Howard’s text has significantly explored the definition and depiction of cyber-crime. It has swiftly combined theoretical work, substantial research, and first-hand experience in driving the point home. The analysis wades through the growth and development of organized crime using objective mechanisms. The text is reader-friendly and successfully guides students in grasping the various dimensions of organized crime. However, with the advent of technology leading to the growth of organized cyber-criminal groups, there is room for refining the description provided by this enumerative text (Abadinsky, 2012). After a critical evaluation of the text’s definition, this paper discusses the description in line with the reality of today’s organized cyber-criminal groups.
The Complex Architecture of Organized Crime
The advancement of technology is changing the structure of organized crimes. Criminals are now exploring the cyberspace to promote the implementation of their ill behavior. The digital economy is graced with greater rewards and, importantly, a safe haven for the groups. Technology enables anonymity and easy accessibility to information and tools ideal for illegal operations of cyber-crime. The cyberspace is less risky and is gradually replacing the traditional structure of organized crime. Unlike in the past, the crimes take place in multi-dimensional virtual networks. It is within this space that the groups undertake meetings without even virtual contacts (Emilio, 2016). More so, the spaces have been safeguarded in such a way that they only allow the access of the trusted associates, which is why cyber-crime is among the most lucrative industries.
Organized crimes are leveraging cyber skills to eliminate the chances of being identified and are ready to part with a hefty amount of cash. The structure is sophisticated and can involve thousands of members across the world that link in the cyberspace. It is important to note that this brought another reality that has been presented in the book. The criminals organized themselves in subsets so that different group of people can operate in distinguished segments (Emilio, 2016). The segments are assigned different responsibilities such as trading data, spamming, compromising machines among many others. That way, some organized groups, particularly the “start-ups”, can outsource the services. On the other end, the most experienced groups, which are the “elite entrepreneurs”, run as a closed group because they already have sufficient resources and personnel (Abadinsky, 2012). There is no need for engaging outsiders. In fact, the groups also host a solid value chain as in the case of businesses.
Increased Tools and Opportunities for Organized Crime
Therefore, organized crimes now establish a highly intricate business-to-business model which in the real sense is a criminal-to-criminal model. The digital network already houses a wide range of crime tools that can be used to exploit software and computer-related vulnerabilities. The most common crime wares are viruses and they offer the flexibility to control, steal and trade data and using this data, it is thus easier to execute organized attacks. More so, the groups are also taking advantage of countries with weak governments, mostly the developing nations. Given that the countries lack the capacity to substantially confront cyber-crime, the groups choose these nations as their center of attack (Abadinsky, 2012). They understand that the existing legal frameworks and technicality of the country cannot identify and fight them.
Additionally, a continent like Africa annually receives huge importation of electronic waste. A fraction of groups, especially the natives, uses the waste from developed nations to perpetuate cyber-crime (Madsen, 2015). Hence, they continue to thrive and fast-expand making this sector a profit-driven industry. Russia is a top region known for boasting well-resources and most successful cyber-criminal groups. Mostly, ex-spies are used in these activities. They capitalize on resources and patience to hack even the most encrypted systems. Recently, cybercriminals in Russia were involved in a disastrous credit card fraud (Emilio, 2016). Therefore, it is now difficult to accurately determine the scale of organized crime. The penetration of organized crime in the cyberspace is tremendously growing, and the groups invest in anonymity and virtually escape the scrutiny by law enforcement.
The Future of Organized Crime
The worrying trend is that the cyber-criminal groups are becoming harder to catch and stop. Owing to the nature of the Internet being transnational and decentralized, it is challenging to fight cybercrime. This is not to mention a large number of users on the Internet. The complicated networks have enhanced automation of crimes and situations in which the perpetrators are always ahead of the legislators and the agencies of law enforcement. For instance, the network of members may be in one country while the servers with crime ware in another (Madsen, 2015). Hence, with continuous development of technology, cyberspaces are bound to nurture organized crimes even further. Every growth stage of technology is an opportunity to increase the automation of their crimes or even legitimize their endeavors.
Clearly, cyberspaces are refining the architecture of organized crime. The fighting of organized cyber-criminal groups is now an international responsibility. Without international cooperation, organized crimes will continue to thrive. There is a need to harmonize laws internationally to enable the identification, investigation and prevention of e-crimes (Abadinsky, 2012). In the presence of global cooperation, under-resourced and under-skilled countries can be assisted in confronting organized crimes. The hard fact is that alone, no country is safe. The issue is now a global problem and should be addressed like so.
References
Abadinsky, H. (2012). Organized crime / Howard Abadinsky. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, c2013.
Emilio C., V. (2016). Cybercrime, Organized Crime, and Societal Responses: International Approaches. Cham: Springer.
Madsen, F. G. (2015). Transnational Organized Crime. London: Routledge.
