We are excited to have our first return guest on Crossing The Firewall, Dr. Kevin Steinmetz! Join us this week as we discuss cybercrime in video games. From depictions of cybercrime in video games to actual cybercrimes being carried out through online video games.

What are our favorite video games? What was the first video game to depict hacking? How do we protect ourselves and our children from cyber criminals online? We discuss it all in this episode of Crossing The Firewall!

----

Learn more about Dr. Kevin Steinmetz: https://www.k-state.edu/sasw/criminology/about/faculty/steinmetz.html

----

Interested in learning more about the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation & Training? Visit our website: www.cybertraining.msu.edu

Advance your career with a Masters Degree in Cybercrime and Digital Investigation from the MSU School of Criminal Justice: https://online.cj.msu.edu/ms-masters-cybercrime-digital-investigation

----

Follow Crossing the Firewall on social media! Find us on BlueSky and Instagram. You can also follow the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation and Training on LinkedIn.

Crossing the Firewall is hosted by Dr. Tom Holt, Dr. Rachel McNealey, and Dr. Taylor Fisher. Edited by JJ Thomas.

All views and opinions expressed are the views of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of their home institutions or places of work. All information provided in this podcast should not be taken as business, personal, financial, or legal advice.

Happy New Year everyone! To kick of 2026, we decided to record a fun episode discussing our favorite movies featuring various types of cybercrime.

We are joined by special guest Dr. Adam Bossler, a Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology at Georgia Southern University. Dr. Bossler's research focuses on applying traditional criminological theories to various forms of cybercrime offending and victimization and the law enforcement response to cybercrime.

----

Interested in learning more about the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation & Training? Visit our website: www.cybertraining.msu.edu

Advance your career with a Masters Degree in Cybercrime and Digital Investigation from the MSU School of Criminal Justice: https://online.cj.msu.edu/ms-masters-cybercrime-digital-investigation

----

Follow Crossing the Firewall on social media! Find us on BlueSky and Instagram. You can also follow the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation and Training on LinkedIn.

Crossing the Firewall is hosted by Dr. Tom Holt, Dr. Rachel McNealey, and Dr. Taylor Fisher. Edited by JJ Thomas.

All views and opinions expressed are the views of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of their home institutions or places of work. All information provided in this podcast should not be taken as business, personal, financial, or legal advice.

Hacktivism: when individuals or groups utilize cyberattacks to promote political or social causes. Is it a justified use of hacking skills or just another example of cybercrime?

The answer to that question may depend on who you ask, but our guest this week is Dr. Vasileios Karagiannopoulos (an expert in cybercrime and hacktivism) who will discuss motives, methods, and the rise of hacktivism.

Dr. Karagiannopoulos is an Associate Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth. He is also the Co-Director of the Cybercrime and Economic Crime Research Centre.

---

Learn more about Dr. Karagiannopoulos: https://www.port.ac.uk/about-us/structure-and-governance/our-people/our-staff/vasileios-karagiannopoulos

----

Interested in learning more about the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation & Training? Visit our website: www.cybertraining.msu.edu

Advance your career with a Masters Degree in Cybercrime and Digital Investigation from the MSU School of Criminal Justice: https://online.cj.msu.edu/ms-masters-cybercrime-digital-investigation

----

Follow Crossing the Firewall on social media! Find us on BlueSky and Instagram. You can also follow the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation and Training on LinkedIn.

Crossing the Firewall is hosted by Dr. Tom Holt, Dr. Rachel McNealey, and Dr. Taylor Fisher. Edited by JJ Thomas.

All views and opinions expressed are the views of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of their home institutions or places of work. All information provided in this podcast should not be taken as business, personal, financial, or legal advice.

Dr. Jesse Cale joins us for this episode of Crossing The Firewall to discuss sexual offending, gaming, and the dark web. Offenders are finding a variety of ways to target potential victims, ranging from utilizing the dark web to even targeting individuals on Roblox. ----Dr. Jesse Cale is an Associate Professor of Criminology at Griffith University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice in Queensland, Australia.Learn more about Dr. Jesse Cale: https://experts.griffith.edu.au/2924-jesse-cale----Interested in learning more about the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation & Training? Visit our website: www.cybertraining.msu.eduAdvance your career with a Masters Degree in Cybercrime and Digital Investigation from the MSU School of Criminal Justice: https://online.cj.msu.edu/ms-masters-cybercrime-digital-investigation----Follow Crossing the Firewall on social media! Find us on BlueSky and Instagram. You can also follow the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation and Training on LinkedIn. Crossing the Firewall is hosted by Dr. Tom Holt, Dr. Rachel McNealey, and Dr. Taylor Fisher. Edited by JJ Thomas. All views and opinions expressed are the views of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of their home institutions or places of work. All information provided in this podcast should not be taken as business, personal, financial, or legal advice.

This week's guest, Luuk Bekkers, discusses Money Mules and how they relate to cybercrime. No, they are not literal mules...the entire concept is way more interesting than that.

Learn how Money Mules are used in fraud, money laundering, and whether or not Artificial Intelligence (AI) can actually allow this industry to scale or if AI can actually hinder its growth. All of this week's episode of Crossing The Firewall.

----

Learn more about Luuk Bekkers: https://www.thuas.com/research/research-groups/team-cybercrime-cybersecurity

----

Interested in learning more about the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation & Training? Visit our website: www.cybertraining.msu.edu

Advance your career with a Masters Degree in Cybercrime and Digital Investigation from the MSU School of Criminal Justice: https://online.cj.msu.edu/ms-masters-cybercrime-digital-investigation

----

Follow Crossing the Firewall on social media! Find us on BlueSky and Instagram. You can also follow the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation and Training on LinkedIn.

Crossing the Firewall is hosted by Dr. Tom Holt, Dr. Rachel McNealey, and Dr. Taylor Fisher. Edited by JJ Thomas.

All views and opinions expressed are the views of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of their home institutions or places of work. All information provided in this podcast should not be taken as business, personal, financial, or legal advice.

In this episode of Crossing the Firewall, we are joined by special guest Dr. Jack Whittaker to discuss non-delivery fraud. Dr. Whittaker discusses his research findings surrounding Pet Scams. Fraudsters are actually having fake websites created and are marketing themselves as Dog Breeders to lure potential customers. Once a down payment is placed, the victims become emotionally attached to the idea of their future pet. The problem is that the pet never actually existed.

Dr. Whittaker discusses his interactions with these fraudsters and what he learned about how money, culture, black magic, social status, and geographic borders all play an important role in these scams.

----

Dr. Jack Whittaker is a lecturer at the University of Surrey. Learn more: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/jack-whittaker-0

----

Interested in learning more about the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation & Training? Visit our website: www.cybertraining.msu.edu

Advance your career with a Masters Degree in Cybercrime and Digital Investigation from the MSU School of Criminal Justice: https://online.cj.msu.edu/ms-masters-cybercrime-digital-investigation

----

Follow Crossing the Firewall on social media! Find us on BlueSky and Instagram. You can also follow the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation and Training on LinkedIn.

Crossing the Firewall is hosted by Dr. Tom Holt, Dr. Rachel McNealey, and Dr. Taylor Fisher. Edited by JJ Thomas.

All views and opinions expressed are the views of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of their home institutions or places of work. All information provided in this podcast should not be taken as business, personal, financial, or legal advice.

You arrive to your desk after a tiring commute where at least three people cut you off on the freeway and the coffee shop got your order wrong (again). That's okay, though, you made it in and are ready to start your day.

The computer boots up, then flashes to a screen you haven't seen before. Now a message shows up on screen, "Access Denied." Panicked, you contact your IT Department. Your organization is the victim of a ransomware attack.

What do you do?

Dr. David Decary-Hetu, Professor at the School of Criminology at the University of Montreal and an expert in ransomware attacks, breaks down how these attacks happen on organizations and what the aftermath is.

Ransomware is not new. However, in the age of Cryptocurrencies and Artificial Intelligence, Ransomware-As-A-Service is emerging. This is causing organizations, researchers, and law enforcement to adapt and find new ways to combat this cybercrime.

----

Dr. Decary-Hetu is a Professor at the School of Criminology at the University of Montreal whose research focuses on criminal networks, criminal markets, cybercrime, and financial data theft.

Dr. Decary-Hetu is also the Chair of the ASC Division of Cybercrime.

Learn more: https://www.cicc-iccc.org/en/people/regular_researchers/david_decary_hetu

ASC Division of Cybercrime: https://ascdivisionofcybercrime.org/

----

Interested in learning more about the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation & Training? Visit our website: www.cybertraining.msu.edu

Advance your career with a Masters Degree in Cybercrime and Digital Investigation from the MSU School of Criminal Justice: https://online.cj.msu.edu/ms-masters-cybercrime-digital-investigation

----

Follow Crossing the Firewall on social media! Find us on BlueSky and Instagram. You can also follow the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation and Training on LinkedIn.

Crossing the Firewall is hosted by Dr. Tom Holt, Dr. Rachel McNealey, and Dr. Taylor Fisher. Edited by JJ Thomas.

All views and opinions expressed are the views of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of their home institutions or places of work. All information provided in this podcast should not be taken as business, personal, financial, or legal advice.

Children are interacting with digital devices younger than ever before. While there may be some benefits related to learning on digital devices, the risk of children being victimized online continues to rise.

Predatory behavior targeted at children online is a parent's worst nightmare. How do we protect children from online predators? How do we stop these predators from engaging with children in the first place? What can we do to stop this compared to what law enforcement can do?

Our guest this week, Dr. Kate Seigfried-Spellar (Professor in the MSU School of Criminal Justice) answers these questions based on her experience as a researcher and a practitioner.

----

Dr. Seigfried-Spellar is a Professor in the Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice. Her research interests and methods combine behavioral sciences, social sciences, artificial intelligence, biometrics, natural language processing, and digital forensics.

Learn more: https://cj.msu.edu/directory/seigfriedspellar-kate.html

----

Interested in learning more about the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation & Training? Visit our website: www.cybertraining.msu.edu

Advance your career with a Masters Degree in Cybercrime and Digital Investigation from the MSU School of Criminal Justice: https://online.cj.msu.edu/ms-masters-cybercrime-digital-investigation

----

Follow Crossing the Firewall on social media! Find us on BlueSky and Instagram. You can also follow the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation and Training on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Crossing the Firewall is hosted by Dr. Tom Holt, Dr. Rachel McNealey, and Dr. Taylor Fisher. Edited by JJ Thomas.