Author: Andrea Monti

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Defending Computer Criminals

Andrea Monti – Adjunct Professor of Public Order and Security
University Gabriele d’Annunzio – Chieti-Pescara, IT – amonti@unich.it

Paper presented at the Tokyo CodeBlue Conference 2020

Abstract

This paper is about defending a person accused of computer crime and computer-related crime in Court. It is intended as a primer for those defence counsel who have no experience in the specific field of criminal trials involving computer, digital assets and the Internet. At the same time, it provides insights to computer experts wanting to enter into the digital forensics sector, because it offers a way to understand how a lawyer thinks, and what are his needs when designing a defence strategy.

The focus is on the practical issues, as emerged from the direct trial experience of the author and of other criminal trial lawyers, therefore the legal theory and the ICT technical aspects are not discussed in detail. Both the legal and the IT professional, though, can find in the discussion enough hints to widen their understanding of the matter and improve the effectiveness of their strategies.

The paper is structured in three part: a criminological profile’s taxonomy of the defendants, the analysis of the digital investigation carried on by the prosecution to build the case, and the trial strategies of the defence counsel.

Finally, a note on the cases discussed in this paper: where possible, references to court decisions are available, but in some cases, for confidentiality reasons, the paper analyses the relevant elements without providing further information. Continue reading “Defending Computer Criminals”

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Italian Prime Minister Decree 131/20 on the cyber perimeter increases confusion and does not protect national security

By Andrea Monti – Originally published in Italian by Infosec.News

Italian Prime Minister Decree 131/2020 is one of the acts resulting from the enactment of Law Decree 105/19, later converted into Law 133/09 establishing the national cyber perimeter, a concept also relevant for the application of Legislative Decree 65/18, transposing EU Directive 1148/16 (NIS Directive). While this sentence appears to be illegible and incomprehensible, the choices and content of the Prime Ministerial Decree are even more so because they increase the level of the contradiction of a body of legislation which, by regulating national security, should instead be easy to understand and agile to apply.

However, first things first. Continue reading “Italian Prime Minister Decree 131/20 on the cyber perimeter increases confusion and does not protect national security”

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Why Twitter and Facebook scare politicians in the US (and beyond)

Big Techs are an active part of electoral competitions and are not subject to rules and controls, so much so that they can change their decisions, even diametrically without suffering any consequences. The analysis by Andrea Monti, Professor of Law of Order and Public Security, University of Chieti-Pescara – Originally published in Italian by Formiche.net Continue reading “Why Twitter and Facebook scare politicians in the US (and beyond)”

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The Five Eyes look to the East. And Italy?

A press release issued by the US Department of Defense on 15 October 2020 aseptically announces the results of the last (official) meeting between the members of Five Eyes, the agreement between the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand for the acquisition and exchange of information on strategies and tactics to protect national interests by Andrea Monti – Originally published in Italian by Formiche.net Continue reading “The Five Eyes look to the East. And Italy?”

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Sweden and Japan are as far away as China is near

Italian Health Minister Speranza hopes that the sense of responsibility would prevail so to avoid a new quarantine by Andrea Monti – Originally published in Italian by Infosec.News

The Minister’s statement reveals that the government has already decided to enforce a new global lockdown (or that it is every day more likely.)
Putting aside the past political controversies, right now the options are unavoidable: either we enforce self-restraint, or the government will do it on our behalf.
We have already experienced what a quarantine looks like, and we can imagine what might happens when we read news such as that of the assault in Livorno by a Carabinieri patrol carried out not by dangerous criminals, but by citizens out of control. Continue reading “Sweden and Japan are as far away as China is near”