Solutions to End Scourge of Cybercrimes and Scams

Why the piecemeal approach is failing, and what we need instead   

How many times a day do you get a call on your phone where the caller ID says “unavailable”? How much of the email in your in-box is unrequested, unwanted, and/or downright suspicious?

Each year, Americans lose billions of dollars to online scams and other cybercrimes including ransomware and identity theft. If you’ve ever had your credit card information stolen or compromised, you know how frustrating and time-consuming it can be to restore your identity and security.

The bad guys are having a field day because the government and its myriad bureaucratic agencies are doing next to nothing. Once your personal information (like a social security number, driver’s license, or credit card) is breached, the bad guys have everything they need.

Why are social security numbers and driver’s licenses so vulnerable to cybercrimes? Because these are called “static identification” that can never change. You can’t change your social security number once it’s compromised. Hackers all over the world know this, and are out to compile as much of this critical personal data as they can so they can profit while destroying our financial lives.

In addition to identity theft, we’re faced with a barrage of fraud schemes, including phone scammers targeting the elderly. These scams try to convince people that they owe money and they are in trouble, or that the IRS is after them for a payment, or that their grandchild is in trouble somewhere overseas and needs cash wired immediately.

It sounds like only a fool would fall for these, but we’re dealing with professionals who have devised scams that seem extremely real. It’s the same with cybercrime. Click on the wrong link and they can gain control over your computer.

A partial list of what we’re up against includes:

1. Computer hacking, viruses, and infiltrations. What a pain these are. Once infected, you have to fix this by wiping your computer and reinstalling software and your data.
2. Malicious software is being injected into personal, business, and government computer systems to kidnap the entire system until a ransom is paid. This extortion is euphemistically called ransomware. In addition to individuals, hundreds of the largest companies and even major US government agencies are routinely targeted. Systems that run entire business operations are literally shut down and the release of customers’ personal information is threatened until money is paid as ransom.

   This problem is much bigger than most people know. There are ransomware gangs comprising thousands of English-speaking hackers (young-ish men from the US, UK, etc.) who partner with nefarious professional Russian hackers. These are serious crimes and must be stopped.

3. Political hacking has been alleged in recent campaigns, including for the presidency of the US. Russia and other nefarious countries use considerable computer power and expertise to try to influence election outcomes.

The government is trying to assist with the global ransomware matter for big business and government agencies. However, the threat of cybercrimes on individuals is horrific and frightening to all of us. Any of us could easily be next.

Who the hell do you call when your identity has been stolen? No one knows because there really is no one to call. The police, sheriffs, local and state agencies, and the CIA/FBI don’t want the responsibility. Some local governments are creating laws.

Where is the government to help us with this? They keep passing the buck from the FBI to the states to the local police. It seems clear that no one wants to take on this fight that is growing exponentially. This is unacceptable.

If Americans live in fear because of a real threat of being hurt either physically or financially, the US government is obligated to step in to help.

The US needs a one-stop shop for everything in the cybercrime realm. A new department needs to be established under the direction of both the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. Let’s call it the Cyber Crime Squad (CCS).

Such an agency would have access to the best technologies and individuals to assist with the efforts to stop infiltrations, correct damage, prevent cybercrimes, and catch the perpetrators. In order to be effective, it would need broad powers, including the ability to:

1. Freeze entire computer systems as necessary.
2. Freeze credit that has been hacked.
3. Reverse damage to victims.
4. Issue new social security numbers.
5. Issue new driver’s license numbers.
6. Assist victims to reestablish their new numbers and credit.
7. Infiltrate suspected networks and computers for evidence.
8. Investigate all evidence to determine actual perpetrators.
9. Utilize the US Military to attack foreign hacker pods.
10. Charge domestic and international suspects, including extradition from foreign countries back to the US for trial.
11. Pursue and freeze assets of perpetrators to compensate victims and deter perpetrators.
12. Prosecute criminals, enact severe penalties and get courts to fully participate with fast trials and limited appeals.

We need to recognize we are at war with cybercriminals and other scammers, and act appropriately. We need a full and coordinated government response to attack this problem, and carry the ball completely for victims, be they individuals, businesses, or government.

Can we as a nation come up with a solution that’s so competent, tough, fast and effective that we can end the scourge of cybercrime and other technology-assisted frauds and scams? We can’t just sit around and do nothing, or do nothing effectively, while the situation gets worse. We have to try, and a coordinated national effort is the only solution that’s up to the scale of the problem we face.

Written by Mitch Francis.
Have you read?
Countries with the most gold reserves.
World’s Best Public Relations Agencies (Top PR Firms).
Countries with the highest human freedom.
World’s Safest & Most Dangerous Countries For Travelers.
Longest and Shortest Life Expectancies in the World.