# data[].attributes.headline
Silk Road: The Illegal Digital Marketplace

# data[].attributes.subject
Silk Road: The Illegal Digital Marketplace

# data[].attributes.body
Developed in 2011, the Silk Road was a large-scale digital black marketplace commonly utilised for the exchange of illegal goods using cryptocurrency. The mastermind behind the phenomenon, Ross Ulbricht, had recently discovered the use of cryptocurrency payments the year prior, and was determined to ensure anonymity for both vendors and consumers across the platform.

However, in 2013, Ulbricht's goldmine came crashing down after his email address had been leaked to an advertisement posted on the marketplace. Shortly after on 1st October 2013, Ulbricht was arrested and his laptop was seized with an array of evidence. Despite the short lived life of the marketplace, the Silk Road has estimated to generate more than $213 million within the two years. Although the Silk Road was not active for an extended period of time, the operation has served as a criminal blue print for online drug crypto markets for the last 12 years. The formation of the Silk Road revealed to the world a new era of cybercrime and has arguably been a stepping stone for criminals to enhance creativity surrounding online criminal activities, specifically drug markets.

As a result of the cryptocurrency element of the digital market place, the exchange of buying and selling goods is a cyber-dependant crime. This is solely due to the fact that we require digital devices to exchange cryptocurrency (ie;bitcoin).

The anonymity surrounding the Silk Road (and future market places created) has instilled a new wave of challenges on police crackdown and responses. For example, Operation Onymous was formed in 2011 with multiple governing agencies across the world.. The operations primary purpose was to stop the sale, promotion and distribution of illegal materials and was successful in asserting a large amount of findings and convictions.

Despite the operations success, it can be argued that online cryptocurrency criminals will only become more creative with their illegal ventures. As the internet and digital world is constantly evolving, it is not unreasonable to envision criminals creating new digital platforms, new methods of online anonymous transactions and ascertaining proceeds of crime. Ultimately, each set back by law enforcement will only encourage new uses of criminal techniques by the individuals at the top of the chain. It is arguable that law enforcement and special operational units will constantly need to be 'one step ahead' of the next era or 'trend' of illegal digital crypto currency markets. This concept paves a difficult path for future digital crimes as there is no consistent 'consequence' or 'justice' brought to the victims as there is no precedents due to the ever changing nature of the crime.

# data[].attributes.headline
She didn't exist: The Monti Te'o Catfishing Case

# data[].attributes.subject
She didn't exist: The Monti Te'o Catfishing Case

# data[].attributes.body
Romantic fraud, also know as catfishing, is the act of an individual hiding behind a false identity online to benefit themselves in typically, a monetary or sexual manner. Prevalent catfishing is found amongst dating sites or intimate adult websites as they are less likely to be detected and requests/comments would not be considered out of the ordinary as opposed to other online platforms.

In 2013, well-known and respected footballer player Manti Te'o, revealed to the public that girlfriend, Lennay Kukua had suddenly passed away. Despite her death being broadcasted across social media and multiple news outlets, it was discovered that there was no death notices or obituaries published for the women. After further investigation, it was brought to light that Lennay was not a real person, however, it was Naya Tuiasosopo behind the hoax. Naya reports having gender confusion issues and soon after the news was brought to light, she came out as transgender.

The story of Te'o had made history across the internet as people were in disbelief that any individual regardless of social class, popularity or wealth was able to be a victim of this crime. Furthermore, it is arguable that the case confirmed the seriousness of catfishing and how far offenders are willing to go to reach their forfilments.

As a result of the influx of catifshing and realisation that it can occur to any individual regardless of social status, multiple responses have been created to assist in the prevention of catfishing. For example, IDCARE website was designed to assist with the misuse of identity information present to fellow internet users. The organisation aims effectively respond to and mitigate crimes surrounding online identity theft specifically in Australia and New Zealand. The use of the orgnasation focusing on one geographic location can arguably assist them to better there finds and results as they identify common trends, behaviours or scams occurning in the same area. This can further provide IDCARE to provide the community with current and relevant resources outlining what to look out for online.

The Cybersmile Foundation has published a practical online guide to inform the general public of what to look out for if you believe you may be a victim of catfishing. Alongside this resource, there are multiple online resources ,guidelines and courses for individuals to utilise to avoid being a victim of catfishing.

Despite the multiple resources and guidelines available, it can be argued that it ultimately the individuals responsibility to educate themselves and be aware of potential fraudulent scams online. Due to the nature of the crime, and the use of identity theft, VPNs and other anonymity devices used online, it can be incredibly difficult for police to locate perpetrators. Furthermore, the influx of catfishing and identity crimes can partly be a result of this. If criminals are aware of the fact there is little to no chance of them being discovered, it essentially motivates them to want to regularly commit the crime.

# data[].attributes.headline
2014 Hack: The Distribution of Non-Consensual Celebrity Images

# data[].attributes.subject
2014 Hack: The Distribution of Non-Consensual Celebrity Images

# data[].attributes.body
The sharing of non-consensual intimate images is generally initiated by a control or intimidation motive over the victim. An intimate image is best described as a photo revealing genetalia, breast or a private activity. On 31 August 2014, a series of nearly 500 private, intimate pictures of various celebrity women were posted to 4chan, which slowly found them to other larger platforms such as Reddit.

The offending allegedly took place as a result of an illegal iCloud storage hack using a fake email address appearing to be Apple. Despite the offenders being brought to justice and a large majority of the photos erased from the internet, it is merely impossible to track who still has screenshots and saved albums of these images today.

Although not formally labelled as networked misogyny, it is arguable that the findings of Henry and Flynn's (2019) study is relevant to this case. The volume of images and speed of which the images was spread across multiple platforms shows that there is a large demand for non-consensual images and there is unfortunately an audience who is preying on this kind of material. Secondly, it can be argued that the objective of this crime was for sexual gratification. As the offenders were not known to the victims, there is no real connection for "revenge" or "control". Lastly, a majority of online platforms are designed for heterosexual male pleasure. Ultimately, when the offenders released these images (specifically of women) who had status, there was an extremely minimal chance they would not be viral and made public. As previously mentioned, if there is a demand, the image will fluctuate across the net.

The Australian Government is actively creating new resources and responses for women who have fallen victim of this abuse. The eSafetywomen website provides a safe online space for women to educate themselves on the matter and receive support/resources should they be victims of their non-consensual images being published.

The Summary Offences Act (Vic) 1996 also provides a strong legal framework for the crimes regarding the distribution of non-consensual images. However, despite the denounciation shown by the government and strict laws regarding the offence, laws are only as effective as they can be enforced. In reality, it is difficult to prove who first shared an image or where it came from. Much like other digital crimes, it has become incredibly easy for offenders to mask their identity to gain and distribute personal information and sensitive images. It is arguable that we may never be able to stop such elements of digital crimes for this primary reason.

# data[].attributes.headline
You got doxxed: The new era of leaking personal information

# data[].attributes.subject
You got doxxed: The new era of leaking personal information

# data[].attributes.body
Doxxing is a new terms used for private documents or "docs" released to the public with the individuals consent. Doxxers typically use addresses, phone number and emails to distribute online in the hopes of intimidating the victim and that an avenue is provided for people to harass this individual.

In 2021, Lucy, a regular Australian teenager had mistakenly fallen victim to this crime. One Sunday morning, Lucy had woken to threats of physical and sexual violence, graphic images and other disturbing media. Lucy's mother could not understand why her daughter was being harassed online by random individuals. It was later found that Lucy's identity had been mistaken for another person online who had previously made racist comments. As a result, hackers obtained Lucy's personal information overnight which quickly spread across the Asia and America.

Despite the information being removed, it is impossible to track every user on the internet who came to contact with this information and has stored it for their own personal use. As mentioned in Harkin (2018), cybercrime units are not yet equipped with the resources to track all elements of the new wave of digital crime. Unfortunately, due to the increased speed of development of cyber identity crimes (such as doxing), it has made it near impossible for police to engage in new training in resources to help bring justice to victims such as Lucy.

Despite it's relatively new development, unlike other cyber crimes, limited resources and guidelines are available to the public on what to be aware of regarding sharing personal information online.

A new issue now arises as there will be a continuation on influx of this crime and the general public do not have the resources (or individuals) to refer to and seek help if they are found in a situation similar to Lucy's.

# data[].attributes.body
Swatting is the act of an individual making a fake police report to have an array of government officials arrive to another individuals premises armed with ammunition.

The act is a cyber-enabled crime that is highlight illegal due to the element of deceiving emergency services.

In 2018, Andrew Finch was marked as swatting first fatality.

Finch had passed away from not being able to breathe after realising police were at his home with loaded ammunition. This was an inncent life that was lost due to emergency services being deceived by individuals.

In Australia, contacting the local police station is the most effective method to report swatting and seeking assistance.

It is also recommended to document all events for future legal matters.