{"id":7216,"date":"2017-04-03T10:30:48","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T18:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/04\/03\/news-1007\/"},"modified":"2017-04-03T10:30:48","modified_gmt":"2017-04-03T18:30:48","slug":"news-1007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/04\/03\/news-1007\/","title":{"rendered":"Project launches to find out if there is truly a link between cybercrime and autism"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Credit to Author: Darlene Storm| Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2017 08:57:00 -0700<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is there really a link between autism and cybercrime? A project launched today intends to find out.<\/p>\n

When President Donald Trump proclaimed<\/a> April 2 to be World Autism Awareness Day<\/a> \u2013 actually it was the ninth annual such day \u2013 he cited CDC estimations that \u201cAutism spectrum disorders affect an estimated one out of every 68 children in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seems Hollywood is trying to show how common autism is; Billy, the blue ranger, in Power Rangers<\/em>, and Sesame Street<\/em>\u2019s Muppet Julia are recent characters with autism<\/a> spectrum disorder which are not portrayed as Rain Man<\/em>-like savants.<\/p>\n

In the real world, there is a growing belief that \u201cneurodiversity, including autism, can be a competitive advantage for software testing and quality assurance (QA) teams.\u201d 75 percent of employees at ULTRA Testing are on the autism spectrum as it believes that leveraging neurodiversity can be a competitive advantage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you follow cybercrime news, then you\u2019ve heard of people charged with cybercrimes claiming to have Asperger\u2019s syndrome<\/a>. Yet the link between cybercrime and people with autistic-like personality traits is unproven. Today, a new project was launched to determine if there is a correlation between autism and cybercrime.<\/p>\n

Project to find out if there really is a link between cybercrime and autism<\/strong><\/p>\n

The University of Bath\u2019s Center for Applied Autism Research, in conjunction with the charity Research Autism and the cybercrime division of the National Crime Agency launched a new study<\/a> to investigate if there is any truth to the link between autistic traits and cybercrime.<\/p>\n

Research Autism previously explained<\/a>:<\/p>\n

There is a growing perception among law enforcement agencies that a significant number of those being arrested in connection with cybercrime may be on the autism spectrum. This is an area that has received much attention in the media but little in the way of systematic research.<\/p>\n

The project will cover \u201call aspects of cybercrime \u2013 which could involve coding and malware, as well as activities carried out over the \u2018dark web\u2019 where some of the real challenges lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers are interested in \u201cpure<\/a>\u201d cybercrimes that \u201ccan only be committed using a computer, computer networks or other forms of information communications technology (ICT). This is different from \u2018cyber-enabled crimes\u2019 (such as fraud) which can be conducted on or offline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some cyber-dependent crime examples given include hacking \u2013 gaining authorized access to a computer network; \u201cpranking\u201d defined as \u201cmaking, supplying or obtaining malware (viruses, spyware, botnets, Remote Access Trojans);\u201d and \u201cbooting\u201d such as by launching DDoS attacks in an attempt to overwhelm an online service with internet traffic to make it unavailable.<\/p>\n

The research team specifically wants to understand the motivating factors that may \u201cinfluence people to conduct cybercrime. It is thought that the challenge and sense of accomplishment that might come with cybercrime could be a motivating factor for certain people, and there is a growing concern that this might outweigh the consequences in some people\u2019s minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough our project, we will explore whether autistic traits are actually associated with computer-related abilities and cybercrime,\u201d said Professor Mark Brosnan. \u201cWhatever the conclusion, our findings will have important implications for better understanding why people do \u2013 and indeed do not \u2013 engage in cybercrime.\u201d<\/p>\n

The research will include interviewing people who have been convicted of cybercrimes as well as people served with \u201ccease and desist\u201d orders.<\/p>\n

Additionally, there will be a large-scale survey of the general public. (Visit the survey information page at your own risk as it triggered a block due to malware according to Malwarebytes.)<\/p>\n

If you take your chances and look at information about the survey<\/a> meant for people age 14 or more anyway, it says there will first be four questionnaires that look at computer skills, general abilities, an understanding of everyday situations and traits of autism. Next, there will be a short online interview seeking to learn if you have ever committed an online crime or were asked to do so. Allegedly, no one other than the research team will be able to identify participants who will be anonymized and known only as a number. The data gathered will be stored for a whopping 10 years.<\/p>\n

The results of the study will be used to help understand \u201cthe profile of cybercriminals and the possible intervention points;\u201d the data will be fed into NCA\u2019s Prevent (pdf<\/a>) counter-terrorism program. Richard Jones, Head of the NCA\u2019s National Cybercrime Unit Prevent team, added, \u201cWe are very pleased to be associated with this project that will have international implications.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not setting out to prove there is a link between cybercrime and autism,\u201d said Richard Mills of Research Autism. \u201cThere is already a connection between autism and cybercrime in the public\u2019s mind, but our research will identify whether there is any truth in the association with autistic traits.\u201d<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.computerworld.com\/category\/security\/index.rss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Credit to Author: Darlene Storm| Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2017 08:57:00 -0700<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Is there really a link between autism and cybercrime? A project launched today intends to find out.<\/p>\n

When President Donald Trump proclaimed<\/a> April 2 to be World Autism Awareness Day<\/a> \u2013 actually it was the ninth annual such day \u2013 he cited CDC estimations that \u201cAutism spectrum disorders affect an estimated one out of every 68 children in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seems Hollywood is trying to show how common autism is; Billy, the blue ranger, in Power Rangers<\/em>, and Sesame Street<\/em>\u2019s Muppet Julia are recent characters with autism<\/a> spectrum disorder which are not portrayed as Rain Man<\/em>-like savants.<\/p>\n

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[11062,10643],"tags":[11072,714],"class_list":["post-7216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computerworld","category-independent","tag-cybercrime-hacking","tag-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7216\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}