Authorship Analysis in Cybercrime Investigation.PPT

Authorship Analysis in Cybercrime Investigation Rong Zheng, Yi Qin, Zan Huang, Hsinchun Chen Artificial Intelligence Lab University of Arizona Outline Introduction Literature Review Research Questions Experimental Design Results Discussions Conclusions Future Directions Questions Comments Introduction Internet has offered us a much more convenient way to share information across time and place. Cyberspace also opened a new venue for criminal activities. Cyber attacks Distribution of illegal materials in cyberspace Computer-mediated illegal communications within big crime groups or terrorists Cybercrime has become one of the major security issues for the law enforcement community. Cybercrime Definition: Illegal computer-mediated activities that can be conducted through global electronic networks [Thomas, 2000] Problems in cybercrime investigation Data collection Huge amount of online document Rule Forming Difficult to discern illegal document Identity Tracing Difficult to trace identities due to the anonymity of cybercrime The anonymity of cyberspace makes identity tracing a significant problem which hinders investigations. Possible Solution -- Authorship Analysis An author might leave his unique “wordprint” in his writings. Authorship analysis may identify the “wordprint” of the criminals. For forensic purposes, this method has been used in a number of courts in England (the Court of Criminal Appeal), Ireland (the Central Criminal Court), Northern Ireland, and Australia. Authorship Analysis in Cybercrime Investigation A cyber criminal may have “wordprint” hidden in his online messages. For example: Hi, I have several pretty cheap CD to sell. They are all brand new ?, and only $1 for each. Please contact pepter@ if you are interested. In this study, we propose to use the authorship analysis approach to solve the problem of identity tracing in cybercrime investigation. Authorship Analysis Categories: Author identification Author characterization