Susan W. Brenner’s CyberCrime: Criminal Threats from Cyberspace

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Susan W. Brenner’s Cybercrime: Criminal Threats from Cyberspace is scary, exciting, and informative all in one book. It takes you on rollercoaster from start to finish as your eyes are opened to the realities of cybercrime and cybercriminals’ capabilities as our technologies have progressed. Brenner’s book is an excellent piece for those that are not savvy about technology terminology and cybercrime. Brenner opens by giving an example of the chaos that a cybercriminal can make and the long distance at which this can occur. In Townsend, Massachusetts, a group of eighth graders at Hawthorne Brooke Middle School chatted online to each other in a chat room for Limp Bizkit fans. They spoke not only of the band but also about personal things and school. One day, a new boy appeared in the chat room claiming to be from the same school. This boy, gathering information from the students, was able to chime in on the conversation and blend in. The new boy began to say strange things and claimed that he was a serial rapist and was coming for them and sent them a link to a site with child pornography. After pressing him harder, the boy told them that he was the student who they had been talking about in their chat room. The children started doubting if he was even from the school, and upon telling him this, he threatened to blow up the school. The students finally told their parents after the mysterious person sent pictures of the cross hairs of a rifle scope on the school and an altered picture of the principal to make him look like he had been shot. Police and school officials could not figure out a suspect, and parents and students started becoming suspicious of each other. Parents began keeping their children from school, and some teacher... ... middle of paper ... ...endence on computers and technology. It is important that we, as technology users, know and understand the threat that is upon us and distinguish how to act upon these dangers and protect ourselves. I believe that knowledge is the key for us to be able to defend ourselves when going online, and we must make the appropriate steps to ensure our protection. I recommend Susan W. Brenner’s book, Cybercrime: Criminal Threats from Cyberspace. She uses examples and descriptions of true events to describe her points and topics and make them easier to understand to someone that is not knowledgeable on cybercrime facts. It is very Cybercrime 10 informative and important to anyone that uses computers and goes online to know the threats that exist in cyberspace. Works Cited Brenner, Susan W. (2010). Cybercrime: Criminal Threats from Cyberspace. Santa Barbara: Praeger.

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