Anomie.exe: Geography, Strain and the Motivated Cyber Offender

Episode Summary (Dot Points)

• Understanding Cybercrime through Strain and Anomie Theories
  • Dr. Dearden explains how strain theory and anomie theory provide insights into cybercriminal motivations.
  • Discussion on economic and social pressures that push individuals toward cybercrime, including unemployment, inequality, and lack of upward mobility.
• The Role of Honeypots in Cybercrime Research
  • Overview of honeypots—deceptive systems designed to attract cyber attackers.
  • How honeypots help researchers observe and analyze hacker behaviors in real-world settings.
  • Differences in hacking techniques and motivations across different regions.
• Regional Variations in Cybercriminal Activities
  • Why cybercrime is not uniformly distributed worldwide despite the internet being a global network.
  • Case studies on West African romance scams, Russian cyber operations, and Indian call center frauds.
  • The interplay between legitimate and illegitimate economies in cybercrime hotspots.
• Cybercrime and Economic Opportunity
  • Findings from recent research on how financial strain vs. greed influences cybercrime.
  • The role of cryptocurrency in enabling financial cybercrimes and providing anonymity to offenders.
  • Discussion on how cybercrime prevention strategies need to address offender motivations, not just security vulnerabilities.
• Future Research and Policy Implications
  • The need for broader, structural changes to mitigate cybercrime, rather than relying solely on reactive security measures.
  • How cross-national studies and criminological data collection can improve cybercrime prevention strategies.
  • Upcoming projects on measuring cyber-offending patterns and regional differences in hacking behavior.

About Our Guest

Dr. Thomas Dearden

https://liberalarts.vt.edu/departments-and-schools/department-of-sociology/faculty/thomas-dearden.html

Papers and Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Dearden, T. E., & Gottschalk, P. (2024).Convenience Theory and Cybercrime Opportunity: An Analysis of Online Cyberoffending.Deviant Behavior.DOI Link

Parti, K., & Dearden, T. (2024).Cybercrime and Strain Theory: An Examination of Online Crime and Gender.International Journal of Criminology and Sociology. https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4409.2024.13.19

Dearden, T. E., Parti, K., & Hawdon, J. (2022).Institutional Anomie Theory and Cybercrime: Cybercrime and the American Dream.Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice. https://doi.org/10.1177/10439862211001590

Related Episodes Featuring Dr. Dearden

Episode 39 : Strained Dreams: Cybercrime and Institutional Anomie

https://www.cybercrimeology.com/episodes/strained-dreams-cybercrime-and-institutional-anomie

Other:

The Human Factors in cybercrime Conference: https://www.hfc-conference.com

We had a chat in a room with a bunch of people just outside having their own great conversations. Kind of nice to get a little bit of that vibe into the mix. Conferences can be a lot of fun ;)/.

To the best of my knowledge, no bovines were harmed during the recording of this episode.