Exploring Cybercriminal Activities, Behaviors and Profiles

TL;DR

This paper investigates cybercriminal activities and behaviors through psychological and interdisciplinary perspectives, highlighting the importance of understanding perpetrators' profiles to enhance cybersecurity strategies.

Contribution

It provides a socio-technical analysis of cybercriminals using case studies, emphasizing psychological factors and motivations often overlooked in technical research.

Findings

Cybercriminal motivations are diverse and complex.

Psychological and interdisciplinary insights can inform better cybersecurity measures.

Case studies reveal patterns in cybercriminal behavior and profiles.

Abstract

While modern society benefits from a range of technological advancements, it also is exposed to an ever-increasing set of cybersecurity threats. These affect all areas of life including business, government, and individuals. To complement technology solutions to this problem, it is crucial to understand more about cybercriminal perpetrators themselves, their use of technology, psychological aspects, and profiles. This is a topic that has received little socio-technical research emphasis in the technology community, has few concrete research findings, and is thus a prime area for development. The aim of this article is to explore cybercriminal activities and behavior from a psychology and human aspects perspective, through a series of notable case studies. We examine motivations, psychological and other interdisciplinary concepts as they may impact/influence cybercriminal activities. We expect this paper to be of value and particularly insightful for those studying technology, psychology, and criminology, with a focus on cybersecurity and cybercrime.