Most Wanted: Catching a Cybercriminal

Most in the United States are aware that the worst criminal offenders around the globe appear on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) “Most Wanted Fugitives” list, the “Most Wanted Terrorists” list, or the “Wanted by the FBI” podcast. But what about cybercriminals? As hackers and cybercriminals become more advanced in their hacking techniques, the FBI’s investigative team is less concerned with the identity of the perpetrator than they are in preventing access to its system in the first place. However, the FBI has recently begun to target the individual perpetrators of cybercrime.

Given the ubiquity of cybercrime in the age of technology, identifying cybercriminals on the agencies’ list of “Most Wanted Cybercriminals” has grown considerably since March. In fact, the list grew by nearly 50 percent when two young Syrians were charged for attempting to hack United States companies and media organizations followed by the indictment of seven Iranian citizens accused of coordinating a months-long cyber attack on financial organizations located in New York. When Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the aforementioned indictments, she said the decision to provide public access to the most-wanted cybercriminals is a “new approach” at the of Justice that falls in line with its name-and-shame campaign (www.nextgov.com). The campaign Department, which launched in 2012, placed five Chinese hackers on the cyber most-wanted list and so far all of those listed are men and are mostly foreign nationals.

The infographic below explains why the United States needs more cybersecurity professionals to thwart cybercriminals:

As we currently live in the age of digital technology, the United States hopes to take a more concerted efforts to protect both public and private data. Without taking such proactive measures to provide protection, the United States digital infrastructure may increasingly become the target of malicious cybercriminal breaches, hacks, and cyberattacks.