Michael Wilson

Social media (SM) platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (now ‘X’) have become primary sources of crime news information for many, with SM being used by both news organisations and police agencies as a means of information dissemination. As such, the sentiment of comments made on SM posts can provide a useful snapshot of attitudes about crime and justice. The present study examines whether sentiment on crime and policing-related posts differs between information sources. A sentiment analysis of comments made in response to crime and policing-related posts on Facebook and Twitter (X) from January to May 2022 was conducted. Sentiment scores of comments made on Australian news publishers’ posts were compared with comments made on the Western Australian Police Force’s posts. Overall, comments made on news posts were negative in sentiment whilst comments made on police posts were positive. This finding was true for all crime-related posts, as well as across subcategories of violent crime, non-violent crime and policing-focused comments. The distinct differences in sentiment expressed between the two information sources highlight how news and police audiences respond differently to crime and policing-related content on SM. Such differences in sentiment between the two groups pose implications for how SM users perceive issues of crime, justice and police legitimacy. Further research may examine other state police SM pages as sentiment is likely to differ across jurisdictions and socio-cultural contexts.

The emerging benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices have been observed within the industries. This development has introduced several issues, including increased vulnerability to potential cyberattacks and digital forensics. Forensic investigations associated with IoT need to be examined in a forensically sound manner using a standard framework. However, adopting the current traditional digital forensics tools introduces various challenges, such as identifying all IoT devices and users at the crime scene. A forensic analysis must preserve the “chain of custody” by maintaining a complete record of the evidence from the point of seizure or interception until it is tendered in court. This paper examines the suitability of a blockchain-based solution for IoT forensics for implementing tamper-resistant data storage, ensuring data integrity and immutability. Therefore, in this paper, we aim to propose a permissioned blockchain integration solution for the IoT forensics (PBCIS-IoTF) framework. Our proposed framework will focus on reviewing permissioned blockchains (Hyperledger Fabric) to enhance the IoT forensics challenges while aiming to address whether the PBCIS-IoTF could be utilised to better enhance the IoT data integrity and authenticity.

Secure Digital Evidence Management Systems (DEMSs) ae crucial for law enforcement agencies, because traditional systems are prone to tampering and unauthorised access. Blockchain technology, particularly private blockchains, offers a solution by providing a centralised and tamper-proof system. This study proposes a private blockchain using Proof of Work (PoW) to securely manage digital evidence. Miners are assigned specific nonce ranges to accelerate the mining process, called collaborative mining, to enhance the scalability challenges in DEMSs. Transaction data includes digital evidence to generate a Non-Fungible Token (NFT). Miners use NFTs to solve the puzzle according to the assigned difficulty level d, so as to generate a hash using SHA-256 and add it to the ledger. Users can verify the integrity and authenticity of records by re-generating the hash and comparing it with the one stored in the ledger. Our results show that the data was verified with 100% precision. The mining time was 2.5s, and the nonce iterations were as high as 80×103 for 𝑑=5 . This approach improves the scalability and integrity of digital evidence management by reducing the overall mining time.

This research presents a novel framework and experimental results that combine zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) with private blockchain technology to safeguard whistleblower privacy while ensuring secure digital evidence submission and verification. For example, whistleblowers involved in corporate fraud cases can submit sensitive financial records anonymously while maintaining the credibility of the evidence. The proposed framework introduces several key innovations, including a private blockchain implementation utilising proof-of-work (PoW) consensus to ensure immutable storage and thorough scrutiny of submitted evidence, with mining difficulty dynamically aligned to the sensitivity of the data. It also features an adaptive difficulty mechanism that automatically adjusts computational requirements based on the sensitivity of the evidence, providing tailored protection levels. In addition, a unique two-phase validation process is incorporated, which generates a digital signature from the evidence alongside random challenges, significantly improving security and authenticity. The integration of ZKPs enables iterative hash-based verification between parties (Prover and Verifier) while maintaining the complete privacy of the source data. This research investigates the whistleblower’s niche in traditional digital evidence management systems (DEMSs), prioritising privacy without compromising evidence integrity. Experimental results demonstrate the framework’s effectiveness in preserving anonymity while assuring the authenticity of the evidence, making it useful for judicial systems and organisations handling sensitive disclosures. This paper signifies notable progress in secure whistleblowing systems, offering a way to juggle transparency with informant confidentiality.

The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has facilitated the exchange of information among individuals and devices. This development has introduced several challenges, including increased vulnerability to potential cyberattacks and digital forensics. IoT forensic investigations need to be managed in a forensically sound manner using a standard framework. However, adopting traditional digital forensics tools introduces various challenges, such as identifying all IoT devices and users at the crime scene. Therefore, collecting evidence from these devices is a major problem. This paper proposes a permissioned blockchain integration solution for IoT forensics (PBCIS-IoTF) that aims to observe data transactions within the blockchain. The PBCIS-IoTF framework designs and tests Hyperledger blockchains simulated with a Raspberry Pi device and chaincode to address the challenges of IoT forensics. This blockchain is deployed using multiple nodes within the network to avoid a single point of failure. The authenticity and integrity of the acquired evidence are analysed by comparing the SHA-256 hash metadata in the blockchain of all peers within the network. We further integrate webpage access with the blockchain to capture the forensics data from the user’s IoT devices. This allows law enforcement and a court of law to access forensic evidence directly and ensures its authenticity and integrity. PBCIS-IoTF shows high authenticity and integrity across all peers within the network.

Over the past decade, the Five Eyes Intelligence community has argued cryptosystems with end-to-end encryption (E2EE) are disrupting the acquisition and analysis of digital evidence. They have labelled this phenomenon the ‘problem of going dark’. Consequently, several jurisdictions have passed ‘responsible encryption’ laws that limit access to E2EE. Based upon a rhetorical analysis (Cunningham in Understanding rhetoric: a guide to critical reading and argumentation, BrownWalker Press, Boca Raton, 2018) of official statements about ‘going dark’, it is argued there is a need for a domain-specific principle of cryptographic justice to reorient the debate away from competing technocratic claims about the necessity, proportionality, and accountability of digital surveillance programs. This article therefore specifies a principle of cryptographic justice by adapting more general norms of information justice to decision-making about encryption law and policy. The resulting principle is that encryption laws and policies should be designed to empower the comparatively powerless to protect themselves from domination (i.e., morally arbitrary forms of surveillance). It is argued this principle can reorient decision-making about encryption law and policy towards consideration of how cryptography impacts systems-level power dynamics within information societies.

The rapid growth in the availability of information and communications technologies has also expanded opportunities to commit cybercrime. Law enforcement officers are often the first responders to such incidents. Internationally, research has revealed how police preparedness to respond to cybercrime is mediated by organizational policies and procedures, as well as characteristics such as education, gender, and previous training for cybercrime investigations. However, there has been limited research in an Australian context examining police preparedness to respond to cybercrime. As such, this article examines the preparedness of Australian police personnel to respond to cybercrime incidents drawing on surveys with two state-wide police agencies (n = 422). Here, we examine the prevalence of cybercrime training across both agencies, levels of individual and organizational confidence about responding to cybercrime incidents, and their views about enhancing responses to cybercrime. The results suggest only half of the surveyed personnel have received some cybercrime-related training, with significantly less reporting specific instruction about how to receive and direct incident reports and manage digital crime scenes. Further, while personnel are modestly confident in their individual capabilities to respond to cybercrime incidents, they lack comparative confidence in their organizations and yearn for more resourcing and professional development. Implications for police resourcing, training, and practices are discussed.

This paper examines children’s privacy and the Internet of Things (IoT). After describing the operation of IoTs directly marketed to and for children, we outline research concerning the surveillance of children and issues associated with children’s right to privacy, including the role of parents or guardians in protecting their children’s right to privacy. We then present the findings of a survey of Australian IoT consumers and non-consumers (n = 1,052), which shows parents and guardians who purchase IoTs care about their children’s privacy and are concerned about practices of corporate surveillance. Finally, our data show that female parents or guardians have lower rates of privacy literacy than males. Analysed through the lens of data justice (), we argue the protection of children’s privacy rights must be understood with regard to broader structural factors, such as gender discrimination and digital housekeeping, and ultimately requires addressing corporate practices that characterise the contemporary surveillance landscape.

Advancements in information technology are sources of both opportunity and vulnerability for citizens. Previous research indicates that there are significant challenges for police in investigating cybercrime, that community expectations about police responses are based largely on media representations, and that victims experience high levels of frustration and stigmatisation. This paper examines the views of the Australian community and law enforcement officers about the policing of cybercrime. Results suggest that police personnel are more likely to view cybercrime as serious, and community members are more likely to ascribe blame to victims. Results also indicate a discrepancy between police and community members in their views of the efficacy of police responses. These discrepancies contribute to public dissatisfaction. Therefore, the paper covers some general strategies for short-and long-term cybercrime prevention.

The ethical issues raised by cybersecurity practices and technologies are of critical importance. However, there is disagreement about what is the best ethical framework for understanding those issues. In this paper we seek to address this shortcoming through the introduction of a principlist ethical framework for cybersecurity that builds on existing work in adjacent fields of applied ethics, bioethics, and AI ethics. By redeploying the AI4People framework, we develop a domain-relevant specification of five ethical principles in cybersecurity: beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, justice, and explicability. We then illustrate the advantages of this principlist framework by examining the ethical issues raised by four common cybersecurity contexts: penetration testing, distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS), ransomware, and system administration. These case analyses demonstrate the utility of this principlist framework as a basis for understanding cybersecurity ethics and for cultivating the ethical expertise and ethical sensitivity of cybersecurity professionals and other stakeholders.