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In the United States, the Internet Crime Complaint Center serves as a critical part of the FBI's efforts to combat cybercrime. The center's website provides educational resources to help individuals and businesses protect themselves from cyber threats and also allows them to report their victimization by filing complaints related to internet crime. The Internet Crime Complaint Center also publishes annual reports summarizing the current state of internet crime, trends and notable cases.
However, the information and resources, including the reporting form, posted on the center's website are only available in English. This excludes a substantial number of internet users and victims of cybercrime: people with limited English proficiency. In addition to leaving out many people who are more vulnerable to cyber threats, one consequence is that the Internet Crime Complaint Center's annual Internet Crime Reports are incomplete and inaccurate.
The lack of information and resources about cybersecurity and internet safety in languages other than English on the Internet Crime Complaint Center website further widens the "security gap," a gap that has emerged between those who can manage and mitigate potential cybersecurity threats and those who cannot. . Because there is no appropriate reporting mechanism and structure for people with limited English proficiency to report their victimization, data and statistics on cyber victimization within this population are severely limited.
Cybercrime and prevention
I am a criminologist. My colleagues and I conducted focus groups with a sample of adult Internet users with limited English proficiency to examine their experiences with nine forms of cybercrime and explore their knowledge of cybersecurity. The research will be published in an upcoming issue of the International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime.
We recruited 18 Spanish- and six Vietnamese-speaking Internet users for the study based on evidence that individuals with limited English proficiency in the US tend to be Latino or Asian, and that among Asian ethnic groups, Vietnamese Americans are the least proficient in the English.
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We asked participants if they had encountered any of the following in the past 12 months:
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They received a phishing email, a deceptive message intended to trick them into disclosing sensitive information such as login credentials, personal details or financial information.
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Their computer was infected with a computer virus.
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They faced online harassment; for example, a message from someone who has threatened, insulted or harassed them.
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They were victims of online scams; For example, they sent money to a person or organization they came across online and later discovered had misrepresented themselves.
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They received a notification that their financial account had been hacked.
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They received a notification that their email, social media, shopping or other account had been hacked.
Participants in the study encountered all nine types of cybercrime. The most common forms of cybervictimization they experienced were computer viruses, reported by seven participants; phishing emails, reported by six participants; reporting that their financial account had been hacked and that their personal information was at risk, reported by six participants; and reporting that another type of account had been hacked, reported by six participants.
We asked participants if they had taken the following cybersecurity measures in the past 12 months:
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Make sure they have anti-virus, anti-spyware or firewall software installed on their computer and laptop.
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Create strong passwords for their online accounts.
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Use the two-factor authentication procedure.
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Avoid unsecured wireless networks such as free WiFi at airports.
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Avoid websites that aren't protected by Secure Sockets Layer or SSL encryption, which means looking for URLs that start with https instead of http.
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Use a strong password or encryption to secure your home wireless network.
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Use email filters to block suspicious senders and attachments.
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Check email senders and attachments to avoid phishing and online scams.
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Be careful when providing personal information to third parties.
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Take extra measures, such as destroying documents containing personal information, to prevent data theft.
The response options were yes, no and I don't know. In all cases, except for creating strong passwords, more participants reported "no" than "yes," and in all cases the combination of participants reporting "no" and "I don't know" significantly exceeded the number of participants reporting ' Yes."
Closing the security gap
Executive Order 13166, signed in 2000, requires federal agencies to increase access to services for people with limited English proficiency. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memorandum on November 21, 2022 directing the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to share best practices and exchange language access information with other federal agencies.
I believe it is important to close the security gap and obtain accurate data and statistics on cyber victimization. Internet and computer crime is one of the fastest growing security threats in the US
To get a complete and accurate picture of the problem, data and statistics on cybercrime and cybervictimization should include victims who have limited English proficiency as well as those who are proficient in English.
And just as public health and safety campaigns are often available in multiple languages to reach a diverse audience, I believe that all users, regardless of their language skills, should have the knowledge and skills to protect themselves against cybercrime to protect.
This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit organization providing facts and analysis to help you understand our complex world.It was written by: Fawn Ngo, University of South Florida.
Read more: I, Fawn Ngo, received an internal grant, the Creative Scholarship Grant, from my institution, the University of South Florida, to provide gift cards to the focus group participants. To compensate for their time, each participant received a $25 Target gift card. I received no outside funding.
