Analyzing and Visualizing Criminal Network Dynamics: A Case Study

Xu, Jennifer; Marshall, Byron; Kaza, Siddharth; Chen, Hsinchun

doi:10.1007/978-3-540-25952-7_27

Cited by 44 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Lin et al's user-acceptance study based on the COPLINK system [8] highlights the importance of solutions that make a compelling case for acceptance, which is also one of the motivations of our work in this paper. Xu et al present a method to analyze and visualize criminal networks, focusing on dynamics [9]. Introducing the dynamic element into our model in this paper is an interesting avenue for further work.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributing the Cost of Securing a Transportation Infrastructure

Chawathe

2006

Intelligence and Security Informatics

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Abstract. We address the problem of fairly distributing the cost of system-wide improvements to the security of a transportation infrastructure over the beneficiaries. We present a framework that models transportation links and the emergence (magnitude and frequency) and propagation of threats. The cost-distribution is based on a weighted sum that characterizes the expected reduction in the vulnerability of a site as a result of the security improvements.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributing the Cost of Securing a Transportation Infrastructure

Chawathe

2006

Intelligence and Security Informatics

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“…To overcome the lack of complete data, researchers have applied probabilistic modeling (Miffen, Boner, Godfrey, & Skokan 2004) and Markov processes (Kaplan, 2010), used overlapping network assumptions (Atkinson & Wein, 2010), and approached the problem from a network topology perspective (Xu & Chen, 2008) to model terrorist networks. They have successfully applied social network analysis (SNA) to covert networks such as corporate price fixing, organized crime, drug trafficking, and terrorist groups (e.g., Krebs, 2002;Sageman, 2004;Xu, Marshall, Kaza, & Chen, 2004;Rodriguez, 2005;Keefe, 2006;Natarajan, 2006;Reid, Chen, & Xu, 2007;Bright et al, 2012;Senekal, 2014). Critical to this success has been the more recent use of social media networks and the analysis of these networks and data using existing social network analysis techniques (Everton, 2012a;Schroeder, Everton, & Shepherd, 2012;Freeman & Schroeder, 2014) and new techniques such as real-time Twitter data analysis and visualization (Cheong & Lee, 2011;Dudas, 2013).…”

Section: Social Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Media Exploitation by Covert Networks: A Case Study of ISIS

Freeman¹,

Schroeder²,

Everton³

2017

CAIS

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Abstract:Social media has quickly become a dominant mode of professional and personal communication. Unfortunately, groups who intend to perform illegal and/or harmful activities (such as gangs, criminal groups, and terrorist groups) also use it. These covert networks use social media to foster membership, communicate among followers and nonfollowers, and obtain ideological and financial support. This exploitation of social media has serious political, cultural, and societal repercussions that go beyond stolen identities, hacked systems, or loss of productivity. There are literal life-and-death consequences of the actions of the groups behind these covert networks. However, through tracking and analyzing social media content, government agencies (in particular those in the intelligence community) can mitigate this threat by uncovering these covert networks, their communication, and their plans. This paper introduces common social media analysis techniques and the current approaches of analyzing covert networks. A case study of the Syrian conflict, with particular attention on ISIS, highlights this exploitation and the process of using social media analysis for intelligence gathering. The results of the case study show that covert networks are resilient and continually adapt their social media use and presence to stay ahead of the intelligence community.

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“…SNA has been applied to a number of different criminal contexts, including illegal price fixing within corporations, organised crime gangs, terrorist groups, and drug trafficking syndicates [3,5,6,[14][15][16][17][18].…”

Section: Sna Applied To Dark Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Arguably the primary challenge facing researchers who want to conduct SNA on criminal organisations is securing access to appropriate data [3,4]. Previous analyses have been based on data extracted from offender databases, transcripts of physical or electronic surveillance, written summaries of police interrogations, transcripts of court proceedings, and media reports (e.g., [5][6][7]). Previous research suggests that transcripts of electronic surveillance (e.g., wire taps) are the best source of data for SNA as they provide critical information about the existence of relationships (e.g., [6,8]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Illuminating dark networks: a social network analysis of an Australian drug trafficking syndicate

Bright

Hughes²,

Chalmers³

2011

Crime Law Soc Change

120

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A small but growing number of analysts of criminal activity have used social network analysis (SNA) to characterise criminal organisations and produce valuable insights into the operation of illicit markets. The successful conduct of SNA requires data that informs about links or relationships between pairs of individuals within the group. To date analyses have been undertaken with data extracted from offender databases, transcripts of physical or electronic surveillance, written summaries of police interrogations, and transcripts of court proceedings. These data can be expensive, time-consuming and complicated to access and analyse. This paper presents findings from a study which aimed to determine the feasibility and utility of conducting SNA using a novel source of data: judges' sentencing comments. Free of charge, publically accessible without the need for ethics clearance, available at the completion of sentencing and summary in nature, this data offers a more accessible and less expensive alternative to the usual forms of data used. The judges' sentencing comments were drawn from a series of Australian court cases involving members of a criminal group involved in the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine during the 1990s. Feasibility is evaluated in terms of the ability to produce a network map and generate the types of quantitative measures produced in studies using alternate data sources. The utility of the findings is Crime Law Soc Change (2012) 57:151-176

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Analyzing and Visualizing Criminal Network Dynamics: A Case Study

Cited by 44 publications

References 30 publications

Distributing the Cost of Securing a Transportation Infrastructure

Distributing the Cost of Securing a Transportation Infrastructure

Social Media Exploitation by Covert Networks: A Case Study of ISIS

Illuminating dark networks: a social network analysis of an Australian drug trafficking syndicate

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