Book Review of Cybercrime – The Reality of the Threat

Abstract

If you're looking for introductory text on what cyber crime is, then this is the one! But don't expect and in-depth academic text. This self-published book is very much a book for the operational practitioner. An easy to read text that provides a broad overview relating to Federal Agent Nigel Phair’s experience whilst working at the Australian High Tech Crime Centre in Canberra and as a member of the Australian Federal Police. Some comments may seem to appear rather glib, along with several assumptions, but don't be put off; the book has merit and Phair provides a good insight for the newcomer wishing to learn about the domain of cyber crime. The introduction, I presume in an effort to allay our fears, states "The Internet is not of the Wild West, as was once portrayed in American Western movies. It is just another public place and Internet users need to use real-world sensibilities when operating in the online environment." Phew, thank goodness for that! But his statement is quickly followed by a darker one of impending doom; "the communities trusting e-commerce activities, will slowly erode over time as personal users either become victims of online crime or know someone who has." He then briefly mentions ‘the profile of cyber crime criminals’ and how the hacking the counterculture has completely changed into wellorganized and hierarchical groups of criminal syndicates that have realized there is substantial money to be made by criminal activity online. A geographical overview of the cyber crime elements are presented as the only real risk from Eastern Europe, Asia and West Africa. This is just too brief. His Eastern European perspective focuses only on the Russian Mafia and one incident involving a Romanian National. Asia, primarily relates to issues in China, although Singapore and Korea do get a mention. West Africa, primarily focuses on Nigeria and Kenya; with the Nigerian activity relating to the infamous "Nigerian letters." The rest of the book addresses the cyber crime activities under the broad headings of: o Unwanted Software; o Identity Crime; o Phishing;