in cybercrime policing?
2. What do you think about Dr. Wall’s distinction between ‘technical’ and ‘experiential’ forms of crime?

 

Sage Video

Policing cybercrime: the challenges, part 2

1. Do you think that the ‘culture of fear’ is a significant factor in the policing of cybercrimes? Does it force police to mis-prioritize their attention? Does it give the public incorrect views about their likelihood of victimization and the level of harm created?
2. Cybercrime policing is ‘pluralized’ across many actors and agencies. How central of a role do you think the police should play in the policing of the internet? Should governments and public police forces be more or less involved in regulating the internet?
3. Do you think that social media and other forms of online communication have a ‘civilizing effect’ like those described by Dr. Wall? Why or why not?
4. Dr. Wall argues that one of the key challenges for improving police regulation/investigation of cybercrimes is cultural. How might we create cultural change within these police organizations to make them better prepared to grapple with cybercrime issues?

YouTube Video

The Snowden Files: the inside story of the world’s most wanted man

1. Was Edward Snowden right to release the details of the NSA’s surveillance programs? Is he a traitor, hero, or something else?
2. Did the Snowden leaks make a difference? Did the public change our privacy behaviour? Did the US change its policies?

 

YouTube video

Ted^X – why Google won’t protect you from big brother, Christopher Soghoian

1. According to Christopher Soghoian, what are the factors that have enabled surveillance to become ubiquitous?
2. If internet and communication companies are actively assisting states with mass surveillance of whole populations, what measures can/should users justifiably take to protect their privacy?

 

YouTube Video

TTed^X – the dark web, Alan Pearce

1. Do you think the benefits offered by the dark web (like those for journalists, activists, or anyone else needed anonymity) out weight the potential costs (ex: child pornography, hackers-for-hire, etc.)?
2. Do you agree with the speaker that we are ‘facing the end of the Internet as we know it’?

 

YouTube Video

Government surveillance: last week tonight with John Oliver (HBO) (may include content objectionable to some)

1. Is government surveillance really as big a deal as critics claim? In other words, how concerned should we be about government surveillance programs?
2. Are US FISA courts a necessary national security protection or an unnecessary facilitator of government overreach?
3. What kinds of personal information should or should not be allowed to be gathered or analysed by government surveillance programs?

 

YouTube Video

Right to be forgotten: last week tonight with John Oliver (HBO) (may include content objectionable to some)

1. Should people be entitled to the ‘right to be forgotten’?
2. How might the ‘right to be forgotten’ be abused? Could it conflict with other rights, like free speech?
3. In 2003, Barbra Streisand attempted to have pictures of her house removed from the internet. Her attempt, however, resulted in the information being publicized more widely. This phenomenon is known as the ‘Streisand Effect’. How might the ‘right to be forgotten’ interact with the ‘Streisand Effect’?

 

YouTube Video

Encryption: last week tonight with John Oliver (HBO) (may include content objectionable to some)

1. Should governments be allowed to have ‘keys’ to break encryption?
2. Does the threat posed by criminals using encryption outweigh the social good such data protections potentially provide?

 

Podcast

Darknet Diaries – ep. 12: crypto wars

1. Should access to encryption be universal? Should it be regulated and controlled?
2. Do you think the ‘Crypto Wars’ were as significant as the podcast makes it seem for the internet, technologists, and the public?
3. Encryption is code. Should it be considered a ‘munition’ or should it be considered ‘speech’ protected under the first amendment?

YouTube Video

The man biohacking encryption from his garage

1. Is biohacking really the ‘future of human evolution’?
2. Can you think of possible cybercrimes that may develop as a result of biohacking?