Daniel Molina

Cyber X: Criminal Syndicates, Nation states, Sub-National Entities and Beyond

This chapter discusses the capabilities of various cyber actors and provides some models that help articulate the characteristics and sophistication levels of various groups. The attack sophistication model is a way to determine the capabilities of an expert level adversary. This is important as the attack sophistication footprint of an expert is far different from that of a novice intermediate cyber actor. A great example of this type of sophistication is modeled in what the security industry calls “Operation Aurora.” The great thing about cybercrime, state-sponsored, and nonstate-sponsored activity is that they sometimes use the same modus operandi in terms of malware, and command and control nodes on the Internet. The cyber actors that are involved in cybercrime, cyber warfare, and cyber terrorism are driven by economic, political, and moral agendas. Threat landscape is constantly evolving over the past two decades. These changes have shaped the dynamics of what one is dealing with today, in terms of the threat landscape. Cybercrime is one that has become so profitable for criminals that it has surpassed the drug trafficking trade according to recent reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

America, Land of Opportunity

Despite the relative social and economic success experienced by the previous immigrants, immigrants in the United States today face unique challenges and difficulties adjusting to the American way of life. This paper explores three possible explanations for these difficulties including: lack of political socialization, low levels of education, and failure to advance in economic status, which has resulted in downward assimilation for new immigrant groups. Without a doubt, these three problematic aspects are intertwined and the success of Americanization relies on these codependent aspects of immigration. Possible solutions to reverse this trends and implications for American public policy will be discussed. AMERICA: THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY 3 The United States of America is a nation founded on the idea that people could come from other countries in search of the American Dream, which is the opportunity for the chance to make a better life than what one is previously accustomed to. In theory, this concept is supposed to hold true no matter what your race, ethnicity, religion, or social class. Since the founding of this county, immigrants have sought out American refuge in pursuit of this American Dream. For many years, America, the land of opportunity, took in immigrants from all around the world. The Statue of Liberty even says, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” This concept created a nation that has a backbone rooted in immigration. As a result, the United States has turned out to be a nation that is rich in cultural diversity, but there is still a concept of being truly American. A problem has surfaced in more recent years concerning the concept of becoming American. The more recent waves of immigrants are failing to assimilate into the American culture. The areas in which immigrants are failing to assimilate are fairly obvious. They are not involving themselves in the landscape of American politics. This failure to gain political socialization has resulted in the opinions of millions of residents of America to go unheard. Another form of assimilation that has failed to take place is educational integration among the children of immigrants. This has created problems, because children that go uneducated cannot possibly wish to obtain upward social mobility. A third area where recent immigrants have failed to “Americanize” is in the category of economic stability. Contributors to poor economic stability can be low wage job status, high dependency on governmental handouts, and inner city clustering. This economic unsustainability, like the other examples, can come as a result of failure to assimilate to the American culture. If authorized immigrants continue to fail to AMERICA: THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY 4 assimilate into American society, they will face increasing difficulty achieving upward