• Targeted: Masterminds of Global Ransomware Attacks Against Critical Infrastructure

    Twelve individuals who were wreaking havoc across the world with ransomware attacks against critical infrastructure have been targeted as the result of a law enforcement and judicial operation involving eight countries.

  • FBI Works to Increase Hate Crimes Awareness

    The United States recorded nearly 7,500 hate crimes in 2020, the highest level in more than a decade. As eye-popping as the yearly total may be, researchers note the vast majority of hate crimes are never reported to police. In October, the FBI launched a nationwide awareness campaign to encourage victims and witnesses to report hate crimes to law enforcement.

  • U.S. Gun Violence Increased 30 Percent During COVID-19 Pandemic

    Gun violence increased by more than 30 percent in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers said that stress, domestic violence, lack of social interactions and greater access to firearms might have contributed to the increase.

  • Weapons-Detection Algorithm Studied at Las Vegas International Airport

    This summer, DHS S&T demonstrated a new advanced algorithm to better detect non-explosive weapons like guns, knives, and other items that are prohibited on commercial aircraft in a real-world setting at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport.

  • Britain’s Security Officials Fear More Lone Wolf Attacks in Wake of MP’s Murder

    The man held for the fatal stabbing last week of a British lawmaker had been referred to the British government’s anti-extremism program, called Prevent, because of his radical Islamist views, but the country’s security services, including MI5 - Britain’s domestic intelligence agency - had not deemed him a serious threat requiring monitoring, confirmed British officials.

  • Lawmakers Press TikTok, DHS, and FBI for Information on Identifying, Preventing Spread of Extremist Content Online

    Although social media companies have taken steps to address the proliferation of domestic extremist content online, continued reports have identified that violent groups continue to operate on the platforms, and racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs), anti-government and conspiracy-related content and targeted ads remain on these platforms.

  • DEA, DOJ Warn of Lethal Fake Medication Pushed by Mexican Criminal Gangs

    Mexican criminal drug networks are mass-producing illicit fentanyl and fentanyl-laced fake pills using chemicals sourced largely from China., and are distributing these pills through U.S. criminal networks. These addictive fake pills are more lethal than ever. DEA laboratory testing reveals that today, four out of 10 fentanyl-laced fake pills contain a potentially lethal dose. DEA seizes 1.8 million fake pills and arrests 810 people nationwide in two-month effort to dismantle the drug distribution networks.

  • In U.S. v Wilson, the Ninth Circuit Reaffirms Fourth Amendment Protection for Electronic Communications

    The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a new ruling which is a victory for digital privacy rights, has confirmed that the police need to get a warrant before they open your email attachments—even if a third party’s automated system has flagged those attachments as potentially illegal.

  • Private Data/Public Regulation

    Police, increasingly relying on the collection of digital data,  seek fewer search warrants and more requests to harvest metadata. They buy data from brokers, they track location and other aspects of our lives. Sometimes police collect the data themselves. More often they gather it from third parties. Barry Friedman writes that “The benefits of this approach are uncertain, but placing this much personal data in the hands of the government has its costs.”

  • Leader of Atomwaffen Extremist Group Convicted of Federal Felonies, Conspiracy

    The leader of the extremist Atomwaffen group was convicted in U.S. District Court in Seattle of five federal felonies for his conspiracy to send threatening posters to journalists and employees of the Anti-Defamation League.

  • 2020 Homicides Up 30% over 2019 – Largest Increase on Record: FBI

    The estimated number of violent crimes in the U.S. in 2020 has increased by 5.6 percent when compared with the 2019’s statistics, but the number of homicides – a total of 21,570 — has increased by 30 percent relative to 2019.

  • Can Better Gun Safety Practices Lower Teen Suicide Rates?

    Forty percent of the teenagers committing suicide used guns. A new study showed that teens who die by suicide using guns may show fewer warning signs like mental health issues than teens who die by suicide using other methods. Gun availability could contribute to this, as gun-owning parents loosen safety practices as children grow up.

  • U.S. Domestic Terrorism Caseload “Exploding”

    U.S. national security and law enforcement agencies are battling what they describe as a “significant jump” in threats from domestic terrorists, many of whom are acting on their own and motivated by racial animosity or anti-government ideology.

  • Using Social Network Analysis to disarticulate criminal networks

    Finding the broken link in the criminal networks that bind economies and societies is a gigantic task that often leads the investigative actions of the police and judiciary up a blind alley. the advancements in the field of information technology and data analysis may be used to effectively deal with organized crime, terrorist groups, and street gangs.

  • Twenty Years after 9/11, Germany Still Struggling with Militant Islamists

    Twenty years ago, Islamist terror was still largely an unknown for German security authorities. Now, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has a newly established Islamist-Motivated Terrorism/Extremism Department. Around 500 criminal investigators, scientists, translators, and analysts work there to investigate Islamists, monitor dangerous individuals, and try to prevent attacks.