Reza Montasari

Swansea University | SWAN · Department of Criminology

With the rapid advancement of technology, it is essential to understand the psychological, ethical, and technical challenges associated with the dissemination of mis- and disinformation. These include the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) to spread information more rapidly, the deployment of disinformation campaigns to sway public opini...

In the twenty-first century, while the internet has transformed global communication and personal interactions, it has also become a tool for criminal groups such as terrorists to exploit vulnerable children. The chapter aims to examine the complex relationship between the internet and the radicalisation of children by terrorist and extremist group...

This study explores the significant impact of the internet on terrorism and extremism by focusing on three key areas: cyberterrorism, social media usage, and attack planning. Cyberterrorism has emerged as a major threat, with incidents such as the WannaCry ransomware attack highlighting its potential to disrupt critical infrastructures. The study r...

The rise of cybercrime presents significant obstacles to effective digital policing, particularly within the Dark Web where anonymity fuels illicit activities. Law enforcement agencies (LEAs) struggle to identify and prosecute criminals in this clandestine realm. As a result, they might resort to ethically dubious methods to identify and apprehend...

The proliferation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, across recreational, commercial, and military domains has led to a corresponding increase in their exploitation for malicious purposes. This trend not only poses challenges to national security by encroaching upon citizens’ privacy and safety but also fundamentally alte...

The rapid proliferation of biometric technologies, particularly facial recognition, has extended its reach across both public and private spheres, serving the dual objectives of surveillance and security. Amid the ongoing evolution of this technology, its substantial benefits coexist with formidable challenges that necessitate equal scrutiny. This...

This chapter critically assesses the effectiveness of the United Kingdom’s (UK) counter-terrorism strategies, with a specific focus on the CONTEST mechanism and its key components: Prevent, Pursue, Protect, and Prepare. Through a comprehensive analysis of the current practices, the chapter identifies key challenges and proposes targeted recommendat...

Governments worldwide are confronted with the formidable challenge of safeguarding their populations and critical infrastructures against ever-evolving cyber threats posed by malicious actors, including terrorist groups and their sympathisers. In response to this challenge, this chapter aims to illuminate the intricate relationship between terroris...

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a critical tool in automating data detection and acquisition processes, significantly contributing to bolstering national security efforts. The integration of human-like attributes into machines enables AI to address challenges akin to human cognitive faculties, thus becoming a preferred...

This chapter serves as a continuation of Chap. 8, which critically analysed the fundamental Machine Learning (ML) methods underpinning the counterterrorism landscape. Building upon this foundation, the chapter delves deeper into the multifaceted complexities that arise when applying ML techniques within the context of countering cyber terrorism. Th...

The widespread integration of digital technologies including the internet, Internet of Things (IoT), and social media platforms (SMPs) has ushered in an era of unparalleled connectivity and information dissemination. While these advancements have transformed various aspects of modern life, they have simultaneously given rise to evolving cyber threa...

The Iraq War serves as a crucial focal point for research, illuminating the intricacies of international politics, state responsibility, and the enduring consequences of military interventions. This case study delves into the Iraq War of 2003, one of the most contentious political decisions in recent decades, to comprehend the specific state crimes...

This chapter critically analyses the multifaceted role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the realm of online disinformation. Specifically, it delves into the potential of AI techniques to create highly realistic disinformation and efficiently disseminate it across a vast audience on social media platforms (SMPs). Moreover, the study explores the u...

The rapid advancement of technology has ushered in significant progress across various domains of human life but has also introduced a spectrum of complex challenges. While technological innovation is widely regarded as a positive stride towards the future, safeguarding cyberspace against formidable adversaries such as cyberterrorists and hackers r...

The rapid progression of Deep Machine Learning (DML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies over the past decade has ushered in a new era of digital innovation. Alongside these developments emerges a complex landscape fraught with both technical and legal intricacies. This chapter delves into the multifaceted phenomenon of deepfakes, explori...

Terrorist attacks, in both traditional and cyber forms, constitute one of the most significant factors contributing to the destabilisation of both national and transnational security. As the preceding chapters in this book have underscored, a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanisms behind these attacks is crucial for governments an...

This chapter undertakes a comprehensive analysis of the multifaceted role of women in the realm of terrorism, asserting that a departure from entrenched dualistic paradigms is essential to capture the intricacies inherent to their engagement. It contends that a more holistic understanding of women’s involvement in terrorism can be achieved by trans...

This paper critically assesses the current and emerging challenges encountered in the field of Digital Forensics (DF) with reference to Cloud Forensics, the Internet of Things (IoT) Forensics, admissibility of digital evidence, lack of standardisation, limitations of tools in the field, as well as the significant problems associated with case backl...

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the international community into disarray, resulting in a significant impact both on the rate at which digital technologies are incorporated into organisations’ processes and on the cyber threat landscape. The pandemic led society and institutions to a global accelerated digitalisation, and in doing so reshaped the...

The twenty-first century’s development of the Internet has led to a significant shift in contemporary communication (Zelin in The state of global jihad online: a qualitative, guantitative, and cross-lingual analysis. New America Foundation, 2013). While the Internet is widely utilised in everyday life to distribute and share information, it has als...

The current landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) is complex, and is a source of hope and fear alike. It is a field which is constantly progressing, whilst demonstrating unforeseen challenges for creators and users. The benefits of using AI tools are clear, given it is now commonplace across the globe, finding its way into homes, schools, and w...

This chapter critically examines the role that the Internet and the Internet of Things (IoT) play in violent extremism. The chapter specifically focuses on arguments surrounding radicalisation as a pathway to terrorism and how individuals become radicalised due to different radicalisation processes and theories. Based on this critical analysis, the...

Due to recent rises in extremism across the globe (Dean et al. in J Polic Intell Count Terror 11:121–142, 2016; Le Roux in Responding to the rise in violent extremism in the Sahel. Africa Center For Strategic Studies, 2019, p. 26) and (Jones in Int Secur 32:7–40, 2008), governments and law enforcement organisations, such as the police, have looked...

The Dark Web is the hidden group of Internet sites that can only be accessed through specific software. The Dark Web enables private computer networks to communicate anonymously without revealing identifying information. Keeping Internet activity anonymous and private can be beneficial for both legal and illegal applications. Although it is used to...

The Internet has a significant impact on both the process and planning behind cyber and physical acts and attempts to mitigate these threats. This paper aims to highlight the ways in which the Internet is used in both of these processes by drawing upon the attractiveness of the Internet to terrorist organisations and how they, therefore, use it to...

Today, people all around the globe rely on an internet connection to function in twenty-first century society. The evolution of technology along with society itself have led to having an online presence being an important aspect of life. Users of the internet can connect and interact with one another globally, with it being easily accessible and av...

This Chapter analyses the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in preventing and combatting cyberattacks carried out through or against the Internet of Things (IoT) platforms. To this end, the Chapter examines ways in which AI can be used both to safeguard and to threaten national security in different ways. Addressing digital security, the...

Surveillance technologies such as Closed-Circuit Television support an effective crime-preventing strategy and offer opportunities to improve accountability. However, trends within the research highlight issues such as discrimination and bias in the emerging technologies. Additionally, the incorporation of Big Data and the growing use of surveillan...

In recent years, the fast-paced development of Big Data and the utilisation of it in predictive analytics have opened up a whole new way in which police are able to carry out their operations. Law enforcement units are now able to utilise vast sets of data that are being produced from mundane human activity along with historical crime data to predi...

When discussing global competitiveness, technical rivalry, and technological advancements, Artificial Intelligence (AI) must be addressed as a crucial factor. Following the example of Canada in 2017, other nations started to publish National Strategies on how to integrate AI and similar technology into industry and wider society. This was whilst en...

In recent years, there has been an increasing number of cyber-attacks targeting organisations both in the public and private sectors. With an increase in the number of such attacks, combined with the added risks of the Internet of Things, organisations are finding it increasingly difficult to safeguard their systems against sophisticated and machin...

The COVID-19 Pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of organisations and services across the United Kingdom (UK) providing numerous opportunities for economic and social development in the UK. However, these opportunities also bring about unprecedented challenges for law enforcement agencies (LEAs), and has led to the progression of se...

In a so-called post-truth era, research on the subject of the spread of mis- and disinformation is being widely explored across academic disciplines in order to further understand the phenomenon of how information is disseminated by not only humans but also the technology humans have created (Tandoc, Sociol Compass 13(9), 2019). As technology advan...

In recent years, organisations have invested heavily in the digitisation of their processes to maximise productivity. A digital twin is one of the most recent emerging technologies that is to disrupt business models and to leverage competitive advantage; applications can be found in many industries including, but not limited to healthcare, manufact...

This chapter critically analyses the challenges to the digital policing caused by the anonymity and growing criminal market of the Dark Web. The police face many ethical and jurisdictional issues when monitoring illicit activity, particularly in the case of online paedophilia and child pornography that circulates the web. Issues arise of who is res...

Many states deploy artificial intelligence (AI) and associated technology in their efforts to safeguard their national security. When these states justify their recourse to AI for national security purposes by arguing that ‘technology and machines are neutral’, they disregard one essential element: technology is far from neutral. Inherent biases an...

The Dark Web is a largely unknown part of the Internet, harbouring a space for both evil and good actions as a result of its secretive and anonymous nature. Unlike the Surface Web, it is much harder to digitally police the Dark Web because of how censored and difficult to access personal information is in the deepest part of the Internet. It is the...

This chapter critically analyses the impact of the Internet and associated technology on the rise in terrorist attacks across the US and Europe over the last two decades. To this end, the chapter will be focusing on jihadists’ use of the Internet, yet comparisons will also be made with the radical right. Although there exist certainly differences b...

Power Line channels present a very harsh environment for high speed data transfer which degrades the data transmission. Using proper channel coding can enhance the data transmission over PLC systems. The purpose of using channel coding is to encode the information transmitted over communication channel in such a way that in presence of other interf...

Phishing attacks are on the increase. The fact that our ways of living, studying and working have drastically changed as a result of the COVID pandemic (i.e., almost everything being done online) has created many new cyber security concerns. In particular, with the move to remote working, the number of phishing emails threatening employees has incr...

This chapter will examine the role of the Internet and associated technology such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing (CC) in the process of radicalisation to terrorism and violent extremism. Particular emphasis will be placed upon the role of online environments in facilitating communication and the spread of extremist ideology, as...

This chapter compares three different machine learning techniques, i.e. Gaussian process classification, decision tree classification and support vector classification, based on their ability to learn and detect the attributes of a malicious website. The data used have all been sourced from HTTP headers, WHOIS lookups and DNS records. As a result,...

Human trafficking is a crime that has devastating impacts on all societies worldwide. Law enforcement and security organisations often encounter many obstacles in their endeavours to combat this crime. Effective measures to tackle human trafficking necessitate the fusion of a wide range of factors which together could produce the desired impact. On...

Human trafficking is a complex, burgeoning crime with a global foothold that impacts an estimated 40.3 million people worldwide. Currently, the number and the scale of innovation and technology tools do not correspond with the magnitude of the problem. There is little awareness about existing digital innovations and technology initiatives within th...

Despite its many technological and economic benefits, Cloud Computing poses complex security threats resulting from the use of virtualisation technology. Compromising the security of any component in the cloud virtual infrastructure will negatively affect the security of other elements and so impact the overall system security. By characterising th...

This book provides a valuable reference for digital forensics practitioners and cyber security experts operating in various fields of law enforcement, incident response and commerce. It is also aimed at researchers seeking to obtain a more profound knowledge of Digital Forensics and Cybercrime. Furthermore, the book is an exceptional advanced text...

In the current, fast paced development of computer hardware, hardware manufacturers often focus on an expedited time to market paradigm or on maximum throughput. This inevitably leads to a number of unintentional hardware vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities can be exploited to launch devastating hardware attacks and as a result compromise the pr...

The dark nets’ anonymity has provided the organised crime groups, terror groups, and paedophiles alike a place to communicate, recruit, purchase and disseminate illegal materials across the world instantly without much fear of retribution. As the exit nodes of the TOR browser can be set up by anyone across the globe, policing requires a significant...

This book is an invaluable reference for those operating within the fields of Cyber Security, Digital Forensics, Digital Policing, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. The Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem presents a wide range of consumer, infrastructure, organisational, industrial and military applications. The IoT technologies such as...

The book provides a valuable reference for cyber security experts, digital forensic practitioners and network security professionals. In recent years, AI has gained substantial attention from researchers in both academia and industry, and as a result AI’s capabilities are constantly increasing at an extraordinary pace. AI is considered to be the Fo...

Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) can be used by organisations to assist their security teams in safeguarding their networks against cyber-attacks. This can be achieved by including threat data feeds into their networks or systems. However, despite being an effective Cyber Security (CS) tool, many organisations do not sufficiently utilise CTI. This i...

Without sufficient intelligence, police response to crimes occurs in the form a reactive retort. This is even more so in the case of cyberspace policing, as digital platforms increase the complexities involved in the overall police incident response development. In this paper, we briefly introduce cybercrime and the necessities that police forces h...

IoT devices are becoming more prevalent in society, with an expected 21.5 Billion devices connected by 2025 [24], and when an incident occurs in the vicinity of such devices then they should be considered as potential digital evidence. A network of IoT devices is often referred to as a smart environment, or more frequently as a cyber physical syste...

The high velocity, variety and volume of data generation by today's systems have necessitated Big Data (BD) analytic techniques. This has penetrated a wide range of industries; BD as a notion has various types and characteristics, and therefore a variety of analytic techniques would be required. The traditional analysis methods are typically unable...

Considering the ever-growing ubiquity of technology, there is an associated growth in the possibility of digital devices being related to a criminal investigation or civil litigation. As the variety of digital devices is increasing, the storage capacity of each is also rising exponentially. Due to the varied and large volumes of data produced, law...

In recent years, organisations have invested heavily in the digitisation of their processes to maximise productivity. A digital twin is one of the most recent emerging technologies that is to disrupt business models and to leverage competitive advantage; applications can be found in many industries including, but not limited to healthcare, manufact...

Abstract: The rapid increase in the pervasiveness of digital devices, combined with their heterogeneous nature, has culminated in increasing volumes of diverse data, aka big data, that can become subject to criminal or civil investigations. This growth in big digital forensic data (DFD) has forced digital forensic practitioners (DFPs) to consider s...

There are certain vulnerabilities associated with computing hardware that attackers can exploit to launch destructive attacks which often go undetected by the existing hardware and software countermeasures. Side Chanel Attacks (SCAs) and Rowhammer Attacks (RHAs), the consequences of hardware vulnerabilities, pose significant security and privacy th...

The field of digital forensics still lacks formal process models that courts can employ to determine the reliability of the process followed in a digital investigation. The existing models have often been developed by digital forensic practitioners , based on their own personal experience and on an ad-hoc basis, without attention to the establishme...

Various social networking sites (SNSs), widely referred to as social media, provide services such as email, blogging, instant messaging and photo sharing for social and commercial interactions. SNSs are facilitating new forms of social interaction, dialogue, exchange and collaboration. They allow millions of users and organisations worldwide to exc...

There are several vulnerabilities in computing systems hardware that can be exploited by attackers to carry out devastating microarchitectural timing-based side-channel attacks against these systems and as a result compromise the security of the users of such systems. By exploiting microarchitectural resources, adversaries can potentially launch di...

Cybercriminology as a subject area has numerous dimensions. Some studies in the field primarily focus on a corrective action to reduce the impact of an already committed crime. However, there are existing computational techniques which can assist in predicting and therefore preventing cyber-crimes. These quantitative techniques are capable of provi...

Despite the increasing evolution of the cyber environment, enterprises seem to find it challenging to identify a solution to create an effective defensive posture. As the cyber phenomenon becomes a fundamental part of our society, it is essential to identify adaptive methods to increase the worldwide defensive condition in the most effective manner...

This article describes how there exist various vulnerabilities in computing hardware that adversaries can exploit to mount attacks against the users of such hardware. Microarchitectural attacks, the result of these vulnerabilities, take advantage of microarchitectural performance of processor implementations, revealing hidden computing process. Lev...

The Comprehensive Digital Forensic Investigation Process Model (the CDFIPM), presented in Montasari (IJESDF 8(4)285–301, 2016), provides guidelines for carrying out digital investigations in the UK jurisdiction in a forensically sound manner. The CDFIPM is comprehensive in that it covers the entire digital forensic investigative process; it is gene...

Cloud computing has become one of the most game changing technologies in the recent history of computing. It is gaining acceptance and growing in popularity. However, due to its infancy, it encounters challenges in strategy, capabilities, as well as technical, organizational, and legal dimensions. Cloud service providers and customers do not yet ha...

Similar to traditional evidence, courts of law do not assume that digital evidence is reliable if there is no evidence of some empirical testing regarding the theories and techniques pertaining to its production. Courts take a careful notice of the way in which digital evidence has been acquired and stored. In contrast with traditional crimes for w...

Computer and Internet technology has become a vital part of a daily life for many as it has brought many enhancements to the quality of many individuals' lives. Although advances in computer and Internet technology are utilised by many people for various respectable reasons, at the same time it has become a tool in the hands of cybercriminals for v...

For the past decade, digital forensics has been the subject of scientific study, and as a result it has become an established research and application field. One of the foundational methods in which the researchers in the field have attempted to comprehend the scientific basis of this discipline has been to develop models which reflect their observ...

A formal process model is needed to enable digital forensic practitioners in following a uniform approach and to enable courts of law in determining the reliability of digital evidence presented to them. Such a model also needs to be generic in that it can be applicable in the different fields of digital forensics including law enforcement, corpora...

Digital forensics, originally known as computer forensics, first presented itself in the 1970s. During the first investigations, financial fraud proved to be the most common cause on suspects’ computers. Since then, digital forensics has grown in importance in situations where digital devices are used in the commission of a crime. The original focu...

Contrary to traditional crimes for which there exists deep-rooted standards, procedures and models upon which courts of law can rely, there are no formal standards, procedures nor models for digital forensics to which courts can refer. Although there are already a number of various digital investigation process models, these tend to be ad-hoc proce...

This paper investigates the effectiveness of the private browsing modes built into four major Internet browsers. In examining the phenomenon of the private browsing modes built into four widely used Internet browsers, this paper aims to determine whether one can identify when a private browsing mode has been utilized by a suspect to perform a crimi...