Mapping the global geography of cybercrime with the World Cybercrime Index
Cybercrime is a major challenge facing the world, with estimated costs ranging from the hundreds of millions to the trillions. Despite the threat it poses, cybercrime is somewhat an invisible phenomenon. In carrying out their virtual attacks, offenders often mask their physical locations by hiding b...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science
2024
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| _version_ | 1826312927021367296 |
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| author | Bruce, M Lusthaus, J Kashyap, R Phair, N Varese, F |
| author_facet | Bruce, M Lusthaus, J Kashyap, R Phair, N Varese, F |
| author_sort | Bruce, M |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Cybercrime is a major challenge facing the world, with estimated costs ranging from the hundreds of millions to the trillions. Despite the threat it poses, cybercrime is somewhat an invisible phenomenon. In carrying out their virtual attacks, offenders often mask their physical locations by hiding behind online nicknames and technical protections. This means technical data are not well suited to establishing the true location of offenders and scholarly knowledge of cybercrime geography is limited. This paper proposes a solution: an expert survey. From March to October 2021 we invited leading experts in cybercrime intelligence/investigations from across the world to participate in an anonymized online survey on the geographical location of cybercrime offenders. The survey asked participants to consider five major categories of cybercrime, nominate the countries that they consider to be the most significant sources of each of these types of cybercrimes, and then rank each nominated country according to the impact, professionalism, and technical skill of its offenders. The outcome of the survey is the World Cybercrime Index, a global metric of cybercriminality organised around five types of cybercrime. The results indicate that a relatively small number of countries house the greatest cybercriminal threats. These findings partially remove the veil of anonymity around cybercriminal offenders, may aid law enforcement and policymakers in fighting this threat, and contribute to the study of cybercrime as a local phenomenon. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:19:33Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:04728b71-0d18-4f43-a5c6-64373ac65117 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:04:30Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:04728b71-0d18-4f43-a5c6-64373ac651172024-05-22T08:55:14ZMapping the global geography of cybercrime with the World Cybercrime IndexJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:04728b71-0d18-4f43-a5c6-64373ac65117EnglishSymplectic ElementsPublic Library of Science2024Bruce, MLusthaus, JKashyap, RPhair, NVarese, FCybercrime is a major challenge facing the world, with estimated costs ranging from the hundreds of millions to the trillions. Despite the threat it poses, cybercrime is somewhat an invisible phenomenon. In carrying out their virtual attacks, offenders often mask their physical locations by hiding behind online nicknames and technical protections. This means technical data are not well suited to establishing the true location of offenders and scholarly knowledge of cybercrime geography is limited. This paper proposes a solution: an expert survey. From March to October 2021 we invited leading experts in cybercrime intelligence/investigations from across the world to participate in an anonymized online survey on the geographical location of cybercrime offenders. The survey asked participants to consider five major categories of cybercrime, nominate the countries that they consider to be the most significant sources of each of these types of cybercrimes, and then rank each nominated country according to the impact, professionalism, and technical skill of its offenders. The outcome of the survey is the World Cybercrime Index, a global metric of cybercriminality organised around five types of cybercrime. The results indicate that a relatively small number of countries house the greatest cybercriminal threats. These findings partially remove the veil of anonymity around cybercriminal offenders, may aid law enforcement and policymakers in fighting this threat, and contribute to the study of cybercrime as a local phenomenon. |
| spellingShingle | Bruce, M Lusthaus, J Kashyap, R Phair, N Varese, F Mapping the global geography of cybercrime with the World Cybercrime Index |
| title | Mapping the global geography of cybercrime with the World Cybercrime Index |
| title_full | Mapping the global geography of cybercrime with the World Cybercrime Index |
| title_fullStr | Mapping the global geography of cybercrime with the World Cybercrime Index |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mapping the global geography of cybercrime with the World Cybercrime Index |
| title_short | Mapping the global geography of cybercrime with the World Cybercrime Index |
| title_sort | mapping the global geography of cybercrime with the world cybercrime index |
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