Michael J Bradley
Dr. Leigh Armistead
CYSE201S
Article Review
“Exploring the Subculture of Ideologically Motivated Cyber-Attackers”
Holt, Thomas et al.” Exploring the Subculture of Ideologically Motivated Cyber-Attackers.” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, vol. 33, no. 3, 2017, pp. 212-223. Academic Search Complete, doi: 10.1177/1043986217699100. Accessed 01 October 2022
In the scholarly journal article “Exploring the Subculture of Ideologically Motivated Cyber-Attackers” Thomas Holt, and Joshua Freilich of Michigan State University, and Steven Chermak of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, conduct a qualitative analysis of 10 interviews with ideological motivated Turkish computer hackers. The article was published in the journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice and was targeted towards scholars concerned with the possible effects of extremist’s ideologies on cyber-attacks. This study was designed to address the empirical gap between cyber-attackers and the factors that affect their behavior.
The article first addresses the social aspects of the standard hacking community without regard to their ideological motivations. The initial focus is based on individual skill, group dynamics as well as ethical designation within the group itself. White, Black and Grey hat hacker designation is used to differentiate between the ethical standards of the individual hackers. By establishing the standard hacking community, Holt et al, can set a control group based on the current empirical research on said community. With the control in place the article then lays out how the interviews were conducted; how accurate translations were obtained and what qualified the individuals to be interviewed. Once the Ethos of the Hackers is established a review of their responses is contrasted against the control group.
The article illustrated many of the aspects of “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”. With respect to the initial focus on the standard community the progression through the pyramid of needs is rather linear and predictable; however, once the Ideologues are contrasted against the standard community a few deviations appear. Where Basic and Psychological needs were consistent across the groups the Self-fulfillment needs deviated from the self, with respect to the control, and the group, with respect to the ideologues. The ideologues put the emphasis of their actions and how they measured their success wholly onto how that success advanced their ideology. While the standard group had varying motivations and goals, their foci remained the self.
Throughout history and around the world, minority groups have always faced unique challenges. This is reflected within the article through the concentrated attacks the Turkish Hackers made against France for passing a bill recognizing the Armenian genocide. Not only were the minority Armenian’s killed in mass; now even their history is actively being suppressed by the majority Ideologues. Their contributions to the country, their culture and even their history has either been erased or appropriated by the majority. When reflected against the backdrop of foreign actors attempting to enforce their ideology on other nations, the insidiousness of the cyber threat to marginalized groups is made even more clear.
Overall, the speaker communicates clearly and concisely to convey his point. Though the body of the work was technical in nature, it was direct and efficient in delivering its information. The subject of cybersecurity as it pertains to Ideological Cyber-Attacks is a complex subject. As it evolves so too will the technologies that combat its associated threats and, with better understanding of the social factors that motivate extremists, those technologies will be even further refined.