This document is a broad overview of Digital Crime Problem, as taught by Scott Jacques, at Georgia State University (GSU). It’s part of the Digital Criminology Minor, offered by the Evidence-Based Cybersecurity Research Group (EBCS). The course examines multifaceted issue of digital crime and its control, exploring its forms, causes, and consequences. Students annotate books from MIT Press on Perusall, and gain certificates from the Federal Virtual Training Environment (FedVTE). By doing so, they gain a comprehensive understanding of the digital crime problem, focusing on topics such as cybersecurity, cyber intelligence, reverse engineering, and the role of cryptocurrencies in criminal activities. The course emphasizes Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILTed), especially clear and fair evaluation. The course is structured around open educational resources (OER) and no-cost learning materials to eliminate cost barriers and enhance accessibility for student success and social justice. This document is itself open access with a CC BY 4.0 license. After a brief introduction to the course, the rest of this document presents information on each book, the certification-courses, how we end, and where to go next.
To begin the course, familiarize yourself with this Syllabus (i.e., this document) and follow its instructions. This Syllabus is a general plan for the course, deviations may be necessary. The Appendix is part of this Syllabus. (Last updated August 3, 2024.)
CRJU 3405: DIGITAL CRIME PROBLEM
Department of Criminology, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University
This course examines digital forms of crime and control, including their types, causes, and consequences.
Goals
After finishing this course, you should be able to:
Discuss forms of digital crime.
Discuss forms of digital control.
Build a portfolio of certifications related to the digital crime problem.
Identify issues in the digital domain.
Materials
This course aims to be one big open educational resource (OER): a package of learning materials that are open access: “digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.”1 The goals are to increase, one, student success by removing a cost-barrier to knowledge and, two, the course’s impact by enabling other instructors to use and adapt it. What parts of this course are OER? This Syllabus, the six books that serve as our “readings,” and the FedVTE certificate-courses.
Readings
All of the books are published by MIT Press. To be clear, you do NOT need to buy the books. I already uploaded them in Perusall (see below).2 Here, they’re listed in the order they’re used in this course:
Kaun, Anne, and Fredrik Stiernstedt. 2023. Prison Media.
Platform
I’ve uploaded our readings to Perusall, a platform to “Amplify student engagement, collaboration, and community with the social annotation platform that works with all types of content, including books.” Though it’s not OER per se, it’s free for students and instructors to use. The Appendix has help-resources to get you started with Persuall.
FedVTE Certification-Courses
In addition to books on Perusall, our materials include certification-courses from the Federal Virtual Training Environment (FedVTE). Created by USALearning, it’s a hub for digital learning with free courses on the digital crime problem. To complete FedVTE courses, use a modern browser (e.g., Edge, Chrome) with cookies enabled. This is necessary for FedVTE to track your progress and award your certificates upon completion. Here, they’re listed in the order they’re used in this course:
This course emphasizes reading-and-writing with annotation. You’ll highlight each book’s text to add comments, questions, replies, discussion points, et cetera. Think of Annotation as our “book club.” The positive effects are seen in The Maximum Security Book Club, The Prison Book Club, and The Soul Knows No Bars, for example. By participating in our book club,3 you’ll know more about and better understand crime and control, in particular their digital forms. This’ll generally improve your vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. You’ll become a better (critical) thinker, writer, and communicator. You’ll develop intercultural competence, perspective-taking, and persuasion to better understand human experiences and connections.
This course also emphasizes real-world preparation with certification. You will complete 7 FedVTE courses to earn their corresponding certificates. Think of this activity as throwing one stone to hit two birds: By gaining the certificates, you’ll improve your expertise and resume, opening doors to educational and career paths while earning course-credit.
Assignments
Those activities are performed and evaluated (i.e., graded) as part of two assignment-types:
For each “Annotation,” you’ll focus on a reading, either this Syllabus or one of the 6 books (see Materials). Thus, there’s a total of 7 Annotations. With this assignment, I bring your attention to aspects of the course-topic (digital crime problem) that I want you to know (i.e., the readings’ lessons); but you choose which subaspects to focus on based on your interests (e.g., one chapter- or section-topic vs. another).
For each “Certification,” you’ll focus on a FedVTE course. There’s a total of 7 Certifications, one per Modules 0-6. With this assignment, I incorporate government-trainings on the course-topic (digital crime problem), that produce valuable outcomes for your resume (the certificates), because they provide useful information and knowledge (the certificate-courses).
Final Grade
Your final grade is calculated this way:
Annotation: 65% of final grade; each is worth ~9.29%.
Certification: 35% of final grade; each is worth ~5%.
In addition to OER, this course emphasizes Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILTed)…
Annotation-work is scored through the Perusall algorithm based on predetermined scoring metrics and points, as shown below. Using this tool ensures that all students are objectively evaluated based on the same standards. Your “credit” is determined on an all-or-none basis, meaning you will either receive full points or no points for each assignment.
You will receive full credit—in Perusall and automatically synced with iCollege—once you reach or exceed 100% on an assignment, as auto-graded by Perusall. Until you reach 100%, your score will be a 0 in Perusall and in iCollege; no partial credit is given. It is possible to reach 120% because the scoring metrics add up to this amount; see the following table. This gives you some discretion in where to focus your efforts and leeway in completion.
There are no “right” or “wrong” answers, though they should be informed by the readings. The only rules are you must (1) seriously interact with the readings and your peers, (2) not quote, but rather always use your own words, and (3) behave with academic integrity. Breaking a rule is punished with a score of zero on the assignment, and, for the third rule, possibly other sanctions; for details, see “Academic Integrity” in the Appendix.
Metric in Perusall
Points Possible
How to Earn Points and Full-Credit on Annotation
“Content”
60
Submit 25 high-quality comments on the book
“Active Engagement Time”
60
Spend 4 hours actively engaging with the book
“Total”
120
Reach 100 points or more
Certification-work is more straightforward. You’re scored manually based on whether you (1) successfully finish the assigned FedVTE-course, (2) thereby receive the certificate, (3) and, finally, upload it to the assignment-folder in iCollege. Grades are assigned as pass (100%) or fail (0%). To complete this work each Module, it’ll take you between 1 and 2.5 hours. However, to be clear, the amount of time spent isn’t graded.
Platform Rejoinder
You must always access Perusall assignments via their respective links on our iCollege Content page. Otherwise, your grades won’t transfer automatically and that’s bad for your grade. It’s very annoying, I agree; apologies.
Course Outline
There are eight modules (sections) in this course, starting with Module 0 and ending with Module 7. Module 0 is introductory. Module 7 is a single week for make-up work. Between those, Modules 0-6 are two weeks each, with work due on their last-Friday at 5 pm. This table lists the course’s modules (0-7) with their respective pattern of emphasis, timing, assignments, and readings. Module to module, we have the same sequence of activities: read; as you go, do Annotation; after, complete the Certification. The work is consistent so you can focus on the lessons.
To be clear, there are no tests, large exams, or final projects. Rather, your performance is evaluated throughout the semester. This means you can provide a reasonable, steady level of effort. The workload is manageable if you budget your time well. Everyone processes information at different speeds, so you will have to figure out for yourself how much time it takes. As a general rule, a 3 credit hour course should require 7-8 hours of work per week (in a fall/spring semester).
Module (Weeks in semester)
Annotation
(Complete on Persuall, grade auto-syncs with iCollege)
Certification
(Complete on FedVTE, submit on iCollege)
0 (W1-2)
This Syllabus
Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure
1 (W3-4)
Technology of the Oppressed
Introduction to Cybersecurity
2 (W5-6)
Social Engineering
Reverse Engineering 101
3 (W7-8)
Seeing Human Rights
Cyber Essentials
4 (W9-10)
Cyberinsurance Policy
Cryptocurrency for Law Enforcement
5 (W11-12)
The Good Drone
Supply Chain Risk Management
6 (W13-14)
Prison Media
Foundations of Cybersecurity for Managers
7 (W15)
Make-up
Make-up
Module 0 (Start)
The first two weeks of the semester are for Module 0. The objective is to familiarize you with the course structure, activities, learning platform Perusall, and FedVTE.4 This work is graded and due at the module’s end; refer to the Course Outline for the exact date. There is one reading in Module 0: this Syllabus (i.e., the one you’re reading now) including its Appendix. You’ll annotate it and, after, complete your first Certification. Once you’re ready, complete the assignments in this order by following these steps:
Assignment
1) Where to start
2) What work to do
3) How to get full-credit
1) “Annotation 0 - Syllabus”
Click the associated link on our iCollege Content page
Reread and annotate in Perusall
Fulfill scoring criteria for Annotation-work
2) “Certification 0 - Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure”
Same as above
Finish FedVTE course on its website
Upload Certificate in iCollege
Module 7 (End)
There’s no new work in the last section, Module 7. You have until its end to earn full credit on earlier assignments that are incomplete.
Module 1-6
In Modules 1-6, you’ll annotate books and complete FedVTE certification-courses. The objective is to fulfill the Course Goals, above. This work is graded and due at each module’s end; refer to the Course Outline for exact dates. In each Module, 1-6, there’s a single document to annotate: the book. Each book is its own document in Perusall. You’ll annotate each document and, in turn, complete the Module’s Certification. When you’re ready to start any of Modules 1-6, complete the same steps above: in iCollege, open the Annotation, which’ll bring you to Persuall, where you write comments and actively engage with the book; once finished, start the FedVTE course to earn the certificate, which you upload in its iCollege assignment-folder.
Ideally, if you were to evenly space-out a module’s work over its two-week period, you’d do something like:
Early in the first week, read and form your thoughts on the reading; in Perusall, refer to the instructions for “critical reading questions.”
In the first and second weeks, annotate the reading; in Perusall, refer to the instructions for “annotation themes.”
In the second week, reply to classmates to discuss the reading; refer to the instructions for “discussion themes.”
Any time before the deadline, begin the FedVTE course to gain the certificate and submit it on iCollege.
Module overviews
This section has descriptions of each book and FedVTE certification-course. The descriptions are quoted from the original source unless otherwise noted.
Module (Weeks in semester)
Assignment title
Description
0
(W1-2)
Annotation 0
This Syllabus
n/a
Certification 0
Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure
In this course, you will learn about the influence and impact of, and the need for, cybersecurity when defending the critical infrastructure and key resources of the United States.
This course answers three main questions, which will be addressed in the order below:
What is critical infrastructure?
What are examples of cybersecurity threats to critical infrastructure?
What is being done to protect the critical infrastructure of the United States in response to these cybersecurity threats?
1
(W3-4)
Annotation 1
Technology of the Oppressed
Short: How Brazilian favela residents engage with and appropriate technologies, both to fight the oppression in their lives and to represent themselves in the world.
Long: Brazilian favelas are impoverished settlements usually located on hillsides or the outskirts of a city. In Technology of the Oppressed, David Nemer draws on extensive ethnographic fieldwork to provide a rich account of how favela residents engage with technology in community technology centers and in their everyday lives. Their stories reveal the structural violence of the information age. But they also show how those oppressed by technology don't just reject it, but consciously resist and appropriate it, and how their experiences with digital technologies enable them to navigate both digital and nondigital sources of oppression—and even, at times, to flourish.
Nemer uses a decolonial and intersectional framework called Mundane Technology as an analytical tool to understand how digital technologies can simultaneously be sites of oppression and tools in the fight for freedom. Building on the work of the Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire, he shows how the favela residents appropriate everyday technologies—technological artifacts (cell phones, Facebook), operations (repair), and spaces (Telecenters and Lan Houses)—and use them to alleviate the oppression in their everyday lives. He also addresses the relationship of misinformation to radicalization and the rise of the new far right. Contrary to the simplistic techno-optimistic belief that technology will save the poor, even with access to technology these marginalized people face numerous sources of oppression, including technological biases, racism, classism, sexism, and censorship. Yet the spirit, love, community, resilience, and resistance of favela residents make possible their pursuit of freedom.
Certification 1
Introduction to Cybersecurity
This course covers the fundamentals of cyber intelligence. It explores key concepts such as the definition of cyber intelligence, its importance, and the skills required in the field.
The course is structured into two main sections:
What is Cyber Intelligence?
The Art and Science of Cyber Intelligence5
2
(W5-6)
Annotation 2
Social Engineering
Short: Manipulative communication—from early twentieth-century propaganda to today's online con artistry—examined through the lens of social engineering.
Long: The United States is awash in manipulated information about everything from election results to the effectiveness of medical treatments. Corporate social media is an especially good channel for manipulative communication, with Facebook a particularly willing vehicle for it. In Social Engineering, Robert Gehl and Sean Lawson show that online misinformation has its roots in earlier techniques: mass social engineering of the early twentieth century and interpersonal hacker social engineering of the 1970s, converging today into what they call “masspersonal social engineering.” As Gehl and Lawson trace contemporary manipulative communication back to earlier forms of social engineering, possibilities for amelioration become clearer.
The authors show how specific manipulative communication practices are a mixture of information gathering, deception, and truth-indifferent statements, all with the instrumental goal of getting people to take actions the social engineer wants them to. Yet the term “fake news,” they claim, reduces everything to a true/false binary that fails to encompass the complexity of manipulative communication or to map onto many of its practices. They pay special attention to concepts and terms used by hacker social engineers, including the hacker concept of “bullshitting,” which the authors describe as a truth-indifferent mix of deception, accuracy, and sociability. They conclude with recommendations for how society can undermine masspersonal social engineering and move toward healthier democratic deliberation.
Certification 2
Reverse Engineering 101
In this course, you will learn the basics of reverse engineering. Reverse engineering is the overall process of analyzing a technology specifically to determine how it was designed or how it operates.
Reverse engineering can have many uses and often plays an important role in making technological or scientific advances.
This course has five main sections:
Introduction
Common Uses for Reverse Engineering
Process of Reverse Engineering
Methodology for Reverse Engineering
Legality
3
(W7-8)
Annotation 3
Seeing Human Rights
Short: As video becomes an important tool to expose injustice, an examination of how human rights organizations are seeking to professionalize video activism.
Long: Visual imagery is at the heart of humanitarian and human rights activism, and video has become a key tool in these efforts. The Saffron Revolution in Myanmar, the Green Movement in Iran, and Black Lives Matter in the United States have all used video to expose injustice. In Seeing Human Rights, Sandra Ristovska examines how human rights organizations are seeking to professionalize video activism through video production, verification standards, and training. The result, she argues, is a proxy profession that uses human rights videos to tap into journalism, the law, and political advocacy.
Ristovska explains that this proxy profession retains some tactical flexibility in its use of video while giving up on the more radical potential and imaginative scope of video activism as a cultural practice. Drawing on detailed analysis of legal cases and videos as well as extensive interviews with staff members of such organizations as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, WITNESS, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the International Criminal Court (ICC), Ristovska considers the unique affordances of video and examines the unfolding relationships among journalists, human rights organizations, activists, and citizens in global crisis reporting. She offers a case study of the visual turn in the law; describes advocacy and marketing strategies; and argues that the transformation of video activism into a proxy profession privileges institutional and legal spaces over broader constituencies for public good.
Certification 3
Cyber Essentials
Reducing your organization's cyber risks requires a holistic approach - similar to the approach you would take to address other operational risks. As with other risks, cyber risks can threaten an organization's:
Ability to operate and access information
Reputation and customer trust
Bottom line
Survival
Managing cyber risks requires building a culture of cyber readiness. This training will cover what it means to be cyber-ready and how to enable a cyber-ready culture in your organization.
4
(W9-10)
Annotation 4
Cyberinsurance Policy
Short: Why cyberinsurance has not improved cybersecurity and what governments can do to make it a more effective tool for cyber risk management.
Long: As cybersecurity incidents—ranging from data breaches and denial-of-service attacks to computer fraud and ransomware—become more common, a cyberinsurance industry has emerged to provide coverage for any resulting liability, business interruption, extortion payments, regulatory fines, or repairs. In this book, Josephine Wolff offers the first comprehensive history of cyberinsurance, from the early “Internet Security Liability” policies in the late 1990s to the expansive coverage offered today. Drawing on legal records, government reports, cyberinsurance policies, and interviews with regulators and insurers, Wolff finds that cyberinsurance has not improved cybersecurity or reduced cyber risks.
Wolff examines the development of cyberinsurance, comparing it to other insurance sectors, including car and flood insurance; explores legal disputes between insurers and policyholders about whether cyber-related losses were covered under policies designed for liability, crime, or property and casualty losses; and traces the trend toward standalone cyberinsurance policies and government efforts to regulate and promote the industry. Cyberinsurance, she argues, is ineffective at curbing cybersecurity losses because it normalizes the payment of online ransoms, whereas the goal of cybersecurity is the opposite—to disincentivize such payments to make ransomware less profitable. An industry built on modeling risk has found itself confronted by new technologies before the risks posed by those technologies can be fully understood.
Certification 4
Cryptocurrency for Law Enforcement
Over the past ten years, cryptocurrencies have emerged as a means of using and investing money online. Yet, many people still do not understand what cryptocurrency is and how it works.
It is important for law enforcement to know the history, risks, and legality of cryptocurrency in case it is encountered on the job. In this course we will cover these details as well as discuss what cryptocurrency items can be seized by law enforcement.
5
(W11-12)
Annotation 5
The Good Drone
Short: How small-scale drones, satellites, kites, and balloons are used by social movements for the greater good.
Long: Drones are famous for doing bad things: weaponized, they implement remote-control war; used for surveillance, they threaten civil liberties and violate privacy. In The Good Drone, Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick examines a different range of uses: the deployment of drones for the greater good. Choi-Fitzpatrick analyzes the way small-scale drones—as well as satellites, kites, and balloons—are used for a great many things, including documenting human rights abuses, estimating demonstration crowd size, supporting anti-poaching advocacy, and advancing climate change research. In fact, he finds, small drones are used disproportionately for good; nonviolent prosocial uses predominate.
Choi-Fitzpatrick's broader point is that the use of technology by social movements goes beyond social media—and began before social media. From the barricades in Les Misérables to hacking attacks on corporate servers to the spread of #MeToo on Twitter, technology is used to raise awareness, but is also crucial in raising the cost of the status quo.
New technology in the air changes politics on the ground, and raises provocative questions along the way. What is the nature and future of the camera, when it is taken out of human hands? How will our ideas about privacy evolve when the altitude of a penthouse suite no longer guarantees it? Working at the leading edge of an emerging technology, Choi-Fitzpatrick takes a broad view, suggesting social change efforts rely on technology in new and unexpected ways.
Certification 5
Supply Chain Risk Management
As the world becomes more technologically savvy, cybersecurity is at the forefront of supply chain risk management (SCRM). Every individual who takes part in a supply chain is responsible for its security, no matter what role that person holds in the process.
This training has been designed to assist the learner with developing an understanding of cyber supply chain risk management, also known as C-SCRM, and the role it plays within our society today.
6
(W13-14)
Annotation 6
Prison Media
Short: How prisoners serve as media laborers, while the prison serves as a testing ground for new media technologies.
Long: Prisons are not typically known for cutting-edge media technologies. Yet from photography in the nineteenth century to AI-enhanced tracking cameras today, there is a long history of prisons being used as a testing ground for technologies that are later adopted by the general public. If we recognize the prison as a central site for the development of media technologies, how might that change our understanding of both media systems and carceral systems? Prison Media foregrounds the ways in which the prison is a model space for the control and transmission of information, a place where media is produced, and a medium in its own right.
Examining the relationship between media and prison architecture, as surveillance and communication technologies are literally built into the facilities, this study also considers the ways in which prisoners themselves often do hard labor as media workers—labor that contributes in direct and indirect ways to the latest technologies developed and sold by multinational corporations like Amazon. There is a fine line between ankle monitors and Fitbits, and Prison Media helps us make sense of today's carceral society.
Certification 6
Foundations of Cybersecurity for Managers
This course provides an overview of key cybersecurity concepts tailored for managerial roles. It covers topics such as cybersecurity governance, common cyber threats, security tools, cloud computing, and risk management. The course is designed to equip managers with the knowledge needed to understand and implement effective cybersecurity strategies within their organizations.6
7
(W15)
Make-up work
No work due. You have until the end of Module 7 at 5 p.m. to earn full credit on earlier assignments. For when you reach the end, I’ll say in advance: Congratulations on completing the course. Having done so, you’re closer to completing the Digital Criminology Minor. Your constructive assessment of this course plays an indispensable role in shaping education at Georgia State University. After completing the course, please do the online course evaluation. Please be respectful when filling out your evaluation, as they really do matter and are read by many people.
Now what?
After you finish the Appendix, refer back to the instructions in the subsection, Module 0, under Course Outline. That’s where you’ll see what (graded) work to do, by when. And oh, Module 0’s scoring metrics for Annotation are lighter: do 30 minutes for active engagement time (not 5 hours) and 5 high quality comments (instead of 25).
Appendix
For students, the Syllabus continues with this Appendix…
—————
For instructors, here are all the course’s resources. You can independently use each of the following:
Books
Use this zip-file to save yourself time downloading the readings. You don’t need to bother with this if you use the Persuall copy code (see below) because the books will automatically be copied too.
Use this zip-file to save yourself time structuring the course in your LMS. The file is a “Common Cartridge” (1.3) that enables creation and sharing of LMS-independent course packages.
With or without the LMS, you can copy my course’s Persuall components with this code: YRYCBL4JW4. Use this to “copy content, settings, and instructor comments from this course to their own course. (Instructors with the copy code will not be able to access or copy student data from this course.)”
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0)
