Towards a Research Agenda ‘The Human Factor in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity’

• In Event: The Human Factor in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity

Abstract

Research into the human factor in cybercrime and cybersecurity is still in its infancy. Although it is widely recognized that multidisciplinary research is needed to study cybercrime and cybersecurity, this research field is dominated by technical studies. Therefore, in 2016 and 2017, 22 authors from 9 universities, 4 universities of applied sciences and various public organizations worked on the research agenda ‘The Human Factor in cybercrime and cybersecurity’. Jointly the state-of-the-art of research into the human factor within this field was described, the most important research questions on the short and long term were formulated, and (innovative) research methods and datasets were mapped that can be used to study the human factor in cybercrime and cybersecurity. Little is, for example, know about the characteristics of individual offenders and their criminal careers, about how victims can be made resilient against cyberattacks, and effective their interventions of law enforcement agencies are. In this paper, the main findings regarding the state-of-the-art, the most important research questions and innovative research methods and datasets are discussed.

Author

• Rutger Leukfeldt, NSCR (NL) & University of Wolverhampton (UK)