Nowhere to hide: The reign of cyber criminals is coming to an end

During the 1920s and 1930s, a part of the U.S. public rooted for gun-toting, mythologized bank robbers like Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, and Pretty Boy Floyd. But the fantasies were often tempered by reports of guards, police, and innocent bystanders injured and killed in the frequent shoot-outs.

It took a while, but eventually law enforcement caught up with the criminals, either taking them into custody or killing them. Certainly, over time, banks changed how they do business, making them less attractive to robbers, but the biggest disincentive was simply the fact that police got better at their jobs and criminals were successfully hunted. Even today, it's no miscorrelation that American prison populations are at an all-time high while crime is at an all-time low.

The Internet appears to be going through a similar transition now. For too long, the Internet has been a digital safehouse for cyber criminals, large and small. They could conduct their malicious activities with the smallest of risks. Readers and friends often ask me why there are so many cyber criminals and so much malware on the Internet, and I've always replied that it is because the bad people can almost never get caught. This appears to be changing.