Cybercrime Flashcards
Castells (1998) Global Criminal Economy;
refers to how internet has facilitated the creation of vast criminal networks, it is an amplification device that has transformed traditional and created new crime types
Pease (2001) discusses
“empowered small agents” - any intelligent person with an internet connection can commit cybercrime
legal rationalisation…
is the process by which the law updates/forms new laws to respond to modern cybercrimes e.g. possession of obscene electronic online images - not physical photos
Cybercrime differs from terrestrial crimes…
time and space are distanciated (Giddens, 1990), there is a lack of social/legal/political recognition, offenders are more likely to be educated and economically privileged
cybercrime offenders are most often…
educated males from economically privileged backgrounds
defining cybercrime is inherently complex because…
it takes many different forms and blurs the boundary between reality and virtual worlds, plus there is little agreement between regulatory parties
Wall (1988) describes 3 categories of cybercrime:
Facilitates existing criminal activity
New crimes recognised by existing laws
New ‘harms’ unrecognised by laws
what is the problem with legal rationalisation and cybercrime?
is it a crime or a harm???
some laws such as hacking, are simple to adapt because of existing privacy laws, however the internet has created new crimes that have no existing terrestrial precedent.
4 key issues for apprehending cybercriminals
offender and victim do not have to share the same spatial-temporal location - could be anyone/anywhere.
Jurisdiction - cybercrime laws are not universal and relative to the country - who regulates where/what?
Struggle to regulate policing, if O&V are in different countries, or countries with poor working relationships
Wall (1990) his typology (4)
Cybertrespass, Cybertheft, Cyber obscenity and Cyberviolence
Cyber trespass is…
Hacking, Planting of viruses, Manipulation of data, Espionage, Terrorism
Cyber theft is…
Appropriation of Intellectual Property, Online Fraud Romance Scams (Whitty 2013) Identity or credit card theft,
Online Identity Theft is…
Duplication of digital information or the high-jacking of online accounts to commit fraud
Can use keystroke loggers
Phishing is…
criminals pose as legit companies/banks
Spear Phishing -
targeted profiling of victims based on desires for goods and services
Pharming -
bypasses social engineering with software to automatically redirect webpages
National Fraud Authority 2012: cost of Cybertheft to the UK economy every year is…
£1.2 billion per year
In the UK between 2011-12, the number of phishing incidents rose by
130%
Globally between 2012-13, phishing attacks rose by
87% (37 million attacks)
Phishing incidents involve sites like…
banks, social media, google…
Cyber Obscenity is…
sexual deviance, such as paedophile networks, illegal pornsites or those that exploit women or men sexually - cultural variance in what is acceptable (but never paedophilia)
Cyber violence is…
Flaming/Trolling
Hate Speech
Stalking
‘Virtual Rape’ (Dibble 1993, Mackinnon 1997)
online identity theft is now…
the #1 acquisitive crime in Europe
In the UK, cybercrime prevalence is
growing! with up to 50% on corporations reporting some kind of unauthorised access (hacking) and 40% reporting malware infection
BCS (2003) found that
75% anxious about credit card fraud 18% victims of virus attacks 2% victims of hacking 12% victims of email harassment 21% victims of obscenity related crimes
risk of victimisation increases if users…
use public computers, regularly access chatrooms or auction sites
victims can be ANYONE
individuals, governements, businesses, charities
Offending Crime and Justice Survey (2003)
11% admitted to committing a technology crime
and 20% of males and 9% of females commit intellectual property theft - NOW MUCH HIGHER but not financially viable to prosecute everyone who downloads illegally
Psychological harms of cyber harassment (stalking, hate speech, obscenity, theft ) include..
Anxiety, sleeplessness, concentration problems, avoidance, relationship breakdown
Physical harms of cyber harassment include…
Online grooming, Cyber stalking, Hate crimes, cyber bullying and related violence
but are these just “virtual harms”?
Detica/Cabinet Office says that cybercrime costs the UK economy…
£27 billion annually
transfer, anticipatory and reactive costs
Cybercrime wastes £27 billion annually, what are the 3 kinds of costs involved?
Transfer costs (direct losses from online fraud from victim to fraudster and from legal to illegal economy)
Anticipatory costs:
defensive (e.g. virus & snooping software) and precautionary (e.g. avoiding ‘unsecure’ websites/services)
Reactive costs: criminal justice costs and civil costs
Cybercrime is embedded within a dark figure
because it is inherently difficult to accurately measure, encompasses a broad spectrum of deviant behaviours and can happen without victims even knowing
BCS 2003 included a cybercrime section for the first time but…
that data is now 12 years old and useless
Routine Activities Theory (Cohen and Felson, 1979) adequately explains cybercrime…
supply of motivated offenders, with access to suitable targets in the absence of capable guardianship
Deindividuation (Festinger, 1972) explains cyber harassement and trolling well …
Anonymity, Lack of public self awareness, Disinhibition
Katz’ (1988) seductions of crime
criminals are thrill seeking and seduced by the entertainment that hacking and trolling can provide, or by the lucrative prospects of cybercrime (financial or status gain)
Control theory Hirschi (1969) Attachment Commitent Involvement Belief
forming bonds with prosocial values, prosocial people, and prosocial institutions is how we learn to control our behaviour when we are tempted to engage in criminal or deviant acts.
how much does the UK spend annually to protect our digital borders?
£800 million - more likely to attract the HQ’s of large corporations if our internet infrastructure is secure
Thomas and Loader (2000) define Cybercrime as
“computer-mediated activities which are either illegal or considered illicit by certain parties and which can be conducted through global electronic networks”
Governing bodies (such as the EU, UN, Interpol) refuse a set definition and argue it must be subjective so that…
each jurisdiction can apply its own definition based on existing laws
