Out of the Beta Phase: Obstacles, Challenges, and Promising Paths in the Study of Cyber Criminology

IntroductionComputers have become an integral part of every aspect of our lives. Computer technologies are relied on for nearly everything we do and we live in societies that are fundamentally dependent on digital infrastructure for their continued functioning. Increasingly, this mission-critical nature of computer networks for nearly all industry sectors, combined with the wealth of personal information that is being put online, has bred a new type of dangerous criminal-one that is targeting computers to steal our information, finances, and personal identifications (Bachmann & Corzine, 2009; Furnell, 2002; Holt, 2010; Jaishankar, 2007, 2008; Jewkes, 2007; Nhan & Bachmann, 2010; Yar, 2006). The Office of the President of the United States suggests that threat posed by these cyber-criminals "is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges" (2009, para, 18).Today, governments around the globe struggle to employ effective countermeasures against cyber-attacks. The implementation of such countermeasures is increasingly facilitated by the vast amount of scientific knowledge about the technical details of the various attack methods (Amoroso, 2011). Unfortunately, the guidance provided by these studies is limited to details on the methods of attack and is left lacking insight about who the attackers are and how they differ from "traditional" criminals. This situation persists despite the concerted efforts of a small number of dedicated scholars from around the globe (among them Bachmann, Brenner, Hinduja, Holt, Jaishankar, Jewkes, Kilger, Nhan, Turgeman-Goldschmidt, Patchin, Wall, Yar, to name but a few) advancing a newly developing field of criminological study, called "Cyber Criminology" (Jaishankar, 2007).For the past eight years, the young discipline, has grown with the contribution of many experts, including the exceptional efforts of its founder K. Jaishankar, who defined Cyber Criminology, as "the study of causation of crimes that occur in the cyberspace and its impact in the physical space" (Jaishankar, 2007; p.1). This definition accounts for the multidisciplinary nature of the field that relies upon insights from both the social (criminology and sociology) and computer sciences. Also, Jaishankar (2008) has introduced the first theory (Space Transition Theory of Cyber Crimes) exclusively developed to explain offending in cyberspace and has founded the first academic journal dedicated to the criminological study of cyber crimes, the International Journal of Cyber Criminology, http://www.cybercrimejournal.com (Jaishankar, 2007). With the contributions of international experts, this ranked journal with high quality articles and rigorous peer review has grown as a core outlet in the field of cyber criminology.These and similar efforts aside, the fact remains that cyber criminology is largely ignored or marginalized by mainstream criminology, and that many criminologists refrain from examining this important, future-oriented issue. Whether it be that they are lacking the necessary understanding of technology, are intimidated by the jargon of the field, or that they continue to fail to realize the full extent of societal implications of this new type of crime, the lack of consideration is troubling. Others become discouraged by the multitude of methodological problems involved in conducting quantitative studies of cyber-offenders, particularly when attempting to generate representative samples of online offenders. Also, major criminological associations (e.g. the American Society for Criminology (ASC)) continue to marginalize cyber criminological studies in their annual conferences and, partly due to the many unresolved methodological problems, cyber crime researchers face significant difficulties in getting their manuscripts accepted by top tier criminological journals. Taken together, these problems systematically discourage many from studying the problems and, in turn, result in still limited, albeit rapidly increasing, numbers of annual publications. …