DIGITAL COPS AND ROBBERS

Thanks to recent advances in technology, communicating, storing information, and paying for things are easier than ever before. However, by using these same technological advances, criminals are finding ever more inventive¹ ways to break the law and avoid being caught. This is making law enforcement increasingly challenging.

For criminals, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have provided a new way to send money around the world. Cryptocurrencies are currencies that are produced by public computer networks rather than governments. It is estimated that forty percent of organized crime in Europe now takes place using cryptocurrencies. This includes the buying and selling of illegal goods such as drugs or guns, and payments for illegal services like prostitution and contract killing. Terrorist organizations also use cryptocurrencies, raising funds² via donations or criminal activity. In 2015, one Bitcoin wallet that accumulated $23 million in one month was later found by hackers to belong to the terrorist organization Islamic State.

Cryptocurrencies have several advantages for criminals. First, users can remain anonymous³ because the system which records cryptocurrency transactions, a blockchain, does not require users to leave names, addresses, or bank account numbers. (Though clearly, their anonymity is not always safe from talented online detectives.) Much like money in a bank, cryptocurrencies are held by an impartial⁴ third party, but cryptocurrencies are even more secure. Traditional banks are obliged⁵ to work closely with government agencies, so the detection of illegal payments is quick and efficient. Historically, without a reliable way to exchange money, criminals often tricked each other by using fake⁶ banknotes. Obviously, in these situations, no criminal could contact the police, so cryptocurrencies have given criminals a new sense of security.

Furthermore, criminals trade cryptocurrencies via the dark web, a huge hidden area of the internet not accessible through normal browsers. Specialized⁷ software allows criminals access to the dark web and makes their identities even harder to trace⁸. Interestingly, this software was originally developed by the US government during the 1990s so that spies could communicate in secret.

Other technologically advanced crimes affect ordinary people more often. Malware, short for malicious software, refers to programs used to gain illegal access to systems and networks. Malware is created by programmers⁹ who aim to steal money or information through cyberattacks. It usually finds its way into our laptops via emails or infected websites. Malware takes many forms: Keyloggers record everything we type, allowing criminals to identify passwords and personal data. Ransomware locks accounts or takes personal information and demands money to reopen the account or return the information. Meanwhile, phishing malware sends messages to trick people into sharing information or money.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) estimates that altogether, malware costs the economy as much as $3.5 billion a year. Sophisticated malware can even be used to access the private networks of governments, as during the 2016 US presidential election when it was suggested that Russian hackers tried to interfere with the voting process by accessing voting databases.

Government agencies like the FBI are constantly working to trace hidden cryptocurrency transactions and cyberattacks. In 2019, the bureau increased spending on fighting cybercrime by $70.5 million. In truth, criminals always leave "digital footprints"; it is just a case of having the right knowledge and equipment to find them. This means that organizations like the FBI need to hire the very best tech experts and developers. However, since the world's top IT companies can afford to pay far higher salaries, the best tech minds are more likely to join Google than the FBI. To address their skill deficiency, the FBI has introduced incentives¹⁰. They pay for the best young tech graduates to complete a master's course at Carnegie Mellon University. In exchange, they must work for the FBI for at least three years. This kind of program looks likely to become more common as governments struggle to keep up with the pace of technological change, and with the criminals who take advantage of it.

• commit cyberattacks
• pace of change
• gaining illegal access
• talented programmers
• used anonymously
• sense of security

• interestingly
• deficiency
• enforcement
• accumulate
• detection
• goods

Silk Road

In 2011, a new online marketplace, Silk Road, was launched. As with sites like eBay, Silk Road allowed sellers to advertise goods and buyers anywhere on Earth to purchase them—a simple, successful model. The major difference was that seventy percent of the goods for sale on the site were illegal drugs, and users could also buy fake IDs and tax-free cigarettes. Transactions took place using Bitcoin, which meant buyers and sellers could remain anonymous.

Silk Road was only accessible via the dark web, but even so, by 2013, it claimed to be selling $1.3 million worth of illegal goods every week. The FBI had spent two years using the latest technology to try and shut the site down, but with no success-all they really knew was that the site was run by a mysterious figure, Dread Pirate Roberts.

However, a young agent with the US federal tax agency, Gary Alford, began investigating in his spare time. Alford used simple Google searches and filters to find content about how to sell drugs online. In an old posting on a chat forum about Bitcoin, he found that one user had shared his or her email address: rossulbricht@gmail.com.

Agent Alford found that this user was logging in from San Francisco. He took the information to senior agents, but they ignored it; surely, it couldn't be that easy. However, further investigation found more links between Silk Road and the Californian city, so the FBI moved in. They followed Ross Ulbricht to a public library, and while one agent distracted him, another grabbed his laptop. He was logged into Silk Road as Dread Pirate Roberts.

Ulbricht, a 28-year-old master's graduate of Penn State University, was found guilty of computer hacking and drug trafficking. He was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of release.