Andrew Power

The Psychology of Cyber Crime: Concepts and Principles

As more individuals own and operate Internet-enabled devices and more critical government and industrial systems rely on advanced technologies, the issue of cybercrime has become a crucial concern for both the general public and professionals alike. The Psychology of Cyber Crime: Concepts and Principles aims to be the leading reference examining the psychology of cybercrime. This book considers many aspects of cybercrime, including research on offenders, legal issues, the impact of cybercrime on victims, punishment, and preventative measures. It is designed as a source for researchers and practitioners in the disciplines of criminology, cyberpsychology, and forensic psychology, though it is also likely to be of significant interest to many students of information technology and other related disciplines.

Cybercrime: Psychology of cybercrime

Case studies Jack’s computer has been running very slowly for a few days, and eventually he asks his friend to take a look at it for him. His friend downloads the latest version of an antivirus software program, which finds a virus on Jack’s computer. Jack remembers downloading an email attachment received from his sister just before the computer began to slow down. When he searches through his sent messages, he discovers that the file has sent itself on to all of his contacts. Jack feels embarrassed having to tell all his contacts that he was the victim of a virus, and that they should all check their computers. He wonders why anyone would create such a malicious file, and what they have to gain from infecting his computer. Michael has just been arrested. Police officers have found over 10,000 images and videos of child pornography on his computer, which Michael has downloaded from the internet. Michael claims that he hasn’t really done any harm as he has never abused a child himself, nor has he ever uploaded any images to the internet. Chapter overview This chapter is designed to introduce the reader to forensic psychology. It may be that you are studying cybercrime as part of a wider forensic psychology module or course, in which case you may have already come across many of the concepts in this chapter, and you may prefer to move directly on to the rest of the chapters in this book. However, if you have never studied forensic psychology before, this chapter will provide you with some of the fundamental concepts of the field, especially those that relate to the study of the psychology of cybercrime.

Cybercrime: Cyberbullying and cyberstalking

Case studies Christina was happy in school until a new girl, Emma, started in her year. Emma made friends easily, and soon was the most popular girl in the class, but she took a dislike to Christina. Emma began to bully Christina in school – regularly calling her names and insulting her. Christina realised that she was no longer being invited to social events with her former friends, and she spent more and more time alone. While her classmates remained her ‘friends’ on social networking sites, they often sent her bullying messages, or posted nasty comments about her on their profiles. Christina was particularly upset when one person whom she had considered to be a good friend posted information that Christina had told her in secret on the public pages of the social networking site. The bullying soon extended to receiving text messages on her mobile phone, often from numbers that she did not recognise. While Christina tried to remain positive, she found herself becoming more and more introverted and depressed. Alex had dated Sarah for three months during their first year in university, before breaking it off with her. He thought that they could remain friends, but over time it became apparent that she was stalking him. She commented on every post that he made on social networking sites, and sent him repeated emails and text messages asking to get back together. When Sarah started to show up at parties and events that he was attending, Alex realised that she was using a calendar on a social networking site to figure out where he would be. She also used his online profile to determine what subjects he was taking, and could regularly be found outside the lecture theatre just before or after his classes. She also monitored his location check-ins using his smartphone, and would show up nearby. Eventually Alex blocked her from his social networking account, and changed his mobile phone number so that Sarah couldn’t reach him.