Cybercrimes are becoming more common and more sophisticated as time goes on. Within the recent year, alone times have changed. Due to the COVID-19, Pandemic schools have had to adjust their curriculum to online. Not only are colleges adapting to online schools but so are grade schools, leaving schools vulnerable to more cyberattacks.
On August 24, 2020, a fifth-grade class at McKinley elementary school, located in San Leandro, California (San Francisco Bay Area), held a physical education class through zoom. A hacker was able "Zoom-bomb" the class (hacked into zoom). When he/she first joined the class, he/she opened by using offensive language followed by showing pornography images to the children. However, there was no child pornography involved. It was images of adults. The school district reported this offense to the San Leandro police department. The school is unsure if the hackers are from inside or outside the school (Hegarty, 2020).
There are several violations of the law in this scenario; not only was there hacking involved, but there was also pornography shown to children. With the perpetrator hacking into a computer system, he/she violated 18 U.S.C. § 1030 (5) (A) (ii) –(iii): Fraud and related activity in connection with computers. According to the textbook System Forensics, Investigation, and Response, this law is most frequently used when charging a hacker (Easttom, 2019, & Jarett, Ballie, et al., n.d.). Additionally, the hacker also violated The Electronic Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) 18 U.S.C. § 2511 (1) (d), which states that if one knowingly and willfully intercepts communications while knowing that it is illegal, violates the law (Jarret, Ballie, et al., n.d., & U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, & Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2019). According to the manual prosecuting computer crimes, these violations carry felony charges.
The other violations committed during these crimes are more morally concerning because it involves children seeing explicit material while attending their physical education class. It is fair to say that most everybody knows that it is not only morally wrong to show child pornography, but it is also very illegal. In order to legally view pornography, one must be of the legal age of eighteen. Pornography is readily available on the internet, even though there have been attempts to protect children from viewing it. However, due to constitutional rights such as the First Amendment, fully protecting children has become a challenge (Reynolds, 2019).
Indeed, the hackers committed several crimes alone by hacking into the zoom network during a class. Moreover, they committed more crimes related to children's protection laws. One of the laws that the hacker broke was the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (C.D.A.). The C.D.A. was created to protect children under eighteen from viewing explicit content (Eastoom, 2019). Even though the children did not purposely go into an adult website to see porn, it was not the pornography company's fault. The hacker put the porn on the screen for the children to watch. Therefore, the children were harmed by the content provided by the hacker.
Many laws have been broken in this particular situation. However, from the sounds of its San Leandro School district took proper action with this cybercrime. According to the Child Protection and Sexual Predator Punishment Act of 1998, if an organization finds out that a child has seen pornography on a computer, they must report it to law enforcement (Easttom, 2019). By quickly reporting this crime to the police department it may allow ample time to trace where the hack came from. Cyber forensics analysts should look into the firewalls, database logs, and database engines, hopefully indicating where the hack originated (Easttom, 2019).
Cybercrimes are becoming more sophisticated as time passes. As people become more reliant on the internet and IoT (Internet of Things), the vulnerabilities will increase, and more cybercrimes will become apparent. With COVID-19, people all over the world have become increasingly more reliant on the internet. They are using apps such as GoToMeeting and zoom to continue with daily business while practicing social distancing. Technology can be helpful in many ways; however, we need to protect our children from cybercriminals such as this one.
On August 24, 2020, a fifth-grade class at McKinley elementary school, located in San Leandro, California (San Francisco Bay Area), held a physical education class through zoom. A hacker was able "Zoom-bomb" the class (hacked into zoom). When he/she first joined the class, he/she opened by using offensive language followed by showing pornography images to the children. However, there was no child pornography involved. It was images of adults. The school district reported this offense to the San Leandro police department. The school is unsure if the hackers are from inside or outside the school (Hegarty, 2020).
There are several violations of the law in this scenario; not only was there hacking involved, but there was also pornography shown to children. With the perpetrator hacking into a computer system, he/she violated 18 U.S.C. § 1030 (5) (A) (ii) –(iii): Fraud and related activity in connection with computers. According to the textbook System Forensics, Investigation, and Response, this law is most frequently used when charging a hacker (Easttom, 2019, & Jarett, Ballie, et al., n.d.). Additionally, the hacker also violated The Electronic Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) 18 U.S.C. § 2511 (1) (d), which states that if one knowingly and willfully intercepts communications while knowing that it is illegal, violates the law (Jarret, Ballie, et al., n.d., & U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, & Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2019). According to the manual prosecuting computer crimes, these violations carry felony charges.
The other violations committed during these crimes are more morally concerning because it involves children seeing explicit material while attending their physical education class. It is fair to say that most everybody knows that it is not only morally wrong to show child pornography, but it is also very illegal. In order to legally view pornography, one must be of the legal age of eighteen. Pornography is readily available on the internet, even though there have been attempts to protect children from viewing it. However, due to constitutional rights such as the First Amendment, fully protecting children has become a challenge (Reynolds, 2019).
Indeed, the hackers committed several crimes alone by hacking into the zoom network during a class. Moreover, they committed more crimes related to children's protection laws. One of the laws that the hacker broke was the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (C.D.A.). The C.D.A. was created to protect children under eighteen from viewing explicit content (Eastoom, 2019). Even though the children did not purposely go into an adult website to see porn, it was not the pornography company's fault. The hacker put the porn on the screen for the children to watch. Therefore, the children were harmed by the content provided by the hacker.
Many laws have been broken in this particular situation. However, from the sounds of its San Leandro School district took proper action with this cybercrime. According to the Child Protection and Sexual Predator Punishment Act of 1998, if an organization finds out that a child has seen pornography on a computer, they must report it to law enforcement (Easttom, 2019). By quickly reporting this crime to the police department it may allow ample time to trace where the hack came from. Cyber forensics analysts should look into the firewalls, database logs, and database engines, hopefully indicating where the hack originated (Easttom, 2019).
Cybercrimes are becoming more sophisticated as time passes. As people become more reliant on the internet and IoT (Internet of Things), the vulnerabilities will increase, and more cybercrimes will become apparent. With COVID-19, people all over the world have become increasingly more reliant on the internet. They are using apps such as GoToMeeting and zoom to continue with daily business while practicing social distancing. Technology can be helpful in many ways; however, we need to protect our children from cybercriminals such as this one.
References:
Easttom, C. (2019). System forensics, investigation, and response (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Hegarty, P. (2020, August 27). San Leandro fifth-graders Zoom-bombed with pornographic images. Retrieved September 04, 2020, from https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/08/27/hacker-targets-online-class-in-san-leandro-with-pornography/
Jarrett, H. M., Bailie, M. W., OLE Litigation Series, Hagen, E., & Eltringham, S. (n.d.). Prosecuting Computer Crimes [Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section Criminal Division]. Washington, DC.
Reynolds, G. W. (2019). Ethics in information technology. Boston, MA: Cengage.
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, & Bureau of Justice Assistance. (2019, April 23). Justice information Sharing. Retrieved September 04, 2020, from https://it.ojp.gov/PrivacyLiberty/authorities/statutes/1285
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