Digital crimes and digital terrorism are now on the forefront of criminal activities. In this age of social media old offenders are now committing crimes in new ways and digital crimes have become an extension of their physical counterparts, someone who commits a crime of check fraud now has the ability to access the account electronically and move the funds without being anywhere near a bank. Living in a digital world is becoming more and more normalized increasing the chances for someone to become a victim of a digital terrorism or a digital crime. Many challenges exist for law enforcement agencies when investigating and prosecuting crimes of internet exploitation, obscenity, and cyberstalking such as how does law enforcement collect evidence without destroying what is discovered and following the same legal standards as the physical crimes only with different tools and arenas where the crimes happen.

The threat of digital terrorism is as real as becoming a victim of a physical assault and has the power to cause widespread damage. “Cyber-crime costs global economy about $445 billion each and every year, with the damage to business from the theft of intellectual property exceeding the $160 billion lost to individuals from hacking.” So many devices are connected to the internet for criminals to get access to, society must stay vigilant with their digital life and usage. For many today social media has become a way of life for most, and with the use of so many applications we are sharing lots of personal information which opens us up to cyber criminals. The digital threat has gotten so big that the leaders of the US Federal agencies have become concerned about the entire US digital system. So many devices connected to the internet presents a vulnerability for criminals to get access, so the public must stay vigilant with their digital life and usage.

Discussion

The most frightening thing today is that our government is playing catch up to the criminals in their efforts to protect and secure the critical information infrastructure. With the many task forces working together it is still not enough, disclosure of information between agencies could be important in one and not important in another. Overlapping jurisdictions is one of the many challenges that face law enforcement agencies during investigations into digital crimes such as exploitation, cyber stalking and obscenity. Jurisdiction determines which agency has the authority to prosecute and administer justice, due to the unlimited methods to hide one’s identity criminals can now operate under a cloak of secrecy and often times outside of the United States. Depending on the jurisdiction and the funding there are tools available nowadays to investigate and prosecute digital crimes, computer forensics has come a long way with the development of tools which allow the collection and examination of digital evidence by investigators without tampering with the evidence and avoiding accidentally changing what was collected due to mishandling. Another way to mitigate the lack of shared information or general consensus on information is to perhaps form a standard guideline for how the information is to be shared and perhaps an elected official to oversee the integrity of the task force. Issues of jurisdiction arise since criminals have no boundaries, but law enforcement agencies absolutely do have boundaries. Each state has its own set of laws just as each nation has its own set of laws. As we all understand law enforcement agencies are only authorized to enforce the law within its own jurisdiction and what is illegal in one state or nation may not be illegal in another. The fight against cybercrimes is further hindered by the evidence which is needed to prosecute such a crime.

This evidence being data which is fragile in and of itself and can be easily lost or changed. Collection of this fragile data is made more difficult with the many methods that the criminal can hide the IP address by routing traffic through a host of servers. Forensic scientist working with network experts have the ability to maintain reliable data to be presented before a judge and if necessary to recover any deleted data. Once criminal activity has been identified and categorized as either federal or local, the proper law enforcement agency will handle it accordingly, physicality may be an issue with regards to jurisdiction. Recent laws passed by the federal government regarding certain illegal offenses has forced the cooperation between local law enforcement agencies, and both federal and foreign government agencies to fight cybercrimes. Due to the overlapping jurisdictions cases are often handed off to other agencies where evidence could be tampered with or worst yet the deleted making the evidence inadmissible in any court proceeding.

Is it possible to correct these jurisdictional issues? Possibly as agents begin to work together to share coverage of cybercrimes, cooperation of this nature will allow for more fluid sharing of knowledge and ease of prosecution when all sides are working together. As more global agencies are purposed to work with other countries in the pursuit of prosecution of these cyber criminals having established laws or agreements in place will offer faster resolutions to cybercrimes that cross jurisdiction. Establishing task forces which incorporate multiple law

enforcement agencies present the ability to work with different agencies and have geographical jurisdiction which covers all entities the task force represents.

Working across several agencies also establishes a method for collection of digital evidence which would be valid in other states or countries.

The use of worldwide allies to provide a different perspectives and trainings would be a positive help to familiarize the agencies with different threats and ways these are being handled. WE will have to battle digital crimes in a very different manner than traditional physical crimes. Digital crime will continue to grow as more public life is connected. Although connectivity can be a wonderous thing, having our home appliances and cars connected online only provides more opportunities for our personal data to be stolen or manipulated by digital criminals. As digital crimes keep growing so should how law enforcement combats these crimes

Conclusion

To conclude the threat of digital crime and terrorism has become a very real and positively frightening. It serves the people to have law enforcement agencies whose officers can work with officers from different states or countries, guaranteeing that process is maintained from beginning to end in the prosecution of those who commit cybercrimes. Working together would offer endless resources and tools to fulfil the mission. As new technology comes to bear, so to must our methods to pursue, capture and prosecute cyber criminals, the protection of the public continues to grow, and our law enforcement agencies need to catch up to become a stronger force against cyber criminals and terrorism.

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Taylor, R. W., Fritsch, E. J., & Liederbach, J. (2015). Digital Crime and Digital Terrorism. Third Edition. Pearson, Inc.

Snow, G. (2011, April 12). Cyber Security Responding to the Threat of Cyber Crime and Terrorism. Retrieved from FBI: https://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/cybersecurity-responding-to-the-threat-of-cyber-crime-and-terrorism