Recently, on May 10th, the Dutch Center for Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR) presented an interesting new publication focused on the human factor in cybercrime at the International One Conference 2017 in the World Forum in The Hague: Research agenda, The human factor in cybercrime and cybersecurity.

Cybercrime is not a matter of technology alone: it remains human activity. In the research agenda ‘The Human Factor in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity’ 22 authors outline the state of scientific research into the role of human aspects.

The agenda addresses future research by formulating key research questions and maps innovative research methods and data sets:

• Where do cyber criminals come from and how they earn their money?
• Is a cyber criminal a new type of offender or an ‘old’ offender in a new field of work? 
• What are the business models of cybercriminals? And can you make potential victims more resilient?

Digitization involves risks, as is now recognized. The majority of scientific research into cybercrime and cybersecurity is highly technological. The focus is on developing tools and techniques to detect or stop incidents. Research into the human factor in cybercrime and cybersecurity is necessary to take the step of preventing incidents to prevent them from occurring.

Due to the lack of research into the human factor in cybercrime and cybersecurity, answers to basic questions remain unanswered. For example, do we have to deal with ‘old’ criminals in a new field of work, or is it a new type of perpetrator with dito features and motives? How do cybercriminals earn their money? And can potential victims be made more resilient?

Catrien Bijleveld, Director of the Dutch Center for Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR): “The NSCR as a national institute of NWO (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek ) will strongly focus in the coming years on research into this human factor, which cybercriminals will increasingly use in their cyber attacks.”

See the full press release (in Dutch):