Inside out: Characterising Cybercrimes Committed Inside and Outside the Workplace
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Authors
Hutchings, A
Collier, B
Publication Date
2019Journal Title
Proceedings - 4th IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops, EUROS and PW 2019
Conference Name
2019 IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops (EuroS&PW)
ISBN
9781728130262
Publisher
IEEE
Pages
481-490
Type
Conference Object
This Version
AM
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Hutchings, A., & Collier, B. (2019). Inside out: Characterising Cybercrimes Committed Inside and Outside the Workplace. Proceedings - 4th IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops, EUROS and PW 2019, 481-490. https://doi.org/10.1109/EuroSPW.2019.00060
Abstract
This comparison of cybercrime offenders within and outside the workplace reveals they display very different types of offending behaviour, involving different demographics, initiation pathways, and types of offence. The Cambridge Computer Crime Database (CCCD) is a database of open source information about cybercrime arrests and prosecutions in the United Kingdom. This study analyses data from the CCCD spanning nine years, from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2018. Insiders are more likely to be older, and commit less-technical offences, primarily data and system breaches. They are less likely to offend with others, the offences are less likely to be international in nature, and they are less likely to receive a custodial sentence. Most alleged offenders are men, but women are more likely to offend within their occupation than outside the workplace. Of those that offend in the workplace, the largest group consists of police officers or police staff. This is likely to reflect differences in the type of organisations that pursue criminal action against insiders. We draw on a strain theory framework to argue that these findings accord with different kinds of strain and differing reactions to strain. The data for crimes outside the workplace support a `subcultural' pattern of adaptation to strain, with offenders tending to be younger, male and linked to co-offenders. The findings relating to insiders support an opportunity model of crime, with inter-workplace variation in opportunities, working cultures and sources of strain present in different workplaces.
Sponsorship
This work was supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) [grant EP/M020320/1].
Funder references
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/M020320/1)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/EuroSPW.2019.00060
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/291960
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