Search Results (9)

The rapid rise of AI-driven cybercrime and deepfake fraud poses complex organisational challenges for US law enforcement, particularly the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Applying Maguire’s (2003) police organisation theory, this qualitative single-case study analyses the FBI’s structure, culture, technological integration, and inter-agency collaboration. Findings underscore the organisational strengths of the FBI, including a specialised Cyber Division, advanced detection tools, and partnerships with agencies such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). However, constraints, such as resource limitations, detection inaccuracies, inter-agency rivalries, and ethical concerns, including privacy risks associated with AI surveillance, hinder operational effectiveness. Fragmented global legal frameworks, diverse national capacities, and inconsistent detection of advanced deepfakes further complicate responses to this issue. This study proposes the establishment of agile task forces, public–private partnerships, international cooperation protocols, and ethical AI frameworks to counter evolving threats, offering scalable policy and technological solutions for global law enforcement. Full article

As cybercrime proliferates globally, law enforcement agencies face significant challenges in responding effectively. This essay shares perspectives from Singapore, where cybercrime accounted for about 70% of the total annual crime in 2023, with no clear data on case resolution rates. This situation reflects a broader global trend and highlights the need to reconceptualize policing objectives in cyberspace. The fundamental differences between cybercrime and physical crime necessitate a shift from emphasizing the identification and prosecution of perpetrators to adopting a harm-centric perspective. Under this perspective, structures and policies should be implemented to disrupt financial flows, ensure data security, disrupt the spread of harmful content, and prevent physical damage. Once this is done, strategies such as public–private partnerships, international cooperation, and training and building capabilities to address specific harms can be more effectively implemented to mitigate the growing threat that cybercrime poses worldwide. Full article

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant digital transformation. The widespread use of wireless communication in IoT has posed security challenges due to its vulnerability to cybercrime. The Indonesian National Police’s Directorate of Cyber Crime is expected to play a preventive role in supervising these attacks, despite lacking a specific cyber-attack prevention function. An Intrusion Detection System (IDS), employing artificial intelligence, can differentiate between cyber-attacks and non-attacks. This study focuses on developing a machine learning-based policing model to detect cyber-attacks on Wi-Fi networks. The model analyzes network data, enabling quick identification of attack indications in the command room. The research involves simulations and analyses of various feature selection methods and classification models using a public dataset of cyber-attacks on Wi-Fi networks. The study identifies mutual information with 20 features such as the optimal feature reduction method and the Neural Network as the best classification method, achieving a 94% F1-Score within 95 s. These results demonstrate the proposed IDS’s ability to swiftly detect attacks, aligning with previous research findings. Full article

Online harassment, particularly cyberbullying and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, is a widespread phenomenon among adolescents and young adults. Descriptive research was carried out to investigate any differences among Italian school classes in the perception of cybercrime through a real-case scenario. Following the Italian school system, the final sample of 1777 adolescents (Mage = 15.37, SD = 1.65; Male = 52%) was divided into three groups based on the school class attended: middle school (N = 562; Mage = 13.37, SD = 0.48); high school biennium (N = 728; Mage = 15.55, SD = 0.50), and triennium (N = 487, Mage = 17.40, SD = 0.71). Participants completed a self-report questionnaire investigating the use of the Internet and the perception of a real case scenario involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images and cyberbullying received by the National Centre for Combating Child Pornography Online (NCPO). Results showed differences among the three groups’ perceptions of the event’s features, motivations underlying the offense, victim-blaming and harassment justification (e.g., cyberbullying, in particular non-consensual sharing of intimate images, is recognized as a crime as age increases). The findings provide significant insights for future research and age-specific factors to consider when developing prevention programs for online risks. Full article

In the never-ending search by Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) for ways to reduce crime more effectively, the prevention of criminal activity is always considered the ideal solution. Since the 1990s, Intelligence-led Policing (ILP) was implemented in some forms by many LEAs around the world for crime prevention. Along with ILP, LEAs nowadays more and more turn to various new surveillance technologies. As a result, there are numerous studies and reports introducing some compelling results from LEAs that have implemented ILP, offering robust data around how the future of policing could be. In this context, this paper explores the most recent literature, identifying where ILP stands today in Greece and to what extent it could be a viable, practical approach to crime prevention. In addition, it is researched to what degree new technologies have been adopted by the European Union and the Hellenic Police in their “battle” against crime. It is concluded that most technologies are at the research stage, and studies are underway in many areas. Full article

In many developed countries, the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) has become important in paving the future path in how data is managed and secured in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sector. SMEs in these developed countries have created their own cyber regimes around AI and ML. This knowledge is tested daily in how these countries’ SMEs run their businesses and identify threats and attacks, based on the support structure of the individual country. Based on recent changes to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Brexit, and ISO standards requirements, machine learning cybersecurity (MLCS) adoption in the UK SME market has become prevalent and a good example to lean on, amongst other developed nations. Whilst MLCS has been successfully applied in many applications, including network intrusion detection systems (NIDs) worldwide, there is still a gap in the rate of adoption of MLCS techniques for UK SMEs. Other developed countries such as Spain and Australia also fall into this category, and similarities and differences to MLCS adoptions are discussed. Applications of how MLCS is applied within these SME industries are also explored. The paper investigates, using quantitative and qualitative methods, the challenges to adopting MLCS in the SME ecosystem, and how operations are managed to promote business growth. Much like security guards and policing in the real world, the virtual world is now calling on MLCS techniques to be embedded like secret service covert operations to protect data being distributed by the millions into cyberspace. This paper will use existing global research from multiple disciplines to identify gaps and opportunities for UK SME small business cyber security. This paper will also highlight barriers and reasons for low adoption rates of MLCS in SMEs and compare success stories of larger companies implementing MLCS. The methodology uses structured quantitative and qualitative survey questionnaires, distributed across an extensive participation pool directed to the SMEs’ management and technical and non-technical professionals using stratify methods. Based on the analysis and findings, this study reveals that from the primary data obtained, SMEs have the appropriate cybersecurity packages in place but are not fully aware of their potential. Secondary data collection was run in parallel to better understand how these barriers and challenges emerged, and why the rate of adoption of MLCS was very low. The paper draws the conclusion that help through government policies and processes coupled together with collaboration could minimize cyber threats in combatting hackers and malicious actors in trying to stay ahead of the game. These aspirations can be reached by ensuring that those involved have been well trained and understand the importance of communication when applying appropriate safety processes and procedures. This paper also highlights important funding gaps that could help raise cyber security awareness in the form of grants, subsidies, and financial assistance through various public sector policies and training. Lastly, SMEs’ lack of understanding of risks and impacts of cybercrime could lead to conflicting messages between cross-company IT and cybersecurity rules. Trying to find the right balance between this risk and impact, versus productivity impact and costs, could lead to UK SMES getting over these hurdles in this cyberspace in the quest for promoting the usage of MLCS. UK and Wales governments can use the research conducted in this paper to inform and adapt their policies to help UK SMEs become more secure from cyber-attacks and compare them to other developed countries also on the same future path. Full article

The current research explored the predictors of how police officers perceived the importance of combatting cybercrime. This is an era in which industrial security is threatened by perpetrators who use advanced techniques to steal information online. Understanding how law enforcement officers view the control of cybercrimes, especially those that steal confidential business information, can inform industrial espionage prevention and help maintain a nation’s industrial competitiveness in the world market. We surveyed a convenience sample of South Korean police officers attending training at the Police Human Resources Development Institute (PHRDI) using a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. The results indicated that the officers’ perceptions of colleagues’ and organizational views on cybercrime control significantly impacted their attitudes. Additionally, officers’ perceptions of the seriousness of online theft (in this paper, we use the terms online theft and property cybercrime interchangeably) and their computer proficiency were also found to affect their views on the importance of combatting cybercrimes. We conclude by suggesting that the police take a proactive organizational approach to prevent and respond to online property crimes through education and public awareness programs, which could positively impact the prevention of industrial espionage. Full article

In the context of the digitization of delinquent activities, perpetrated via the internet, the question of the most appropriate means of crime prevention and crime repression is once again being raised. Studies performed on police investigations have highlighted the over-determining nature of circumstantial factors in crime as a condition for their elucidation for more than fifty years. The emergence of mass delinquency, such as cybercrime, has thus strongly altered the role of investigation as a useful mode of knowledge production. This obsolescence has appeared gradually and can be summarized in four stages, which generates a suspicion about the social relevance of the investigation. It seems that the holistic approach of criminal intelligence is more adapted to the fight against new forms of crime. The investigation becomes a precision instrument assigned to functions that become more specific. This article considers this paradigm shift by the approaches to knowledge management of crime control. Cybercrime is then emblematic of this shift. This study is based on the criminological review and the delinquency analysis led by the central criminal intelligence service of the national gendarmerie. Its premise may likely guide the strategy of French law enforcement agencies. Full article

This study analyzes different attitudes toward introduction of smart policing technologies in cybercrime policing among the Korean public and police. Policing is essential for a sustainable community. Technological advances in policing have both positive and negative aspects, making it essential to investigate perceptions of both public and police when introducing smart policing technologies. A discrete choice experiment was undertaken to survey preferences of the public and police toward introduction of such technologies and conduct simulation analysis to compare changes in the acceptance of various scenarios. The study divides cybercrime policing into prevention and investigation. The sample included 500 members of the public and 161 police officers. The results show that the public thinks an increase in yearly taxes and invasion of privacy are the most important factors. Conversely, the police think factors enhancing the efficiency of policing are most important. Moreover, when smart policing technologies are introduced, the public and police perceive more utility in the prevention and investigation of cybercrime, respectively. Few studies in this field separate the prevention and investigation of crimes, or compare perceptions of the public and police toward the introduction of smart policing technologies. This study’s quantitative analysis provides insights lacking in previous literature. Full article