Cyberspace: a solo behind bars, when the superhero was replaced by a common delinquent

At some point in life, any child may want to play a superhero. Experts in criminal profiling say that sometimes the child already sees one in the family, but who does not respond to emotional needs. Therefore, it can happen that this child gets to play the part of the negative character to the rank of art. When this turning point happens, it depends on each case.

For a 20-year-old, what could be more tempting than finding a way to act remotely and earn some money? At that age, when you're not sure what to expect from your life, but you want to keep up with your peers, it might seem like things don't really sound 'illegal', as long as the identity of the perpetrator cannot be easily proven, and is therefore confusing which jurisdiction the crime falls under.

That's how cybercriminals came about. In the last two decades, they've been using a new space without physical boundaries, where being a delinquent created the illusion that one could not be convicted.

In reality, each of them, hidden in virtual space, performs a solo that will bring him or her fame and money in this niche for a while, but which sooner or later will turn into a solo behind bars.

Such a person could have been ANYTHING he or she desired, so many skills were offered. Instead, this will be his or her unique moment. But of course, in the spotlight of the public stage, not just in the hiding of cyberspace.

TALENTED TEEN, IS THIS WHAT YOU'RE DREAMING OF?

For new criminals, appropriate investigators

Perhaps precisely such challenges make the investigators find new and diversified methods to follow the cybercriminals. This is how international cooperation in law enforcement bodies has grown exponentially, while the awareness campaigns have been doubled by concrete measures of pursuit and conviction.

The joint actions have proved that cybercriminals can be caught and extradited. It also means that they always fall under a jurisdiction.

It is true that sometimes it can take even 10 years until a criminal is extradited and many more until he is convicted.

But just as the criminals continue their activity, the investigators do not give up until the target is caught.

A hacker is curious and stands out for his desire to learn. Where is the threshold from ethical to delinquent?

The story behind it can never be fully revealed, for the simple reason that the pieces in such a large puzzle are like the grains of sand on a beach: they depend on the soil, the weather conditions, but also on their own interaction with the environment.

It's like when trusting that one was born with talent, but chooses to become known, for example, as a murderer instead of a surgeon.

Could also be that you were unlucky to study a field whose specialists are not sought after, because every present time has its trend..., therefore it is often about choosing the easy way, instead of struggling to become known, for example, as engineer in mechatronics and robotics.

The threshold from ethical to delinquent is a thin one, so we got used to talk about black, white, and even gray hats when it comes to hacking.

A hacker is curious and stands out for his desire to learn. A hacker carries out a solitary work, being patient, meticulous, and always ready to discover something.

They all want their talent to be recognized, but some of them decide to be in the spotlight for an illegal solo. In most cases, they assume from the beginning that sooner or later, this will be a solo behind bars.

TALENTED TEEN, IS THIS WHAT YOU'RE DREAMING OF?

Some info behind

In the case of hackers, it is most often and perhaps primarily about their EGO. An ego that feels the need to be recognized as a market leader. On the other hand, this could also lead to some dilettante mistakes: this is how Mihai Ionut Paunescu was caught. On July 19, 2022, the Romanian and Lithuanian citizen known as “Virus” was extradited from Columbia to USA for operating “Bulletproof Hosting” service that facilitated the distribution of destructive malware. He had been on the run for 10 years, when after he was caught, he paid the bail and got lost. At that time, it turned out that he had left significant public traces, which clearly indicated his modus operandus in various environments.

That's also how Mitnick, maybe the first superhero of hackers from all around, was caught. In 1995 Mitnick was arrested for stealing computer code from a number of high-tech companies including Sun Microsystems, Nokia, and Motorola Corporation. He pled guilty, and spent almost five years in jail. There is this book left behind him, entitled The Art of Deception, about controlling the human element of security, and describing what the social engineer has to do for taking advantage of people to obtain information with or without the use of technology. The authors are Kevin D. Mitnick himself, William L. Simon, and the foreword is written by Steve Wozniak.

For those of you who want to learn more, an interesting article could be found here: https://christianespinosa.com/blog/6-famous-hackers-that-got-caught/ . I can't skip some lines dedicated to the most famous female hackers: https://techlog360.com/11-worlds-best-female-hackers/

You can also discover the views of real hackers, security experts, journalists, and politicians. For that, I recommend the cybersecurity podcast https://malicious.life/, where you could just read the unknown stories from the history of cybersecurity, attached to every game you can play.

TALENTED TEEN, SING YOUR SOLO... BUT PLEASE, DO IT RIGHT!