Studies have shown that to find the source of terrorism, follow the money (or easy money).
Gragido, W., Molina, D., Pirc, J., & Selby, N. (2012). Blackhatonomics: An Inside Look at the Economics of Cybercrime. Syngress.
The Naval War College Review, Spring 2013, reviewed Steven Bucci's The Confluence of Cyber Crime and Terrorism. Looks like a must read.
SNIPPET: "Today the world faces a wide array of cyber threats. The majority of these threats are aimed at the Western democracies and the Western-leaning countries of other regions.
The reason for this is simple: They are ripe targets. These countries are either highly dependent, almost completely in some cases, on cyber means for nearly every significant societal interaction or are racing toward that goal. They seek the speed, accuracy, efficiency, and ease that a "wired" system of systems brings and all the benefits that accrue to such a situation.
The danger we face is that there are many individuals, groups, and states that desire to exploit those same systems for their own purposes. There is a new threat on the horizon that must be recognized and addressed."
SNIPPET: "Terrorism enabled by cyber criminals is our most likely major cyber threat. It must be met with all our assets."
http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Confluence_of_Cyber_Crime_and_Terror.html?id=tv9YQwAACAAJ
Rope,
ReplyDeleteI don't have a citation, but we recently had an event with Lt. Col Warren Curry, USMC, who is a current student at the US Army War College. He spoke on Narco-Terrorism as essentially nation-states, each running their own geography. He specifically cited their ability to globally manipulate financial transactions as a way to hide their finances as they moved money around the world. So cyber-criminals can also be narcotics organizations that need the cyber-network to help run their distribution, process their payments, and funnel their money back to HQ. It was a fascinating speech as he articulated the sophisticated nature of these syndicates and the business-like way they operate on a global scale.
Matt: It is amazing how sophisticated "money people" are when it comes to evasion. For a while a few years back, I started to study for the FINRA/CFP exams in case our little start-up got legs (it ultimately didn't). I could not believe the number of different products created specifically for certain people with certain cash to spend or hold or control, so that they could maximise their return for a given period or motive or expectation, etc. Amazing what mosty of us do not know about hign finance.
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