Introduction
Hacking is a notorious activity carried out by individuals with broad knowledge of computers. Through hacking, these individuals affect the economic status of many countries in the world by accessing the documents of the bank clients and transferring money to their accounts. The impacts of hacking are global currently, in that, many companies in the inclusion of academic institutions, production, entity, and managerial agencies feel the impacts of this unlawful act. The act of hacking is synonymous with a virus due to its hardness in detection; however, various measures have been put in place by the U.S. government to help eradicate hacking cases.
FBI’s investigative techniques
The investigative technique used by the (Federal Bureau of Investigation) FBI although illegal, helped them acquaint the passwords and usernames of Ivanov and Gorshkov, both Russian citizens, which they used to access their accounts. The information gained from the Russians’ mails worked as evidence against their malicious acts leading to their imprisonment. In ruling the cases of the two Russians, the FBI was able to link the hacking acts of the two Russians with the money frauds caused in the U.S. companies and the majority of banks. The FBIs were also able to recover many credit cards used by the two individuals in stealing from innocent citizens of the U.S. (Hancock & Rittinghouse, 2003).
Gorshkov, apart from serving a three-year jail term in the U.S., paid $692, 000 as reimbursement for the inconvenience he had caused the economy of the U.S government. On the other hand, Ivanov having been found guilty of hacking more than 16 companies in the U.S., served a four-year jail term with an additional $800,000 as compensation for the inconvenience he had also caused the American people and America as a nation. Although the case of Ivanov was over, the U.S. courts currently use it to uphold the methods used by the FBIs currently in taking hold of proof of computer users remotely without an arrest warrant.
FBIs act and international laws
In prosecuting the two Russians, the U.S government had implemented the Universal jurisdiction law that grants punishment to the lawbreaker regardless of the country. The two Russians had committed the hacking crimes out of their country, and it was, therefore, the responsibility of the U.S government to sue them against their crimes. The crimes of the two Russians can be linked to the international law that disregards crimes against humanity; this is because they fringed other people’s accounts without their knowledge, creating a misunderstanding, fear, and mistrust of U.S. banks among U.S citizens. (Hancock & Rittinghouse, 2003).
However, the FBIs went against international law by coaxing the two Russians into America and then apprehending them without an arrest warrant from Russia. On the other hand, the FBIs method of coaxing the two Russians has some relation to human trafficking, for it involved tricks then later arrest, an act spelled by the International Law as illegal.
International Law includes privacy as one of the aspects of human rights, and violation of it is breaking a rule. However, the FBIs violated this law by accessing the accounts of the two Russians and downloading their documents without their permission.
As per the International Law, the FBIs deprived the two Russians of their liberty by subjecting them to uninformed arrest, in doing so, the FBIs went against the procedure concerning the arrest. Although the FBIs thought their method of collection of information about the two Russians was the best, they breached the International Law concerning the country’s data privacy. This is because; they would have sort permission from the Russian government before accessing the documents of its citizens. (Hancock & Rittinghouse2003).
FBIs act with current U.S. cyber laws
Cyber laws in the U.S apply to many areas that use computers, including privacy, intellectual property, authority issues, and access to information. U.S Cyberlaw disregards the downloading of an individual’s information without authorization, however; the FBIs indulged in downloading the information of the two Russians without seeking permission from them.
U.S Cyberlaw also advocates for individual privacy, a law which the FBIs breached intentionally by accessing, reading, and downloading the information about the two Russians without their knowledge. (Westby, 2004).
U.S government currently imposes authority law to monitor transactions carried out through the internet to minimize theft cases, a method that had been used by the FBIs trapping the Russian hackers.
Current U.S law considers copyright infringement as a crime; this is because it involves illegal downloading of information from an individual’s website. In download the information about the two Russians, the FBIs boycotted this law; they had no authority of downloading files from the two individuals’ webpage. (Westby, 2004).
Examples of cases in which U.S. law enforcement targeted non-U.S. citizens
Shadow Crew is one of the organizations in the U.S that was known for hacking, its gang members were involved in taking credit card numbers of U.S citizens and transacting their money without their consent. The Shadow Crew gangs also had managed to hack many companies’ accounts unrecognized and steal their accounts data. In addition to making fake identity cards, the Shadow Crew gangs had made also credible fishing e-mails that they used in carrying out transactions. (Winter, 2011).
However, the secret service officials managed to capture one of the gang members through their launched operation on the firewall; the captive assisted them in accessing the webpage of the gangs and later captured the rest of the gang members.
U.S. law enforcement targeting non-U.S. citizens
In the year 2010, FBIs culminated 10 non-U.S citizens involved in bank infringing acts. Among the ten Non-U.S residents, some of them had entered the U.S using forged documents and enrolled in American universities as students, while others had entered America as Russian agents. These Russians were discovered to be indulging in spying on America policies regarding military and internet use via computers and phones to America’s enemies. (Winter, 2011).
In tracking the movements and communications made by the ten non-U.S citizens, the FBIs managed to disclose their plans through reading their mails, disclosing texts embedded on images, and bugging their phones. The FBIs apprehended the ten agents for a brief period, heard their cases, and then deported them to their countries.
In conclusion, the technique used by the FBIs led to the arrest of the Russians who paid reimbursement for the economic imbalance they had caused America. Surprisingly, the arrest of the two seemed to have caused no impact to the Russian criminals, this from the recent criminal cases that involved Russian citizens again. In tracking and solving the cases of the two Russians, the FBIs neglected some of the international rules to meet their goals. Surprisingly, U.S. law enforcement agencies use the same methods used in trapping the two Russians in catching computer wizard criminals.
References
Hancock, B., & Rittinghouse, J. (2003). Cybersecurity Operations Handbook. Kansas City: Digital Press.
Westby, J. (2004). International Guide to Privacy. New York: American Bar Association.
Winter, J. (2011) 16 Suspected ‘Anonymous’ Hackers Arrested in Nationwide Sweep. Web.