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.
