Zachary Hrinda
4/10/2022
With the rise of technology and its ease of access. We are in the middle of a new era, and we are struggling to figure out how to keep it going without losing ourselves along the way. Crime has and will always be an issue with any era as well, no doubt about that. But in the past few decades, new forms of crime have been created that have never been implemented and therefore never have had laws surrounding the subject of cybercrimes.
Cybercrime is a new way for criminals to exploit their victims. With it they can steal vital business secrets without anyone noticing. They can play the victim and trick a person into giving them access to their computer which could branch and go several different criminal paths. And what is the punishment for some of these crimes? If state laws are found lacking, the cybercriminal may get a few months in jail for a crime that could cost someone their life’s fortune. Cyber criminals outside of state jurisdiction can sometimes get away with cyberstalking and cyber harassment according to cybercrimejournal.com with only 43% of states having laws when the criminal is outside state lines. Meaning, if someone cyber harassed or stalked an individual from a different state, they may get away with it with no repercussions.
This obviously is not fair, so what are we to do? While the answer is difficult, and many educated individuals go back and forth on that question. I think it would be best to start where almost everyone with internet access has an account and access to, social media. Social media accounts stretch from people in all areas of an economic class. Which means if someone is looking to exploit someone on social media, they have many targets to choose from. An article from DigitalShadows says this about the topic.
You’ve probably heard terms such as “bots,” “zombies,” and “botnets” in recent news stories about data breaches and other cybersecurity risks. These bots are also being sold on cybercriminal platforms to target social media accounts. Unlike traditional botnets that directly infect computers to create networks, social botnets use social media platforms to create a network of fake profiles linked together to spread malicious links and content
So, with these crimes in mind, what is a state body supposed to do with a rising tide of cyber criminals. I believe that the lawmakers need to crack down on these social media companies. If an account gets banned, someone shouldn’t be able to just go and create another account right away. Lawmakers need to push these companies to track down these bot makers, ban and prosecute them from further creating accounts. This is a difficult task which is why some social media platforms choose to ignore the issue. A simple look at the comment section of popular YouTube videos will show what I am talking about.
Bots have been an issue for years and a simple way for lawmakers to address this would be to verify your I.D when creating an account, or in a more accessible way, verify your phone number. in places that social media accounts are banned with that I.D or phone number listed, they should never be able to make another account again (or at least for some time as phone numbers are recycled). If lawmakers can keep social media platforms accountable with this practice, it could reduce cybercrime from affecting the everyday user. And if a social media company does not comply, a one million-dollar fine in a lawsuit against them isn’t going to change their behavior, that is a drop in the ocean for these companies. We need to impose far more penalties on these companies who are already failing keeping their customers safe as is.

References
Digital-Shadows-Security-Engineering-Team. (2021, August 25). How cybercriminals weaponize social media. Digital Shadows. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://www.digitalshadows.com/blog-and-research/how-cybercriminals-weaponize-social-media/
http://www.cybercrimejournal.com/hazelwoodkoonmagninijcc2013vol7issue2.pdf