From: Eurasia Review
By Benjamin Mattern
Along with the opportunities brought by the proliferation of the personal computer and societal penetration of the Internet across the world, came the enormous increase of cyber crime – a global evil that impacted an estimated 556 million victims in 2012. [1] Cyber crime has most commonly manifested itself in Latin America and the Caribbean through computer hacking techniques such as malware, phishing, and denial of service (DoS) attacks. [2] According to a study on cybercrime by the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry, phishing alone affects about 2,500 regional banks and accounts for $93 billion USD in annual losses. [3] But not all cyber crimes are economically motivated. Hacktivism, a term combining hacking and political activism, has become extremely popular in recent years, largely because of the global organization Anonymous. Their establishment as a hacktivist group came in 2008 when they launched “Project Chanology,” a protest movement that digitally attacked the Church of Scientology for “us[ing] Internet censorship to spread misinformation about their practices.” [4] Known worldwide for their symbolic use of the Guy Fawkes mask, Anonymous strives to promote public awareness of social issues, and takes action towards the realization of societal justice and equality. Since 2008, Anonymous has taken responsibility for hundreds of minor hacks worldwide, and dozens of high profile social-protest cyber operations. [5] Yet, despite the possible positive implications of hacktivism, it is still a large part of the growing cybercrime problem in Latin America.
Malicious economic cybercrime has become a serious issue for many Latin American governments. Because Internet and smart phone usage is growing faster in Latin America than anywhere else, with increasing connectivity rates of 1,111 percent and 1,480 percent in South and Central America respectively, risks to citizens are now that much greater. [6] This is because these new commodities have “enabled and extended the reach of gangs, cartels and organized criminals.” [7] These criminal organizations, among other online criminals, use computer hacking and other digital strategies to steal money in order to fund their operations.
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