In December 2020 Italian police arrested two people who had been employed at Leonardo, one of the leaders in Aerospace, Defence, and Security. They were suspected of hacking the Italian defense group’s computers to steal confidential information between 2015-2017.
Later that month Interpol disclosed that authorities have arrested a total of over 20,000 people in
the past year because of online and telephone fraudsters. In September 2019 was established the
operation called “First Light” where 35 countries participated. As a result, there were 21,549
arrests and almost $154 million of “illicit funds” taken over.
At the end of November, an Indian citizen was convicted of 20 years in prison by a US District judge in
Texas. The defendant regulated and funded Indian-based call centers that robbed US victims of
millions of dollars from 2013 to 2016. He had to pay restitution of $8,970,396.
Within the same month, Haryana Police busted 11 members of two cybercrime gangs in Sirsa for
defrauding a huge number of people using online companies, such as Amazon, PayZapp, and Dhani.
The above news is only an example of many others that took place in the last quarter.
In this article, I would like to present an important role of a very interesting occupation such as
Cybercrime Investigator.
This occupation is for detailed oriented people that like analyzing problems but are also open-minded
and communicative.
The job is a fusion of computing and law enforcement. A Cybercrime Investigator makes crime
investigations but from the digital side. There are a lot of various areas of specialization in this profession
but the job is mainly focused on collecting evidence from digital systems that can be used in the
prosecution of cyberspace and internet criminal actions. The role of CI is crucial in investigating
cyber-attacks by criminals or terrorists. Cybercriminals are becoming more and more dangerous,
advanced, and common in the private and public sectors. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, the damage
Cybercrime is estimated to cost up to $6 trillion annually by
2021.
So how to save the world and be a Cybercrime Investigator?
As a CI, you can work as a freelancer providing service to enterprises or law enforcement or as an employee in an organization such as Europol or FBI.
First of all, you need to have proper education and experience. A bachelor’s degree in criminal
justice or cybersecurity is usually required to be able to apply for a position of cybercrime
investigator. It’s good to have several years of experience in the cybersecurity team. You need to learn
how cybercriminals will act in various situations. Certifications that could help you are Certified
Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP),
What’s more, you need to become widely read. Read everything in the cybercrime Investigation domain,
for example, “International Journal of Cyber Criminology” or “International Journal of Cybersecurity
Intelligence and Cybercrime”.
To sum up, the role of a Cybercrime Investigator is a less known but extremely important and fascinating
role that requires continuous professional development, responsibility, and commitment. It’s vital to
elaborate on the topic as it will become more and more needed in the coming years.