What s Going On Out There?

What's Going On Out There?

There was a time when you had to leave your house to shop, hang out with friends, visit the library, or meet a date. That's changed: Now you can do all this and much more online. The Internet has enabled fantastic opportunities for education, social contact, and entertainment, and it enriches hundreds of millions of lives every day. For most people, most of the time, that convenience is a tremendous asset and the Web is a powerful tool. But just as there are potential dangers any time you get into your car and drive across town, there are potential dangers on the Web.

What the Internet does for "good" people, it also does for "bad" people: It gives broad access to people and information and allows users to remain largely anonymous. Criminals leverage any tool they can to commit their crimes; their latest tool of choice is the Internet. Often referred to as cybercriminals or predators, these individuals are committing a wide variety of offenses from identity theft and harassment to stalking and assault. Is what's going on all that different from what criminals have done for years and what you've learned to protect yourself from offline? No. Only the tools at their disposal have changed.

That there are bad people out there is a fact of life, but the existence of cybercriminals should not force you to avoid the Internet any more than you avoid walking or driving because a bad driver might do you harm. You walk down the street without fear because you learned as a child to look both ways and cross streets safely. The same is true for the Internet. You can use this powerful tool safely if you understand not only the opportunities the Web provides, but also the risks and what you can do to mitigate those risks. Then you can make choices that provide the level of protection you want for yourself and your family.

Who Are These Cybercriminals?

If you have a particular image of the type of person who commits these types of crimes, it's probably wrong. Predators come in every age, shape, and gender and live in any part of the world:

• Many are well-respected business or professional people who appear to be upstanding citizens.

• Sexual predators who target minors are predominantly, though not exclusively, male (95 percent; Wolak et al., 2004).

• Predators might act alone, in loose groups, or in formal gangs. Even organized crime syndicates are cashing in on people's online vulnerabilities.

• There is also a "middleman" predator class out there, assembling publicly available information into virtual catalogs and selling that information to anybody willing to pay. Some of these catalogs contain mundane information such as your preference in soft drinks and TV programs, but other catalogs list your identity, home address, age, photos, and other identifying information.

Find Out More

For more detail about who predators are and their behavior, see Chapter 3, "Thinking Like the Enemy: Predatory Behavior."

Who's Vulnerable?

Who could become an online victim? Quite simply, anybody. Whether you go online yourself or another person or company puts information about you online, there are risks. Depending on the type of information out there, your risk might be fairly low or significant. Children are at special risk because of their high volume of online activity and naïveté about human nature. However, people of all ages, even those who make their livings in law enforcement and computer security, are astounded when I point out what information is being shared online and with what consequences.

Think About It

The most critical years for children are around ages 13 to 15, when they begin to reach out and form relationships with others. These kids are often not streetwise, and they are looking for validation and approval, rebelling against their parents' values, and drawn to the latest technologies. They are discovering who they are and enjoy trying on other identities. Online predators know this and take full advantage of it (Wolak et al., 2004).

But, you say, you use antivirus software. You regularly scan to rid your computer of spyware, and you turned on your computer firewall. You even have content filtering installed to try to prevent your kids from viewing pornography. But consider this: It's not just about technology; it's about your online behavior.

A firewall is useless against financial fraud. If your elderly mother willingly responds to an e-mail purporting to be from her insurance company, asking her to provide her bank account information for a direct deposit of a refund, all the software in the world won't help. There's no antivirus program on the planet that will protect your daughter if she posts messages on her blog that give away her location, her age, and her vulnerable emotions.

Think About It

Once you have technical protections in place, you might well be the biggest remaining risk factor. But because your behavior is in your control, you can feel empowered to reduce your risk online.

How Big Is the Problem?

The Internet provides unparalleled opportunities for instant access to information and helpful services. Unfortunately, cybercriminals are among the most adept at leveraging these new technologies, and have embraced the Internet to facilitate their criminal behavior.

When you include cell phone Internet services, there are over 2 billion people worldwide with Internet access. Within the United States alone, there are over 21 million kids online, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Cybercriminals are keenly aware of the opportunity and are targeting these groups accordingly.

The magnitude of the abuse problem is proportional to the number of potential victims. Consider that

• In Canada, 94 percent of kids report they have Internet access from home (Media Awareness Network, 2005). In the United Kingdom, 90 percent of children have a personal computer at home, and 75 percent have Internet access (www.childwise.co.uk).

• A 2004 study by the National Cyber Security Alliance and America Online found that 80 percent of home computers are infected with spyware or adware, and 63 percent of users have encountered a computer virus.

• In 2005, the worldwide financial impact of malware (virus, spyware, and so on) attacks was $14.2 billion, according to www.computereconomics.com.

• Testimony given before a U.S. congressional panel (April 2006) noted that commercial child pornography on the Internet worldwide in 2005 was a $20 billion business. The trade in child pornography in the United States alone is estimated at approximately $3 billion.

• 12 percent of Web sites include pornography, and 25 percent of search engine requests are for pornography, according to www.familysafemedia.com.

• One in five children ages 12 to 17 are sexually solicited online every year in the United States (according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC), and a similar number is estimated in the United Kingdom (according to the Internet Crime Forum).

• In the year 2000 there was an average of 220 arrests a month for Internet sex crimes against minors in the United States (Wolak et al., 2003). But the problem is worldwide: Law enforcement agencies around the world are expanding their online criminal units to combat the growth of online crime.

• One account of a teenage boy who sold sexual images of himself via webcam reported that he had 1,500 customers. The majority of these were professionals such as doctors, lawyers, businesspeople, and teachers.