The cybercrooks who haunt the digital shadows can use cryptocurrency to move fortunes under the radar, with no strings to hold them back. For those looking to dodge detection, crypto isn’t a curiosity — it’s the perfect getaway car: fast, silent and anonymous.
Gail-Joon Ahn is a professor of computer science and engineering in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. He is a cybersecurity thought leader who has spent his career devising innovative ways to protect and enhance computer security systems. Now, he has turned his attention to creating new tools to block borderless bandits.
Cryptocurrency is a type of digital money that operates without a central authority like a bank or government. Instead, it uses a technology called blockchain, a digital, decentralized ledger that records every transaction across a network of computers. When someone sends cryptocurrency, the transaction is verified by network participants, then permanently added to the blockchain. Because these transactions don’t require personal information like names or locations, the system allows for easy and often anonymous transfers of value.
“Legitimate users turn to cryptocurrency because it’s irreversible, secure and efficient,” Ahn says. “Unfortunately, these same attributes are attractive to those who want to commit financial fraud.”
For the past decade, the team in the Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations, or CTF, founded by Ahn in 2015 and currently led by Fulton Schools Associate Professor Adam Doupé, has been doing a deep dive into the world of crypto-funded cybercrime.
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