For a quick search in the Knowledge database below, please use the search box. Also, note that using one or more of the dropdown filters will optimise your search.
Watch this video to find out more about our Knowledge Database and the publications we have collected here for you: video
Knowledge Database
-
Council of Europe: Convention on Cybercrime
Council of Europe | Published in 2011
This document contains the agreed upon conclusion of a 2001 Council of Europe convention on cyber crime.
Keywords: cybercrime -
Big Five Personality Traits of Cybercrime Victims
Steve G.A. van de Weijer, PhD, and E. Rutger Leukfeldt, PhD | Published in 2017
The prevalence of cybercrime has increased rapidly over the last decades and has become part of the everyday life of citizens. It is, therefore, of great importance to gain more knowledge on the factors related to an increased or decreased likelihood of becoming a cybercrime victim. The current study adds to the existing body of knowledge using a large representative sample of Dutch individuals (N= 3,648) to study the relationship between cybercrime victimization and the key traits from the Big Five model of personality (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience). First, multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to examine the associations between the personality traits and three victim groups, that is, cybercrime victims versus nonvictims, traditional crime victims versus nonvictims, and cybercrime victims versus traditional crime victims. Next, logistic regression analyses were performed to predict victimization of cyber-dependent crimes (i.e., hacking and virus infection) and cyber-enabled crimes (i.e., online intimidation, online consumer fraud, and theft from bank account). The analyses show that personality traits are not specifically associated with cybercrime victimization, but rather with victimization in general. Only those with higher scores on emotional stability were less likely to become a victim of cybercrime than traditional crime. Furthermore, the results indicate that there are little differences between personality traits related to victimization of cyber-enabled and cyber-dependent crimes. Only individuals with higher scores on openness to experience have higher odds of becoming a victim of cyber-enabled crimes.
Keywords: cybercrime, fraud, personality -
All Your Contacts Are Belong to Us: Automated Identity Theft Attacks on Social Networks
Leyla Bilge, Thorsten Strufe, Davide Balzarotti, Engin Kirda, Sophia Antipolis | Published in 2009
Social networking sites have been increasingly gaining popularity. Well-known sites such as Facebook have been reporting growth rates as high as 3% per week [5]. Many social networking sites have millions of registered users who use these sites to share photographs, contact long-lost friends, establish new business contacts and to keep in touch. In this paper, we investigate how easy it would be for a potential attacker to launch automated crawling and identity theft attacks against a number of popular social networking sites in order to gain access to a large volume of personal user information. The first attack we present is the automated identity theft of existing user profiles and sending of friend requests to the contacts of the cloned victim. The hope, from the attacker’s point of view, is that the contacted users simply trust and accept the friend request. By establishing a friendship relationship with the contacts of a victim, the attacker is able to access the sensitive personal information provided by them. In the second, more advanced attack we present, we show that it is effective and feasible to launch an automated, cross-site profile cloning attack. In this attack, we are able to automatically create a forged profile in a network where the victim is not registered yet and contact the victim’s friends who are registered on both networks. Our experimental results with real users show that the automated attacks we present are effective and feasible in practice.
Keywords: cybercrime, security -
Are Ethical Hackers the Best Solution for Combating the Growing World of Cyber-Crime?
Devin Marsh | Published in 2017
Cyber-crime has become one of the top threats for government agencies, large corporations, and select individuals. Certain information, such as credit card numbers and identities are stolen regularly. What allows such information vulnerability in a world where everyone feels so secure? The answer is the information super-highway, which can be easily accessed through any computer, tablet, or cellphone, better known as the Internet
Keywords: cybercrime, prevention -
Organizations and Cyber crime: An Analysis of the Nature of Groups engaged in Cyber Crime
Roderic Broadhurst, Peter Grabosky, Mamoun Alazab, Brigitte Bouhours, and Steve Chon | Published in 2014
This paper explores the nature of groups engaged in cybercrime. It briefly outlines the definition and scope of cybercrime, theoretical and empirical challenges in addressing what is known about cyber offenders, and the likely role of organized crime groups. The paper gives examples of known cases that illustrate individual and group behaviour, and motivations of typical offenders, including state actors. Different types of cybercrime and different forms of criminal organisation are described drawing on the typology suggested by McGuire (2012). It is apparent that a wide variety of organisational structures are involved in cybercrime. Enterprise or profit-oriented activities, and especially cybercrime committed by state actors, appear to require leadership, structure, and specialisation. By contrast, protest activity tends to be less organized, with weak (if any) chain of command.
Keywords: cybercrime, organised crime -
A Systematic Literature Review: Information Security Culture
Amjad Mahfuth, Salman Yussof, Asmidar Abu Baker and Nor'ashikin Ali | Published in 2017
Human behavior inside organizations is considered the main threat to organizations. Moreover, in information security the human element consider the most of weakest link in general. Therefore it is crucial to create an information security culture to protect the organization’s assets from inside and to influence employees’ security behavior. This paper focuses on identifying the definitions and frameworks for establishing and maintaining information security culture inside organizations. It presents work have been done to conduct a systematic literature review of papers published on information security culture from 2003 to 2016. The review identified 68 papers that focus on this area, 18 of which propose an information security culture framework. An analysis of these papers indicate there is a positive relationship between levels of knowledge and how employees behave. The level of knowledge significantly affects information security behavior and should be considered as a critical factor in the effectiveness of information security culture and in any further work that is carried out on information security culture. Therefore, there is a need for more studies to identity the security knowledge that needs to be incorporated into organizations and to find instances of best practice for building an information security culture within organizations.
Keywords: cybercrime, fraud, information security culture, security -
What to do if you are a victim of crime
This brochure explains what someone should do if they have been the victim of a cybercrime, including identity theft, stalking, and fraud.
Keywords: cybercrime -
Victims of Advance Fee Fraud: Understanding the process of victimization
Dr Jacqueline M. Drew, Dr Julianne Webster | Published in 2015
Keywords: cybercrime, fraud, victimisation -
The Role of Organizations in Identity Theft Response: The Organization–Individual Victim Dynamic
DAVID LACEY AND SURESH CUGANESAN | Published in 2004
This study considers the role of organizations in relation to identity theft from three perspectives: as a site of identity use (and misuse), as detectors of identity theft, and ultimately, as a site where a fundamental social imperative exists to ensure responsible action is taken to address this form of criminality. Through investigating the organizational–individual victim dynamic, this article examines how organizations react to the possibilities of identity fraud and draws out the implications of this for individual consumers in scenarios of identity theft. The evidence presented leads to a critical examination of the issues confronting organizations in seeking to anticipate and respond to these criminal acts.
Keywords: cybercrime, fraud -
Exploring the crime of identity theft: Prevalence, clearance rates, and victim/offender characteristics
Stuart F.H. Allison, Amie M. Schuck, Kim Michelle Lersch | Published in 2005
Although the crime of identity theft has garnered a great deal of media attention, relatively little empirical research existed on the prevalence of the crime, its clearance rate by arrest, or the demographic characteristics of the victims and the identifiable offenders. The purpose of this article is to expand the knowledge of this growing crime. Using data from a large municipal police department located in Florida as a database, the findings suggested that the number of reported incidents of identity theft appeared to be growing at a greater rate than other theft-related offenses and the clearance rate for identity theft appeared to be declining. The typical apprehended offender was African American, female, unemployed, working alone, and was unknown to the victims, who tended to be White and male.
Keywords: cybercrime, fraud
