Assignment: Cyber Crime
By: Helene Inselseth
In July 2013, five East-European men were
charged in New Jersey for one of the largest hacking schemes in the history of
the United States. The five men hacked into computers of big international
retail chains and stole more than 160 million credit card numbers. Retail
chains like 7-Eleven and Carrefour was touched by the criminal act and lost
hundreds of millions of dollars.
The East-European men operated in a hacking
organization that penetrated the information system of many large companies. In
the New Jersey case they used “sniffer” programs to steal usernames, passwords
and personal identification information, and further got access to the card
holders´ accounts. Some of the hackers have made several frauds, and the
authorities have been pursuing them for years.
There can be several reasons for these hackers
to commit their crime. I believe they were affected by the disinhibition effect
known as “invisibility” or “you can´t see me”. In many online environments you
can do whatever you like without people knowing, and the power of being hidden
overlaps with concealing your identity and staying anonymous. When the five men
stole the credit card information of millions of credit cards, they didn´t have
to make eye contact with the targets, and they were not physically seen. The
fact that there was no need for physical interaction might be the reason for them
going through with these huge frauds that had such enormous consequences in the
real world.
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