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The 'Sound' Of Cybercrime Could Help Track Cybercriminals

A zombie robot army visualized: A data project from The Office for Creative Research allows researchers to sort through signals from infected computers around the world. The system also represents the data in sound. (The Office for Creative Research)
A zombie robot army visualized: A data project from The Office for Creative Research allows researchers to sort through signals from infected computers around the world. The system also represents the data in sound. (The Office for Creative Research)

The United States’ first sanctions program to combat cyberattacks is now in effect. President Obama’s executive order last week comes after a string of attacks on Target, Home Depot and Sony Pictures. The sanctions would target people who harm or compromise critical infrastructure, steal trade secrets and take down computer systems.

But analysts say it’s difficult to identify attackers, who often use a series of computers and networks to hide their locations. These rogue networks are called botnets, and they have been hard to picture until now. Carolyn Adolph, from Here & Now contributor KUOW, reports.

  • Read more on this story via KUOW
  • Reporter

  • Carolyn Adolph, economy reporter at KUOW. She tweets @carolynadolph
  • Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.