User:Dephiant08/Institute for Law, Science and Global Security/Jmhogg Peer Review

General info

 * Whose work are you reviewing?

Dephiant08


 * Link to draft you're reviewing
 * The only work I can was directly uploaded to the live page for Impact of the Pandemic on crime, but which was subsequently reverted due to issues with the added content. Since there is nothing available for the Article I was assigned, I am reviewing that temporarily added content instead -> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Impact_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_on_crime&oldid=1028718961


 * Link to the current version of the article (if it exists)
 * Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on crime

Evaluate the drafted changes
From what I can see, the changes made to the current version of the article added two paragraphs to the cybercrime section. As it is adding to an existing section, there are no changes to the Lead. The content is absolutely relevant to the topic, and serves as bookends (A paragraph before and after) the previous existing content on the topic. The first paragraph does not contain a citation, and appears to be the opinion of the student which, while probably correct, is not backed by any sourcing, impartial or otherwise. The second paragraph (And the final of the section edited) describes how spear phishing and other social engineering compromises work, which while important to understand in the context, references an article from 2013 and which does not add anything new from the perspective of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affected cybercrime.

Overall, I agree with the editor that reverted the changes that Dephiant08 made to the live article, as it was not yet ready for release to the public. I would suggest working out the changes in the sandbox and solliciting further feedback from other students and probably the editor that reverted the changes (User:Elizium23) as well.

As someone who worked on responding to cyber threats with links to COVID-19, I think you have latched on to a great topic, and I agree with your comments in the Talk page for the article that there absolutely have been developments since the last time the page was updated, which appear to have been in April 2020. As society adjusted to the new normals of the pandemic, adversaries adapted their targeting and tactics to try to best exploit us:


 * We observed a consistent rise in the use of COVID-themed lures in phishing emails, particularly from the Emotet group (See https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/alerts/aa20-280a for more).
 * As schools and organizations turned to digital conferencing applications for virtual meetings, we saw a rise in attacks against those new methods (https://thecybersecurity.news/vulnerabilities/ransomware-and-zoom-bombing-cyberattacks-disrupt-back-to-school-plans-1817/).
 * During a time when healthcare resources were stretched to their limits, ransomware gangs targeted healthcare infrastructure, knowing that their victims couldn't afford to lose access to their systems and networks when so many lives were at stake: (https://healthitsecurity.com/news/uhs-health-system-confirms-all-us-sites-affected-by-ransomware-attack and https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/universal-health-services-lost-67-million-due-to-ryuk-ransomware-attack/).

I would perhaps consider refocusing on the specifics that further flesh out what was begun in the existing article, documenting some of these changes in targeting as a way of showing how the pandemic affected cybercrime. Please feel free to contact me via my school email or during our next Zoom class if you have any questions on what I've mentioned here. Good luck!

-Justin