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Natalia Akhtyrskaja, Ph.D.
The organized crime in sphere
of information technologies
Organizational features of
disclosing and investigation of the crimes prepared and made by criminal
groups, as well as investigation of illegal penal acts of separate persons, are
defined, first of all, by the contents of criminal acts.
At the same time, fulfillment
of group crimes, their organization, stability have an
influence on process of criminal case investigation, and in some cases become
the dominating factor in criminal actions disclosing and investigation. For
example, the organization of the armed gangs by several persons with the
purpose of an attack on state or other enterprises, establishments, the
organizations or on separate citizens, and participation in such gangs and
attacks forms independent structure of a crime - gangsterism - and demands the
special tactics of investigation.
Sources of criminal groups'
concept are connected to a criminal - legal category of criminal complicity,
i.e. deliberate joint participation of two or more persons in commission of a
crime.
The judicial statistics
testifies that group crimes are enough widespread form of criminal activity.
The majority of such crimes are committed in the form of simple accompliceship,
and only 3 % - with division of their participants to functional attributes.
For a designation of concept
"accompliceship" the criminal law uses various terms: « group of
persons », « a criminal grouping », "gang", etc. The General for all
these concepts is privity of several persons to the crimes. It is the major
attribute of the organized criminal groups. The quantity of accomplices in such
groups changes from two till many hundreds.
Criminal groups, in view of
features of their occurrence and the organization, are divided into four types:
casual; companies; organized; the criminal organizations or communities.
Casual groups will consist of
the persons united for a crime commission without preliminary criminal collusion, situationally. As a rule, in these cases
accomplices unite the familiar people related by a residence, study, job,
leisure, interests for usual dialogue, and participate in a crime with feeling
of solidarity, under influence of momentary impulses. Such criminal groups
perpetrate hooligan actions, disabling, destruction or damage of property and
other similar acts which are not demanding preliminary planning and the harmonious organization.
Criminal groups such as the
companies, more often created from
casual groups, are more rallied and have already settled structure with the
expressed antisocial orientation. Criminal activity starts to take the
important place in their life though also has no precise plans. The
psychological and functional structure of group continues to develop. In the
company usually there is no leader, but there is a supervising center, which
consists of the most active and authoritative members.
The organized criminal group is the steady criminal community having stable structure. Inside group there is a special discipline and the norms of behavior, antisocial valuable orientation dominates. Infringers of rules quite often are exposed to prosecutions and even punishments.
All activity of the organized
criminal group is directed on a perpetration of a crime for reception of the
criminal income. In process of formation of such antisocial communities,
severity of perpetrated crimes increases.
Structurally organized
criminal group is headed by the leader, the head to whom the most active,
authoritative members of criminal community and rank-and-file members conducted
by them adjoin.
In process of stabilization of
the organized criminal group, so-called oppositionist, who aspires to the
statement of the leading position, can appear and consequently he becomes a
contender of the leader.
In such groups division of
their members on functional applicability is widely distributed. One
participate in preparation of crimes, carrying out a reconnaissance, developing
the plan («the brain center»), working as suppliers on purchase of the weapon and crime instruments,
others directly perpetrate crimes, the third provide transportation, storage
and realization of the got values.
In some organized groups
relations between their members have a latent character. Redistribution of
incomes occurs according to a position in a criminal community, and special
monetary funds are created for maintenance of community’s activity. Leaders of these criminal associations manage such
funds.
Among different criminal
groupings the most dangerous ones are criminal organizations or communities. In
essence, these are also organized criminal groups but with higher degree of
cohesiveness. They differ by branching, order
of criminal activity, accountability and stability.
Criminal communities commit
the most serious crimes and can exist for a long time since they consist of
separate blocks or parts. It implies that disclosure of one or several criminal
groups that included in a criminal organization does not result in its
liquidation.
Blocks or parts of criminal
communities have a relative autonomy, they are headed by the leaders, and thus
rank-and-file members do not know all system and features of the organization
of criminal association.
The criminal community is
headed by the strong leader. As a rule it is the person, subordinated to itself
the heads of blocks and parts. There are strict norms of behavior and the rigid
discipline supported by threat of inevitable punishment of infringers and
persons, leaving of obedience. For maintenance of successful criminal activity
in the criminal organizations the special groups are created. They engaged in
counterprospecting job, protection of the revealed participants of community,
legal covering of crimes' accomplices.
Quantitatively criminal
communities can expand to large criminal formations (for example so-called
"corporation SCN" disclosed in Kharkov,
Ukraine). Presence of various kinds of criminal groups shows that we have
active process of qualitative transformation of the underworld with an
establishment of relations with the international criminal and official
enterprise activities.
Especially it is necessary to
note professional crime. Criminal professionalism is a parameter of criminal
skills and also shows the role of criminal activity in a criminal communities’
life.
Special criminal knowledge,
skills (i.e. the qualification) are necessary for transformation of criminal
activity into a professional work. The acquisition of this "skill" is
connected to transfer of criminal knowledge to junior criminals by more skilled
criminals, during original training. Sometimes criminal training has particular character and results in development of experts in any
one field of criminal activity.
Forensic - investigatory
practice and criminal statistics allow to define three basic directions of
criminal activity of such groups. These are mercenary-violent or general crimes; economic crimes and politized crimes. So, at first, the Russian legislation made
answerable the American special services. Russian center of public
relations informed about initiating of
criminal case against the agent of FBI the Michael Shuler. The agent is accused
of the non-authorized access to the computer information. This story is
connected to scandal with the Russian programmers Vasily Gorshkov and Aleksey
Ivanov from Chelyabinsk. They have been arrested in the USA on November, 10,
2000. They are incriminated a penetration into payment system Pay Pal (Russian
hackers have got 56 thousand numbers of credit cards from this system), and
also the breaking of the famous system Western Union in September, 2001.
Besides the Chelyabinsk hackers cracked systems of American companies'
protection and blackmailed their head.
As a result they paid money to hackers, and sometimes employed them as
security advisers. FBI has founded
false firm Invita for arrest criminals.
Russians were offered to arrive in the USA and to crack protection system with
a guarantee of payment for such services. All keystrokes were fixed by the
special program. So experts of FBI could get the remote access to hackers'
computers located in Chelyabinsk, and could to receive numerous proofs of their
criminal activity.
Ivanov's and Gorshkov's
lawyers tried to prove to court, that accesses to criminals' computers which
are on the territory of foreign state are illegal action. But the court has not
heeded these arguments. The Russian special services joined to case.
Chelyabinsk inspector Igor Tkach initiated criminal case and has directed official
order to the USA Ministry of Justice. If the Russian hackers will condemn on
the basis of the proofs extracted by Americans in the illegal way, it will
mean, that special services of USA could use illegal methods for gathering
information both in Russia, and in
other countries in further.
It is possible to illustrate
the variety of criminal acts of the organized criminal formations by hackers'
actions directed to site of the USA Government in October, 2002. Contents of a
site, with the information about the USA, have been replaced with a set of
obscene words. This act can be considered as a preparatory or educational
hacker course for perpetration of further acts of economic-
or cyberterrorism.
The technique of such crimes'
investigation is characterized by the following features:
- The organization of
investigatory activity at reception of the primary information
- Typification of
investigatory situations
- Definition of the
circumstances subjected to substantiation
- Development of investigation
programs
- The organization of
inspectors' precautionary activity
- Tactics of investigatory and
other actions.
Primary information shares on
two parts in accordance with its sources
1) Information arisen as a
result of the committed crime having attributes of criminal activity of
organized criminal group in the field of computer technologies
2) Information testifying to
criminal lifestyle of the person or group of persons; their former criminal
activity; about relations in the criminal sphere; participation in creation,
storage, selling of the software; antisocial intentions; presence of dirty
money.
There are the most important
factors influencing on character of investigatory situations at the initial
stage of investigation:
- A direction or
"branch" of criminal activity
- The contents of criminal
acts
- Character of the information
on a crime;
- Consequences of a crime;
- Results of previous job on
check of the primary information
- The data confirming a
commission of a crime by organized criminal group, involved computer systems.
The listed factors and their
combinations form the following investigative situations, which are the most
typical for an initial stage of crime investigations:
1. There is an active
preparation of members of the organized criminal group with purchase of
computers, software, involving of experts to a commission of crime.
2. There is a realization of
continuing criminal action by members of criminal groups connected to breaking
of computer information protection.
3. There is a fact of already
finished serious crime committed by criminal group with use of information
technologies.
Hypothetical idea, called
versions, cannot arise groundlessly with reference to judicial-investigatory
activity. The base for their formation is circumstances of a real life and some
factors concerning a crime. The variety and complexity of criminal situations
creates conditions for the solution of the numerous cogitative tasks, some of
them carries not algorithmic, but creative character.
Fragmentary character of the
numerous situations is expressed in separate traces, testimony, material
evidences. At the same time, the complex of the data on a crime is quite often
complicated by staging of crime conditions, falsification of traces, creation
of the false information, not allowing to come to correct conclusions and
assumptions by the analysis of the available information. The break of real
causal-investigatory connections often directs investigation on a false way,
results to loss of the evidentiary information. All listed testifies to complex
cogitative activity of the inspector, the public prosecutor, the judge. It is possible to define the following tasks
in accordance with the rate of difficulties:
1) Problems in detection of
the evidentiary information
2) Tasks according to proofs
and the operative information
3) Tasks in development
versions of a various orientation
4) Problems in realization of
legal decisions.
All listed tasks are connected
among themselves by event of a crime and have the purpose of its disclosing. In
this plan cogitative tasks can be divided into groups: 1) problems-algorithms,
the course of the decision is typical and beforehand known, determined by norm
of the law or remedial procedure; 2) heuristic or creative tasks, arising in connection
with a problem situation and not having beforehand given course of decisions. A
significant part of the cogitative tasks concerning to investigation of
computer crimes, committed by the organized criminal groups, are creative, i.e.
they demand the search of such ways of the decision which fall outside the
limits elementary reasoning. Not always tasks in view can be solved just on the
basis of available initial information.
The cogitative analysis of set
of factors results in formation of versions. Version is the proved assumption
concerning criminal event as a whole or its separate parts. The reference to
classification of any objects, properties, situations promotes more precise
definition of their kinds and their functions. Classifications in various
fields of knowledge have not only theoretical value (finding-out of objects'
characteristics), but also a practical value, allowing to define appointment of
each class, its role in realization of practical activities. Problems of
classification take place in separate sections of criminalistics tactics, namely there is a certain set of
investigatory actions, tactical method, the recommendations directed on
optimization of investigatory activity.
At investigation of crimes in
sphere of computer technologies it is possible to develop some specific
versions, in which theory attempts of classification have been undertaken. One
of authors shared versions into two groups, the general and individual
versions. So, the version is an assumption of a crime in researched event, its
character, elements of the crime, separate circumstances and their value, and
also about guilty persons, forms of fault, motives and the purposes of a crime
[1].
The gradation of versions is
detailed, allowing to distribute those concerning concrete items of definition.
However, other authors do not divide so wide gradation, specifying that the
investigatory version is «the basic, most essential circumstances which form
structure of a crime» [2].
The level of the version is
defined by set of initial data, and limits of set are defined
by a level of data constructed on these initial assumptions. The general set
determining significant number of the data, will concern to the general
version, smaller set - to a level of individual versions. Thus, the first
classification basis is set of the initial data, or volume of concepts. So versions are divided on the general and
individual. The basis for classification of versions is subjects of versions
promotion. They are persons connected to investigation of crimes. As a result versions are divided
on search, investigative, expert, judicial. As for degree of definiteness,
versions are to be divided on typical and concrete [3].
Inherently versions are
retrospective and directed on knowledge of the criminal event having place in
the past. However, the essence of perspective version is an ascertainment of
the criminal and prospective place of his presence, migration, the subsequent
criminal acts (preparation, committing and concealment).
Thus, the analysis of elements
of criminalistics characteristics of cyber
crimes allows to draw a conclusion on a priority of perspective investigative
and operative versions of prognostic character,
concerning such crimes («the typical center»); on spheres of an encroachment
(financial stock exchanges, branch information systems); on a motivated
orientation of encroachment (political, economic, hooligan); on a level of
preparation and tendencies to perfection of "criminal skill»; on a level
of organization, criminal, intellectual,
territorial dynamics and dynamics on spheres. Taking into account the basic prognostic characteristics of the given kind of crimes can
play a main role at development of investigation strategy and in a course of
operational - search activity.
1. A.Vasiljev Base of investigatory tactics M., 1960. page 15.
2. V.Terebilov To a question on investigative versions and planning // Criminalistics on service of
investigation. Ì., 1955. - part 6. - page 109.
3. R.Belkin Course of
criminalistics. - Ò.3. page 372.
