Evidence-Based Cybersecurity Research Group

The notion of ‘cybersecurity’ in academic literature and the world is still technical. Our work is unique in that we focus on human behavior. We are trying to understand the interactions among the four major actors in the cybercrime ecosystem: cybercriminals, enablers (individuals who support online criminal operations), targets and guardians (official law enforcement agencies and system administrators). No one else is bringing together human behavior and these tools in as comprehensive way as our group does to look at the four actors, technology and ecosystem. Cyber-dependent crimes have become a major concern for governmental, commercial, and financial institutions around the globe, as well as for private individuals who use computer technology and the Internet for leisure, shopping, and work. Extensive research has examined and proposed ways to prevent the development of cyber-dependent crimes. However, it is still unclear whether commonly used interventions can prevent online offenders from engaging in crimes like hacking, spreading malware, and launching Distributed Denial of Service attacks. Our research group seeks to produce empirical evidence and provide systematic reviews of existing empirical research regarding the potential effect of existing cyber-security policies and tools in preventing the development and progression of cyber-dependent crimes.