Crime Prevention – Impact Lab

Crime Prevention, Science & Technology News

Cybercrime To Cost Over $10 Trillion Annually By 2025

February 24, 2021

According to a report published by Cybersecurity Ventures, global cybercrime costs will grow by 15% per year over the next five years, reaching US$10.5 trillion annually by 2025, up from a ‘mere’ US$3 trillion in 2015.

This prediction is part of a special report conducted by Cybersecurity Ventures and sponsored by INTRUSION, Inc.

This incredible figure represents the greatest transfer of economic wealth in history, risks the incentives for innovation and investment, is exponentially larger than the damage inflicted from natural disasters in a year, and will be more profitable to the criminals behind it than the global trade in all major illegal drugs combined.

“Cybercrime costs include damage and destruction of data, stolen money, lost productivity, theft of intellectual property, theft of personal and financial data, embezzlement, fraud, post-attack disruption to the normal course of business, forensic investigation, restoration and deletion of hacked data and systems, and reputational harm,” says one business analyst.

AI, Crime Prevention, government, privacy, Science & Technology News

Artificial intelligence will surveil and study released prisoners to “reduce recidivism”

August 29, 2020

A group of researchers is launching a new artificial intelligence led study that will collect data from recently released prisoners.

Artificial intelligence applications are popping up everywhere these days, from our Internet browsing to smart homes and self-driving cars. Now a group of researchers is launching a new AI-led study that will collect data from recently released prisoners. The ultimate goal of the project is to identify – and, ostensibly, one day eliminate – the psychological and physiological triggers that cause recidivism among parolees.

Researchers at Purdue University Polytechnic Institute plan to monitor volunteer parolees using a panoply of AI-powered tools and methods, including smartphones and biometric wearable bracelets. These gadgets will record and analyze a variety of data, such as the ex-prisoners’ biological information (heart rate), photos, and location meta-data.

According to project-leads Marcus Rogers and Umit Karabiyik, the resulting data will assist them in conducting a forensic psychological analysis. While the monitoring will be gauged in intervals – not real-time – they believe it will help build a profile of the risky behaviors and stressful triggers that recent parolees face when returning to the outside world.

Citing a Department of Justice study, the researchers say over 80 percent of prisoners released from state prisons get arrested in their first 9 years and a plurality of those prisoners get arrested in less than a year.

Continue reading… “Artificial intelligence will surveil and study released prisoners to “reduce recidivism””

Crime Prevention, Engineering, Great New Product, Science & Technology News

Proteus becomes the world’s first manufactured non-cuttable material

July 30, 2020

That’s as far as an angle grinder made it through this Proteus non-cuttable bar

Researchers from the UK’s Durham University and Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute claim they’ve come up with the world’s first manufactured non-cuttable material, just 15 percent the density of steel, which they say could make for indestructible bike locks and lightweight armor.

The material, named Proteus, uses ceramic spheres in a cellular aluminum structure to foil angle grinders, drills and the like by creating destructive vibrations that blunt any cutting tools used against it. The researchers took inspiration from the tough, cellular skin of grapefruit and the hard, fracture-resistant aragonite shells of molluscs in their creation of the Proteus design.

Continue reading… “Proteus becomes the world’s first manufactured non-cuttable material”

Crime Prevention, Google, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News, security

Google Maps may soon highlight well-lit streets for walkers

December 8, 2019

New Lighting layer could make walking at night safer.

Google Maps is great for getting directions while driving and using public transport, but in the last year it has been rolling out more features focused on traveling by foot as well. Recently, the company introduced AR walking directions and detailed spoken walking directions for people with vision impairments. In the future, Google may be adding a new feature to help people find safer streets to walk at night.

According to XDA Developers, an Android development community whose members have analyzed the Android APK to look for unreleased features, there are indications of a new Lighting layer in Google Maps. This layer would indicate which streets are brightly lit by street lights by showing a yellow highlight.

Continue reading… “Google Maps may soon highlight well-lit streets for walkers”

Computer Security, Crime, Crime Prevention, Science & Technology News

Cybercrime booms as scammers hack human nature to steal billions

November 24, 2019

Cyberscams are getting more sophisticated.

The secret to comedy, according to the old joke, is timing. The same is true of cybercrime.

Mark learned this the hard way in 2017. He runs a real estate company in Seattle and asked us not to include his last name because of the possible repercussions for his business.

“The idea that someone was effectively able to dupe you … is embarrassing,” he says. “We’re still kind of scratching our head over how it happened.”

It started when someone hacked into his email conversation with a business partner. But the hackers didn’t take over the email accounts. Instead, they lurked, monitoring the conversation and waiting for an opportunity.

Continue reading… “Cybercrime booms as scammers hack human nature to steal billions”

Artificial Intelligence, Crime Prevention, Hot Issues, Law Enforcement, Science & Technology News

San Francisco bans city use of facial recognition technology tools

May 23, 2019

San Francisco bans city use of facial recognition technology tools

Pedestrians walk along Post Street in San Francisco. The city became the first in the United States to ban facial recognition technology by police and city agencies. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Concerned that some new surveillance technologies may be too intrusive, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban the use of facial recognition tools by its police and other municipal departments.

The Board of Supervisors approved the Stop Secret Surveillance ordinance Tuesday, culminating a reexamination of city policy that began with the false arrest of Denise Green in 2014. Green’s Lexus was misidentified as a stolen vehicle by an automated license-plate reader. She was pulled over by police, forced out of the car and onto her knees at gunpoint by six officers. The city spent $500,000 to settle lawsuits linked to her detention.

Continue reading… “San Francisco bans city use of facial recognition technology tools”

China, Crime Prevention, Farms, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News

More tigers now live in cages than in the wild.

May 18, 2019

They’ve been farmed,butchered, sold — commodified.

We joined this man on his obsessive quest to expose the traffickers.

THA BAK, Laos — He was up there somewhere, at the top of the hill, the man Karl Ammann had come to see. It would soon be night. The forest was all shadows and sounds. Ammann had driven across the country to reach this remote river village, and now he was finally here, looking to the top of the hill, ready to confront the person he believed had murdered more tigers than anyone in Laos. In the distance, he could hear them: dozens of tigers roaring.

Continue reading… “More tigers now live in cages than in the wild.”

Big Problems, Crime Prevention, Human Behavior, Science & Technology News

Oxford philosopher’s newest hypothesis predicts the rise of super villains

May 8, 2019

Oxford philosopher and founding director of the Future of Humanity Institute Nick Bostrom‘s latest research paper seems to indicate our species could be on a collision course with a technology-fueled super villain.

Will a deranged lunatic soon have the capabilities to take the entire world hostage? Can our nation’s leaders do anything to stop this inevitable tragedy? Will the caped crusader rescue his sidekick before the Joker’s sinister trap springs?

Continue reading… “Oxford philosopher’s newest hypothesis predicts the rise of super villains”

Crime Prevention, Inventions, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News

German inventors develop bracelet to test drinks for date-rape drugs

April 17, 2019

Inventors in Germany have developed a bracelet aimed at combatting a fear of many clubbers — drink spiking.

Kim Eisenmann and Sven Häuser’s “Xantus” bracelet only needs a drop of liquid to be applied to tell if it contains traces of “date rape drugs” — substances put in a person’s drink to incapacitate them.

The band, which is already available at German healthcare shop dm-drogerie markt, is white and resembles the ribbon used to enter many clubs.

It has two green circles that turn blue if the wearer applies some of their drink and the result is positive for the drugs.

Continue reading… “German inventors develop bracelet to test drinks for date-rape drugs”

Banking, Crime Prevention, Law Enforcement

US Secret Service is probing how crooks use smart credit cards for fraud

January 18, 2019

Credit card thieves have been using Fuze Cards, according to a Secret Service memo.

Credit card thieves have been taking advantage of smart card technologies to avoid getting caught, according to Krebs on Security. The US Secret Service offices in New York and St. Louis have apparently been working on a criminal investigation involving fraud rings using Fuze Cards to store stolen card data. Fuze Cards allow you to store up to 30 credit card details, and you can switch between them using the small screen on the front. It makes the data of the card you want to use available to merchants via a magnetic stripe and an embedded chip. You can also use them to withdraw money from ATMs.

Continue reading… “US Secret Service is probing how crooks use smart credit cards for fraud”

Crime Prevention, Employment, Hackers

This is the industry to enter if you want to basically be guaranteed a job

January 18, 2019

“If you are ambitious, if you’re thoughtful, if you understand yourself, and how to grow yourself, and how to learn, you will be wanted and needed, and you will find yourself progressing in the field,” an expert says.

When companies such as Marriott International, Yahoo! and Equifax experience a data breach, the consequences are huge for customers whose personal information has been accessed by criminals or enemy states. And so it’s no surprise that major players in the private and public sector are boning up their cybersecurity to avoid such PR and real-life disasters.

Continue reading… “This is the industry to enter if you want to basically be guaranteed a job”

China, Crime Prevention, government

Singapore wants to add face-recognition surveillance to 110,000 lamp posts

November 25, 2018

Singapore may be turning its island state into a surveillance state.

The nation plans to install cameras equipped with facial recognition technology to all 110,000 lamp posts around the city, making it easier than ever for the country to keep tabs on its citizens and visitors, Reuters reports. The so-called “Lamppost-as-a-Platform” pilot project will allow the government to “perform crowd analytics” and support anti-terror operations through “various kinds of sensors on the lampposts, including cameras that can support backend facial recognition capabilities,” according to a government spokesperson who spoke to Reuters.

Continue reading… “Singapore wants to add face-recognition surveillance to 110,000 lamp posts”