CYBERCOP

Homeland Security - Cyber Security for our Nation's Infrastructure:

Barry Collin, whom I met at CyberTerrorism Seminars sponsored by the University of Illinois, Chicago, several years ago, coined the phrase "Cyber Terrorism" over 15 years ago. Barry spoke at those conferences about where the real and virtual worlds meet, such as where computer networks play pivotal roles in the management and operations of power grids, transportations systems, pipelines, air traffic control systems and the like.

Private industry owns and controls most of our nations critical infrastructure assets and it has become critical that industry and government communicate and work together to defend and protect our nation's critical infrastructure. On the cyber side, Private industry has formed a number of Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISAC's)

The FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) and the U.S. Commerce Department's Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office (CIAO) are two representative governmental organizations directly involved with securing our nations Cyber-Survivability. President Bush signed an executive order in October 2001 establishing the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board which is now under the direction of Richard Clarke and Vice Chairman Howard Schmidt, naming the directors of both the CIAO and NIPC as members of the board's coordinating committee.

The FBI's "InfraGard" initiativeis an information sharing and analysis effort dedicated to increasing the security of United States critical infrastructures. InfraGard serves the interests and combines the knowledge base of a wide range of members from businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other participants.

A number of the members of the above initiatives are also participants on the Cybersop Secure Portal, a Presidential Decision Directive 63 volunteer private sector initiative.The team that developed the Cybercop Secure Portal has its roots in a secure computer mediated communications project created at DARPA (Extranet for Security Professionals). The Cybercop Portal includes representativesfrom federal, state and local law enforcement as well as representatives from many of our nations critical infrastructure industries.

The Cybercop Secure Portal uses 128 bit SSL encryption technology to create an online gated community where law enforcement and INFOSEC professionals can securly communicate and collaborate using a number of briefing, research and messaging tools. The Cybercop Secure Portal links over 1,400 users and contains over 700 files in its libraries with a focus on homeland defense, critical infrastructure protection and cyber-security issues. A FAQ file for the Cybercop Portals located at:

http://www.espgroup.net/cybercop/cyberco p_faq.htm

Public safety professionals and private industry professionals involved in security are welcome to apply for access to the Cybercop Secure Portal.
 

A Cybercop.org led panel provided the first Congressional testimony from law enforcement about protecting our children on the Net (1995).

In July of 1995, Cybercop.org was the first law enforcement panel to testify before Congress about protecting our kids on the Internet (hearing before the US House of Representatives' Science Technology and Basic Science Subcommittees). The Cybercop statement submitted at the hearing included the Cybercop web page, the first Web page to be placed in the Congressional Record.

A statement made by the Cybercop panel before the committee in response to the question of what parents could do to protect their children on the Internet has been repeated many times since: " . . . take Johnny's computer out of the bedroom and place it in the living room." The traditional time-tried concept of parental guidance and supervision *is* one of the solutions. Although parents must not abdicate their parental responsibilities to the government, they *do* need all the help they can get in dealing with stalkers, pedophiles, con artists and other dangerous rifraff that populate the Net alongside uplifting and educational sites like the Smithsonian, Disney, PBS and National Geographic.

Cybercop.org - a private sector initiative for networking and educating Cybercops.

Cybercop's web page went on the Net in 1995. On that web page I stated that one of the reasons that Cybercop.org came into existence was to encourage private sector businesses, foundations, educational institutions and individuals to assist law enforcement in their efforts to train cybercops. Three years later, that vision was echoed in Presidential Decision Directive 63.

One exemplary deploymentof such a private - public sector initiative is the New York Electronic Crimes Task Force (NYECTF) . The NYECTF was specifically mentioned as a national model in the USA Patriot Act, passed following the events of September 11, 2001. The Task Forces being built on the NYECTF model are being deployed across the nation. I urge both law enforcement and the private sector to visit their web page at: http://www.ectaskforce.org

Cybercops (those who police on the electronic frontier) are sworn to serve and protect behind the "thin digital blue line". They are sworn to protect civil and human rights. I frequently remind those in the Info-Industry that cybercops serve and protect the very community that many of those businesses have labored so hard to build and that law enforcement deserves their strong support. It is not unusual for law enforcement to lack many badly needed tools of the Information Age as they carry out their duties, and private industry is in a unique position to partner with law enforcement.

Journalist Vic Sussman summed it up well in his January 23, 1995 US News cover story, "Policing Cyberspace" when he spoke of cybercops with low speed modems being outgunned on this new frontier.

That same US News cover story summed up my involvement in the Cybercop movement:

[Insert US News file]

Cybercop.org has recieved much appreciated support for its networking and education initiatives from a number of sources that I would like to acknowledge: Vic Sussman, cyber-journalist, Bill Tafoya, Police Futurist and Profiler, Howard Schmidt, Vice Chairman, Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, Matt Donlon, former DARPA researcher now The ESP Group (sponsors of the CybercopSecure Portal), Bob Dowling, former Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Security Consultant, Joe Mykytyn, Chief of security, NutecSciences, Ray Humphrey, Bruce Sterling, author (The Hacker Crackdown,The Difference Engine), Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Kim Clancy, US Treasury Department, Jack Wiles, The Training Company, Cypherpunk Dave Del Torto, Metricom (Ricochet), JVC, and many others. . .

Training CyberCops at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center

Professionally, I serve as a senior instructor at the Financial Fraud Institute(FFI) at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). The FFI specializesin training federal, state, local and international law enforcement agents and officers in computer related and white collar crime fighting techniques. Cybercop.org placed the first FLETC materials on the Web in 1995.
The FLETC is a bureau in the Treasury Department, located on the coast of Georgia. Over 70 different federal agencies are trained at the FLETC, with over 20,000 students attending training programs each year. The Cybercop.org web page is in no fashion affiliated with, or supported by, the Treasury Department.

Community Policing on the Electronic Frontier

Cybercop was privileged to participate at the Sixth annual Computers Freedom and Privacy conference at MIT in 1996. We hosted a BOF (Birds of a Feather) session for law enforcement and led a luncheon workshop on Policing Cyberspace.

Cybercop panel member Bruce Sterling once commented that on the Net, cybercops are like "shy woodland creatures". Our panel flushed some of those shy creatures out of the forest and into the public debate. Many Netizens want to know just who these people are and what do they want to do to (and on) the Net? The concept of "virtual community policing" begins with a dialog about law enforcements intentions and interests in the information age.

A fortuitous meeting with cypherpunk Dave Del Torto at the MIT conference, led to a second Cybercop/Cypherpunk panel at CFP97 in San Francisco. That panel included Howard Schmidt, Peter Toren (then DOJ Computer Crime Section), Ray Humphrey (Then director of DEC security), Phil Zimmerman (PGP), John Gilmore, Hugh Daniel, Sameer Parek, Dave Del Torto and Kevin Manson.

The MIT conference was my first CFP. The assembled aggregation of Congresspersons, Federal Judges, hackers, cops, nerds, lawyers and journalists is one of the most improbable I have ever encountered. It was also one of the most enlighteningand fascinating conference I have ever attended. It was like someone poured out all of the heavy duty players from Bruce Sterling's book "The Hacker Crackdown" into a single venue. . . and they actually talked (and more importantly listened) to each other.

My thanks go out to a sympathetic Hal Abelson (who hacked me an EFF awards dinner ticket) and MCI for 'comping' conference tutorial fees for law enforcement. If it were not for these dispensations I would not have been able to attend and enjoy most of the conference.

I've included some pics I took at CFP96 below. Check out Bruce Koball interviewing Steve Mann (formerly of MIT MediaLab Wearcam fame, now at the University of Toronto) or the "Un-arrested and Unindicted" (The un-arrested is the dead-ringer Kevin Mitnick look-alike who was mistakenly arrested at CFP 94). Kevin's separated-at-birthlook alike (Lee Nuesbaum) graciously agreed to have his picture taken with Jim Settle (one of the arrestors) at the CFP96 EFF awards banquet. The "unindicted" is once under investigation Cryptographer Phil Zimmerman, who also joined the cybercop panel. Bruce Sterling, who wrote the Info-Age landmark book, The Hacker Crackdown, is caught refueling before takeoff. . .

As a continuation of the dialogues with the 'digerati' that began at CFP, I was fortunate to be invited by a very good friend, Bill Tafoya, to join him in filling in for Richard Clarke (who had to cancel at the last minute) as co-keynoteat the Summer 2001 Blackhat Conference in Las Vegas. The folks at atrition.org were on hand to act as friendly docents for Bill and I at this fascinating event that is the brainchild of Jeff Moss (DT). I guess that if I had to characterize Blackhat and DEFCON that follows (where Jim Christy invited me to join the "Meet the Fed" panel) it would be like contrasting a University seminar atmosphere to a Cyber-Frat Party. I had a great time at both events, met lots of interesting people and will put some BlackHat/DEFCON pictures up one of these days. Thanks Bill, BK and Jeff for a great time!

http://www.blackhat.com
Blackhat2001 (Las Vegas) Keynote
http://www.blackhat.com/html/bh-usa-01/bh-usa-01-speakers.html

I truly believe that upgrades of Steve's outfit (a mobile multimedia website) will be widely adopted in coming years in industry, the military, education, law enforcement and other disciplines. Yes, that *is* an antenna on his head next to the heads up display and video camera.

I am a big fan of wearable and mobile computing and have been fortunate to be able to showcase several interesting wearable prototypes being developed with suport from DARPA at national conferences. Dick Urban, a legend at DARPA is fond of showing visitors his collection of sci-fi like 'cyber-tools' [link]
 

Professionally, I teach cybercops to obey the law as they enforce it.

Personally, I am aNet traveler and explorer who has called a number of 'places' on the Matrix, like the WELL, home. I'm a converted Mac user and occassional member (usually in arrears) of the InternetSociety and EFF.

In the early 90's I developed the first BBS and pioneered Internet training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), where I serve as a Senior Instructor in the Financial Fraud Institute. FLETC is located 70 miles north of Jacksonville, Florida on the Georgia coast. With my wife and daughter, I enjoy the amenities of a small condo on St Simons Island, 5 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean, with a Corgi dog, a half a dozen cats and, as a "digital good-ol' boy", I am usually surrounded by lots of computers 'up on blocks'.

Bruce Sterling wrote at length about FLETC in " his cyber-classic "The Hacker Crackdown ... Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier" and the Center was featured ina January 23, 1995 cover story in US News & World Report written by then Senior Editor Vic Sussman.

The WELL

If you are not familiar with the eclectic community that resides on the WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link), you owe it to yourself to stroll about a bit on the WELLhome page. The Fine French Hand of Stewart Brand can be found throughout the WELL. Stewart is a Global Business NetworkPrincipal, co-founder of the WELL, and creator of the cultural icon,The Whole Earth Catalog (which both created and captured much of the ambiance and tone of the 60s). Stewart's vision has always reached well over the horizon. His modest comments on his homepage belie his Mega-Standing with Futurists and Net Cognoscenti.

You should also checkout Howard Rheingold's home page for a run down on this small town on the Net from the other co-founder of the WELL.

"The Hacker Crackdown" serves as a paradigm for this Web Site. Since Bruce Sterling mailed me my first issue of WIRED magazine (WIRED'S premier issue), I've been an avid WIRED reader.

Crypto and 'Hacking'cf 'Cracking'

Dorothy Denning, professor of Computer Science at Georgetown, has written extensively on crypto subjects. When Dorothy was with Digital Equipment Corporation she wrote an interesting piece on the need to open a dialog with hackers. Dorothy later mailed me the June 11, 1995 "postscript" to that piece - with a different "take" on the subject. Dorothy maintains a home crypto page at:

http://www.cosc.georgetown.edu/~denning/cr ypto/Crime-and-Crypto.txt (Article on Crime & Crypto on the Information Superhighway)

Public cryptography has become the proverbial "two edged sword" that concurrently serves as a talisman of freedom, anarchy, security, privacy and anonymity. Cryptography has become a defining "boundary issue" separating the hacker, civil libertarian and law enforcement communities. Phil Zimmerman, has become the point man (or lightening rod, depending on one's perspective) of public key cryptography which serves the public citizen and terrorist with equal facility. Phil has given presentations to cybercops at the Federal Law Enforcement TrainingCenter.

Secure transmission of data on the Net is only part of the challenge presented to cybercops as that data becomes a critical vessel for the fuel of both legal and illegal commerce. Digital cash is about to become a reality.

Without robust debate and communications about these issues across virtual and real round tables, the essential element of trust of a community in its agents tasked with preserving safety and security on the Net cannot be effectively created or maintained. To that end I have dedicated this Web site.

I also owe much to a very good friend, mentor, respected police futurist and former FBI agent, Bill Tafoya, founder of Police Futurists International. Bill was instrumental in bringing law enforcement investigations like theUNABOM case to the public's attention and a successful conclusion by placing the FBI's investigation on the Net.

Protecting our Children on the Electronic Frontier

Protecting children from "adult content" and predators on the Internet is one of the most important challenges for our nation and the Net community. Will workable solutions come from the Federal Government via legislative fiat or from empowered families assisted by concerned businesses and community minded organizations such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children?http://www.missingkids.com

The US Customs Cyber Smuggling Center serves as a world-class showcase for Law Enforcement dedicated to protecting our youth online [Link]. We must also make a concerted effort to educate our children about the rewards and dangers asociated with the online world as well as the ethics of computing.

"Cyber911" - Who do you call?

During a break at the Congressional hearings about protecting children in cyberspace, I visited with Surfwatch founder, Ann Duval. She mentioned something during the hearings that surprised me. She said that she had always wondered just whom she could contact if she encountered evidence of serious crime on the Net. I had assumed that individuals who spend a good deal of time on-line *know* who to contact. Since that conversation I have had many others ask me that same question and I have had a number of e-mail inquiries along these same lines.

I know how frustrating or intimidating contacts with a large bureaucracies can be. Following area number of links where those who have been the victims of crime on the Net, or those who encounter evidence of serious crime, can report such matters. Crimes on the Net often involve a number of jurisdictions or agencies.

The FBI http://www.ifccfbi.gov
US Customs http://www.customs.treas.gov/
The Secret Servicehtp://www.ustraes.gov/usss
US Postal Service http://www.usps.gov
Federal Trade Commissionhttp://www.ftc.gov
Securities and Exchange Commission http://www.sec.gov

The Seven Wonders of Cyberspace

The World's Ages have had their wonders catalogued and enshrined in the form of the Seven Wonders of the World. The information age likewise is deserving of a recognition of its own unique set of wonders.

The "Awesome Lists" that have been catalogued by several notable Netizens, such as David Farber, are a good starting point for creating a "Seven Wonders of Cyberspace" site. I am not so presumptous to believe that I am in a unique position to create such a list alone. Rather, I am soliciting nominations for inclusion in such a list.

The site will include two "Seven Wonders" lists. One for Ancient Cyberspace and one for Modern Cyberspace. By ancient, I mean wonders founded in the 'ancient' pre-Internet mysts of cyberspace.

The Seven Wonders of Cyberspace site is intended to catalog events, places (real and virtual), accomplishments, hardware, software and sites that have played a seminaland defining role in the creation, settling and expansion of this 'place' called cyberspace (thanks to William Gibson) which many of us call home.

Only one other criterion: these lists are intended to enshrine positive, constructive wonders (that should be an interesting point to define <G>). For example, I am certainly receptive to nominations regarding the constructive contribitions from the Cypherpunk and Hacking community (as opposed to the 'cracking' community). The Cypherpunk/Cybercop panel that Dave Del Torto and I co-hosted at CFP97 (and some late night BOF'ing) and contacts made at BlackHat and DEFCON definitely gave rise to some interesting possibilities for collaboration on this project!

One of the advantages of assembling a wonders list for cyberspace is that, unlike the traditional Wonders of the World, those of the Information Age are not limited to physical structures or a concept of 'place'. I hope to hear from many fellow Netizens about this project.

As a starting point, I would nominate a candidate 'event' and piece of hardware for the "AncientWonders" list.

The first transcontinental telephone call was placed from a location a few miles from my home on St. Simons Island, Georgia. In January of 1915, on Jekyll Island, Georgia, the first transcontinental telephone call was placed by AT&T President Theodore Vail. The call was placed to Dr. Alexander Graham Bell in NewYork, Thomas Watson, assistant to Dr. Bell in San Francisco and President Wodrow Wilson in Washington, DC.

The photo below was taken of a telephone of the type which "transmitted" the historic call. This early telephone was erected in the Jekyll Island historic district by the Dixie Chapter of the Telephone Pioneers of America in January of 1995. Thanks to my architect friend, and fellow Mac 'Zealot' Harlan Hambright for this image from his Kodak digital camera.

Interestingly, many of the Seven Wonders of the (non-virtual) World can be reconstructed from archaelogical digs. Given the ephemeral nature of much of the Digital world however, it will be interesting to see just how much of the Information Age our descendants will be able to salvage or reconstruct as they begin their digital-digs in the decades and centuries to come.

Bruce Sterling has begun an interesting project on the WELL which touches on this fascinating topic. He has named it the "Dead Media Project".

Thanks for dropping by. While you're here, I hope you'll hit that button at the top of your screen to add us to your bookmark list.

If you know of any sites on the Net which are promoting discussions or communications about the role of law enforcement on the electronic frontier, please let me know. I would very much appreciate hearing any of your comments or suggestions about how the challenges of freedom, privacy and security can best be addressed in a networked world for the benefit and safety of all Netizens.

Thanks. . .

Kevin Manson, mailto:cybercop@espgroup.net

Webmaster

Ubiquitous Disclaimer: of a WELLbeing "I own my own words" The views expressed here are solely my own. Although I communicate and speak regularly with many cybercops,I do not presume to speak *for* them. . . or any organization other than Cybercop.org.

PEOPLE, RESOURCES AND SITES FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN CYBER SECURITY, LAW ENFORCEMENT, CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS:

[Links underconstruction]

Dr. Fred Cohen's All.Net
World Justice Information Network at the National Institute of Justice
Extranet for Security Professionals at Carnegie-Mellon
Dave Del Torto's CIPHR Human Rights web site

• The Training Company (TechnoSecurity Conference)
• New Technologies, Inc. (forensic and security solutions for law enforcement)
• High Technology Crime Investigation Association
• National Infrastructure Protection Center
• FBI
• Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
• "COPNET"
• CecilGreek's Meta-Criminal Justice Page
• Ira Wilskers PoliceMeta-Web Site
• FINCEN(Financial Crimes Enforcement Network)
• Article about Steve Jackson Games - "Digital Lessons Learned" from the "Legal Update" a newsletter from the Legal Division at the Federal law Enforcement Training Center
• International Associationof Computer Investigative Specialists
• Digital Crimes Investigative Network
• High Technology Crimes Investigative Association
• Legislative and Statutory materials on "Thomas" http://thomas.loc.gov(Library of Congress)
• Bruces Sterling's classic" The Hacker Crackdown, Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier"
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Federal Computer Investigative Committee (read about it in The Hacker Crackdown)
• The Internet Society http://www.isoc.org
• Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
• National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Association
• Electronic Privacy Information Center
• Computers Freedom and Privacy Conferences
• International Association of Chiefs of Police
• National Association of Attorneys General
• National District AttorneysAssociation
• Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section DOJ
• National White Collar Crime Center
• SEARCH
• Interpol

For Data Mining on the Net, I recommend the Google

http://www.google.com (Powered by a Linux Beowulf Supercomputer)

Where my attentions are when not educating cybercops:

0 The beauty and charm of of St Simons Island
0 "Hearts of Space "Stephen Hill's Acoustic Architecture on NPR http://www.hos.com
0 Mixed Gas Technical SCUBA diving (IANTD certification number 141 from the late Sheck Exley)

The Cybercop.org domain is hosted through the generous support of The ESP Group, LLC (Extranet Secure Portals). Thanks, Matt Donlon and staff! http://www.espgroup.net

Thanks to Steve McCracken for the cybercop artwork, (C) 1995 Steve McCracken.
 

[Under Construction]