International Journal on Criminology Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2015 | Page 91

International Journal on Criminology
Ultimately, in the ambient Internet world, we hear nothing regarding crime. Sometimes
we speak of the effects of crime (attacks, intrusions. . .), but never, or almost never, of
flesh-and-blood criminals—who they are and where they really come from. This is a
dramatic omission. For if one thing is obvious, it is the need to start out by naming
that which one wishes to understand, and subsequently deal with. Thus the discreet
power of nomination is a formidable one: “Naming enables us to know. . . Naming
unveils. . . By virtue of exhibiting, names attest to their magisterial sovereignty over
things,” 2 as Martin Heidegger said.
In medicine, for example, failing to name a serious illness condemns the
patient: in strategy, likewise, failing to give a precise name to a threat most often
condemns the victim.
Cybercrime, Cyberterrorism: The Three Big Questions
Is cybercrime more dangerous than terrorism?
Quite recently James Comey, director of the FBI, declared: “The threat is so
dire that cyber security . . . for the second consecutive year, surpass[es] both terrorism
and espionage—even the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction.” 3 Seriously?
Let us understand the FBI director: he lives in a society formatted by, and intoxicated
by, media hype. When speaking to the cream of Silicon Valley, any announcement that
falls short of the first (digital) world war would inevitably trigger yawns of boredom.
Nevertheless, the threat of cybercrime is real. Today, the digital world is like
the Bank of France minus the safety deposit boxes: generally, in most cases hackers
of all stripes need only help themselves. In the past year, hackers were able to gain
access to the systems of an American retail giant and steal almost all the confidential
personal data of seventy million payment cards (those of its entire, massive customer
base)—that is, a third of all cards currently in use in the US. Recently in France we
saw the hijacking of TV5Monde: for a period of hours, the wholesale capture of a huge
television network, its servers and diffusion channels, its accounts on social networks,
and other places—something that was, for France, as huge a “strategic shock” in the
virtual world as last January’s killings (at Charlie Hebdo and Hyper-Cacher) were in
the physical world.
After the TV5 hijack: Is France well-protected?
France lacks any mechanism for the early detection of dangers and threats. All too
often, our official services react to a drama that is already underway, a crime already
3
Translator’s note: James Comey, “The FBI and the Private Sector: Closing the Gap in Cyber-Security,”
address to the RSA Cyber Security Conference, February 26, 2014, accessed October 8, 2015, https://
www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/the-fbi-and-the-private-sector-closing-the-gap-in-cyber-security.
4
Translator’s note : Xavier Raufer, Cyber-criminologie (Paris: CNRS, 2015).
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