The Effects of Strain on Data Theft
At the end of 2024, almost a year after I wrote about EternalBlue, I wrote about the group that leaked it from the NSA: the Shadow Brokers. A cybercriminology class tasked me with applying a psychological theory to a criminal group or event, and I went with the application of Merton’s 1938 Strain Theory and Agnew’s 1992 General Strain Theory on the actions of the Shadow Brokers.
The paper isn’t something I’m too happy with; I do think it could use revision and a more nuanced explanation of the ideas I was trying to get at. Feel free to take a read if the analysis interests you, though.
Post published 06/29/2025, dated 12/01/2024 for chronology purposes.