Cybercrimeology

Mapping the Digital Threat: The Geography of Cybercrime

Episode Summary

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Miranda Bruce, to discuss research mapping the global landscape of cybercrime and the importance of understanding local factors that contribute to digital offenses. She discusses the challenges of measuring cybercrime, the innovative use of expert surveys, and the development of the World Cybercrime Index.

Episode Notes

Notes:

• Background in Sociology: Dr. Miranda Bruce started in sociology, focusing on the dynamics of power and institutions.
• PhD Research: Her PhD explored the Internet of Things (IoT) using post-structuralist French theory to understand technological reality.
• Transition to Cybercrime: Transitioned from IoT research to a project on the geography of cybercrime, partnering with a local Australian university and the University of Oxford.
• Cybercrime as a Local Phenomenon: Emphasized that cybercrime is not just a global issue but has significant local dimensions.
• Mapping Cybercrime: Developed methods to map cybercrime hotspots to understand where cybercrime is coming from and why.
• Importance of Local Factors: Identified that local factors play a crucial role in the proliferation of cybercrime in specific areas.
• Intervention Strategies: Stressed that intervention strategies must be tailored to local conditions as one-size-fits-all approaches are ineffective.
• Challenges in Measuring Cybercrime: Discussed the difficulties in accurately measuring where cybercrime originates due to technical limitations.
• Survey of Experts: Utilized expert surveys from cybercrime intelligence and investigations to gather data on cybercrime hotspots.
• Bias in Data Collection: Addressed potential biases in the data collection process and took steps to ensure diverse and reliable sources.
• Use of Proxy Data: Chose expert survey data over technical measures or legal cases to get more accurate insights into cybercrime geography.
• Findings: Key findings indicated that countries like Russia, Ukraine, China, the United States, and Nigeria are significant sources of cybercrime.
• Analysis of Results: Plans to analyze the collected data to create theoretical models explaining why cybercrime is prevalent in certain areas.
• Future Research Directions: Aims to develop detailed case studies and collaborate with policymakers to use the data for effective interventions.
• Open Data: Highlighted the importance of making the data open source to enable further research and collaboration across disciplines.

About our guests:

Dr Miranda Bruce:

https://www.sociology.ox.ac.uk/people/miranda-bruce

https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/miranda-bruce

Papers or resources mentioned in this episode:

• Bruce, M., Lusthaus, J., Kashyap, R., Phair, N., & Varese, F. (2024). Mapping the global geography of cybercrime with the World Cybercrime Index. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249850
• Bruce, M., & Phair, N. (2020). Mapping the geography of cybercrime: A review of indices of digital offending by country. IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy. https://doi.org/10.1109/EuroSPW51379.2020.00013

Other:

If you were interested in the topic of this episode, you might also enjoy episode 36 "Cyber criminals are people too".