Article Reviews

Article Review #1: Bugs in Our Pockets: Understanding Smartphone Security Vulnerabilities
Joseph Sierra
Old Dominion University
CYSE 201S
11 February 2024
Introduction
In this article review I will go over the research that was done about the vulnerability’s
smartphones could potentially bring to an organization, the research questions that were
presented, how this relates to the social science principles, and the data analysis that the
researchers have gathered.
Relevance to social sciences
This topic relates to social sciences through cyber security as its to try and understand human
behavior, the decisions that are made through the awareness and behaviors of the workers and
hackers, and how an organization responds to the technological risks that come from many
different sources including smartphones. Due to the world of cybersecurity always evolving in
how security gets breached and how to prevent a breach it goes to show to importance and the
impact that training can have for an organization.
Research Questions
The research questions that were brought up in the article were targeted towards the
importance having good knowledge and security for the weak points and risk a smartphone
could bring to organizations. For example, is if whether CSS can be a safe and effective to
detect crime, the motivations for exploiting the smartphones, what mitigative strategies were
effective, and the user awareness and knowledge for using the smartphones (Abelson et al.,
2024).
Research Methods
The research methods that were used in the article were from the work of many others who
have did research on this topic since its relevance is increasing as technology advances. Some
of the works come from US National Academics of science, Engineering, and Medicine which
goes over the technical approaches to access unencrypted content, the 2019 Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace which shows a set of principles and guides on encryption
policies, and on Paul Rosenzweig’s early analysis on the policy and technological issues that
were raised by CSS (Rosenzweig P., 2020).
Types of Data and Analysis
Some examples of the types of data that are included are perceptual hashing, unencrypted
data, service provider data, and user data (Abelson et al., 2024). The analysis that is used is the
statistical information regarding vulnerability for data and the analysis on the security practices
that different user groups have to protect against organized crime/hackers.
Relation to Marginalized Groups
Marginalized groups can also face adversity as they could be related to someone who is part of
an organization they want to hack or CSS systems can even be reversed engineered and can
be used on clients which are very hard to prevent once it has been done (Abelson et al., 2024).
The information can be used to harass them, blackmail, or even frame individuals to make them
become informers (Abelson et al., 2024).
Overall Contributions to Society
The research done in this article gives good information on the value of knowing the
vulnerabilities not only smartphones could bring but other technology/programs like the CSS
system. It shows the importance of having a secure practice for your technological use. This
also shows the impact that it could have on organizations, small groups, or individuals if they do
not have good cybersecurity measures.
Conclusion
In this article review it shows many crucial factors on how vulnerable smartphones can be, the
risk that some programs can bring even though they may have some pros, the importance of
having training on cybersecurity, and the impacts that could occur if the vulnerabilities are
exploited which all of these are valuable to the advance technological state we are in.
Sources
 Abelson, H., Anderson, R., Bellovin, S. M., Benaloh, J., Blaze, M., Callas, J., Diffie, W.,
Landau, S., Neumann, P. G., Rivest, R. L., Schiller, J. I., Schneier, B., Teague, V., &
Troncoso, C. (2024). Bugs in our pockets: the risks of client-side scanning. Journal of
Cybersecurity, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/cybsec/tyad020
 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Decrypting the Encryption
Debate: A Framework for Decision Makers. Washington, DC: National Academy Press,
2018. https://doi.org/10.17226/25010
 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Moving the encryption policy conversation
forward. 2019. https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/09/10/moving-encryption-policy-
conversation-forward-pub-79573
 Rosenzweig P. The law and policy of client-side scanning. Lawfare. 2020.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/law-and-policy-client-side-scanning
(Rosenzweig P., 2020)
Article Review #1: Understanding the Role of Artificial Intelligence in Cybercrime
Joseph Sierra
Old Dominion University
CYSE 201S
11 February 2024
Introduction
This review goes over the article "Understanding the Role of Artificial Intelligence in
Cybercrime". My review analysis will go over the multiple sides of research done, how this
relates to the social sciences principles, the research questions, research methods, the data
analysis that was done, how this impacts marginalized groups, and the overall societal
contributions that understanding AI in cybercrime will bring.
Relevance to Social Sciences Principles
The article focused on how artificial intelligence (AI) in cybercrime relates with the social
sciences principles because of human behavior, how society handles technological
advancements, and the risk of using AI on illegal acts taken by criminals. It goes into insights
from sociology, criminology, and psychology to understand why cybercriminals are motivated to
take such actions, society impacts that AI attacks have done, and the morality of surrounding AI
development and deployment.
Research Questions or Hypotheses
The article wants to investigate the use, capabilities, and the negative impacts of AI like creating
fake images and videos to commit someone to criminal activities (Parti, n.d.). The research
questions go into how cybercriminals utilize AI techniques in South Korea on cyber victims, the
results of AI attacks in bypassing what was thought to be a good measure of security, and the
potential consequences and impact it can bring to individuals, organizations, and society as a
whole (Stavola & Choi, 2023).
Research Methods
The research method that was used was from multiple sources like Victimization by Deepfake in
the Metaverse: Building A Practical Management Framework which is one of the two papers
that won the 2023 International White Hat Conference and the paper Harnessing Large
Language Models to Simulate Realistic Human Responses to Social Engineering Attacks: A
Case Study (Parti, n.d.).
Types of Data and Analysis
The types of data that was used and analyzed in this article includes algorithms, tools, and the
tactics in cybercrime, with the understanding of cybercriminal behaviors and motivations to do
such acts (Asfour & Murillo, 2023). Analysis that was used to get this information is statistical
examination of attack patterns and trends.
Relation to Marginalized Groups
The use of AI in cybercrime can have a bad impact on the marginalized groups, such as
individuals from low-income backgrounds or minority populations. This is because of the low-
risk that is taken by the criminals, if they were to commit these acts on an organization with
funds it is more likely for them to get caught and punished.
Overall Contributions to Society
The article offers good insights into the evolving technological advancements made by AI-
enabled cybercrime. By taking in AI's adoption, capabilities, and implications it could bring to the
table in cybercrime, the study informs about the cybersecurity strategies that can be taken,
regulatory frameworks that can be used, and how law enforcement should respond to the acts
that are taken. Also, getting a good grasp of the negative impact and the vulnerabilities of
marginalized groups, the article wants for better and more secure cybersecurity approaches that
prioritizes the safety of everyone.
Conclusion
"Understanding the Role of Artificial Intelligence in Cybercrime" gives good insights into the
always evolving AI-driven cyber threats. Taking in the multiple ways of the negative impacts AI
could have, the article shows why we need to understand how cybercriminals get motivated to
do such acts, tactics, and the negative impacts they will create, and to create strategies to
prevent cyber crime being done, detecting the issue before it becomes a problem, and how we
should respond including the law (Asfour & Murillo, 2023).
Sources
 Parti, K. (n.d.). Understanding the use of artificial intelligence in cybercrime. Virtual
Commons - Bridgewater State University. https://vc.bridgew.edu/ijcic/vol6/iss2/1/
 Choi, K., Back, S., & Toro-Alvarez, M.M. (2022). Digital forensics & cyber investigation.
Cognella. Stavola, J., & Choi, K. (2023). Victimization by deepfake in Metaverse:
Building a practical management framework. International Journal of Cybersecurity
Intelligence and Cybercrime, 6(2), 3-20.
 Asfour, M., & Murillo, J. C. (2023). Harnessing large language models to simulate
realistic human responses to social engineering attacks: A case study. International
Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, 6(2), 21-49.