Today, the Internet crimes can be discussed as the significant part of the users’ everyday reality because the improvement of technologies is closely associated with the development of new crimes in the cyberspace. In his book The dotCrime Manifesto: How to Stop Internet Crime, Phillip Hallam-Baker discusses the controversial question of the Internet crimes with references to the ways proposed to overcome the problem and create the secure Internet environment.
Statement of the Book’s Purpose
While discussing the evolution of the cyberspace and providing the techniques to protect users from the Internet crimes, Hallam-Baker focuses his attention on the idea that the Internet should be strengthened with references to the notions of security, accountability, and privacy; and this approach is presented as more effective in comparison with the possible reconstruction of all the Internet security principles. Thus, Hallam-Baker discusses the development of the Internet security principles and mechanisms, provides the background for understanding the current tendencies associated with the Internet crime, and presents the comprehensive action plan on improving the Internet infrastructure (Hallam-Baker xxii). As a result, the book aims to provide methods to improve the Internet security with the focus on the existing principles and measures.
Overview of the Book’s Content
Hallam-Baker’s book can be discussed as the collection of the detailed guidelines on how to cope with the problem of Internet crimes while providing the guidelines with the strong background related to the Internet crimes’ development (Kessler 71). The book is divided into 19 chapters which are organized into four sections according to the subjects discussed in the chapters.
The first section titled “People Not Bits” combines five chapters on the subjects of the crimes’ motives and the idea of accountability. Hallam-Baker introduces many basic ideas associated with the Internet crimes in this section and states that the main motive for crimes is money. Discussing such basic notions as architecture, strategy, and design, the author states that to overcome crimes, it is necessary to reintroduce the idea of accountability in the cyberspace (Hallam-Baker 117).
The second section “Stopping the Cycle” includes four chapters which are oriented to discussing the measures to stop such crimes as phishing, botnets, and spam. Hallam-Baker is rather consistent in relation to presenting the techniques which can help users cope with phishing, botnets, and spam because these crimes are the most popular in the cyberspace (Hallam-Baker 198).
The third section “Tools of the Trade” includes two chapters on cryptography and ways to establish trust. In these chapters, Hallam-Baker accentuates the necessity of using cryptography to resolve the problem of the Internet crimes and pays attention to the notion of trust in the context of the cyberspace with references to the ideas of identity and digital certificates (Hallam-Baker 226).
The fourth section of the book is titled “The Accountable Web”. Eight chapters of the section present the clear guides on how to develop the secure transport, messaging, identities, networks, and platforms. To develop the accountable web, it is necessary to focus on the newly proposed technologies which can be helpful for protecting the data and activities important for users (Hallam-Baker 374). If the previous section proposed the short-term solutions to protect users from the Internet crimes, this section provides the strategically developed long-term solution according to which it is possible to build the accountable web. Much attention should be paid to the final chapter of the section which provides the list of easy rules necessary to implement the whole plan into action (Hallam-Baker 379).
Value of the Book’s Message or Content for Business
Hallam-Baker’s book can be interesting and helpful for many users relying on the Internet opportunities, but it is especially important for businessmen who can suffer significantly from the Internet crimes. If the goal and motive of the web criminals are to gain some benefits from the Internet crimes, the goal of businessmen is to create the secure cyberspace for their activities (Reich and Gelbstein 112). From this point, Hallam-Baker’s book can be discussed as the valuable source for businessmen because the book provides the comprehensive guidelines on the necessary actions to protect the users’ privacy and web activities.
In spite of the fact that the Internet security is the comparably new issue discussed by businessmen in the context of controversial ethical dilemmas, much attention should be paid to protecting the interests of businessmen as the active users of the Internet because the company’s profits can be at stake if the issue of the Internet crime is identified. Hallam-Baker offers the rational plan of action developed to stop phishing, botnets, and spam and to create the accountable web (Austin par. 1-2). Many short-term techniques proposed in the book can be used to enhance the businessmen’s efforts associated with building the secure cyberspace for their daily activities.
Thus, Phillip Hallam-Baker’s The dotCrime Manifesto: How to Stop Internet Crime can be discussed as the useful source to explain the concept of the Internet crime to many users, including businessmen, and as the important source to provide the action plan to create the secure Internet infrastructure.
Works Cited
Austin, Richard. The dotCrime Manifesto: How to Stop Internet Crimeby Philip Hallam-Baker. 2008. Web.
Hallam-Baker, Phillip. The dotCrime Manifesto: How to Stop Internet Crime. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley, 2008. Print.
Kessler, Gary. “Book Review: The dotCrime Manifesto: How to Stop Internet Crime (Hallam-Brown)”. Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law 3.2 (2008): 71-73. Print.
Reich, Pauline, and Eduardo Gelbstein. Law, Policy, and Technology: Cyberterrorism, Information Warfare, and Internet Immobilization. USA: IGI Global Snippet, 2012. Print.