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Cybercrime

Module description

APT1, Sandworm, revenge porn, or that Netflix subscription that you are being charged for but did not set up. These are all examples of different forms of cybercrime, a multi-faceted subject that is increasing in both frequency and levels of harm as our society becomes ever-more digital.

This module will introduce you to both key substantive areas, such as the nature of malware, online sex crimes, and cyber-terrorism, as well as introducing you to some of the basic key skills and techniques that are utilised by law enforcement, governments, and the private sector to detect and investigate malicious online behaviours.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module has two main aims. The first is to provide you with a broad understanding of the various forms of cybercrime; such as phishing scams, malware attacks, intellectual property theft, online sex crimes, disinformation, cyber-terrorism, and cyber-war. Developing your understanding of these different types of crime will also involve you gaining an understanding of how the internet works, the current and ever-changing legal frameworks concerning such online behaviours, and the different forms of cyber-criminals that exist and the different types of targets that their acts cause issues for, such as individuals, organisations, and nation states.

The second involves introducing you to some of the basic techniques used by both law enforcement agencies and the private sector in order to detect, investigate and prevent cyber-attacks. This will involve you learning about investigative tools pertaining to areas such as domain registration data, IP address data, and geolocation. This aspect of the module will be taught to you via practical lab-based sessions which will teach you some of the open source tools that are used by investigators in order to demonstrate how threat actors can be identified and their webs of connected holdings can be mapped for defensive (or offensive) purposes, and how these techniques have been used in high-profile cybercrime cases.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate a good knowledge of cybercrime, including its various forms, and methods used to investigate it
• 2. Develop and understanding of basic investigative tools and critically assess the data gained from them
• 3. Demonstrate a good level of computer literacy as it pertains to cybercrime

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Reflect on the role and impact of cybercrime within the wider context of crime more generally
• 5. Demonstrate an understanding of the evolutionary arms race between new methods for committing crime and crime detection and investigation methods
• 6. Evaluate the impact on theoretical criminological models of increased, and diversified, internet-crimes and subsequent changes to law enforcement approaches

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Demonstrate ability to work as part of a group on a joint project
• 8. Demonstrate written analytical skills by producing an essay and technical report to a deadline
• 9. Demonstrate the ability to present group-based work in a professional manner

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following themes:

• Introduction: What is cybercrime? How do computers and the internet work? The deep and dark webs.
• Challenges to law enforcement
• Hacking and intellectual property theft
• Fraud and Malware
• Sex crimes and online harassment
• Disinformation
• Cyber-terrorism
• Cyber-warfare
• Digital forensics, examining forensic evidence, and legal challenges
• Cybercrime, social theory, and the future of internet-based crimes and deterrents

Lectures will be complemented by practical lab-based sessions, which will focus on teaching basic open-source investigation tools that the students will use for their assignments and which will enable them to better understand law enforcement and private sector approaches to tackling cybercrime.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Bazzell, M. (2019) Open Source Intelligence Techniques: Resources for Searching and Analyzing Online Information (7^th edition) Independently published

Bossler, A. & Berenblum, T. (2019) ‘Introduction: new directions in cybercrime research’ in Journal of Crime and Justice 42(5), pp:495-499.

Brenner, S. & Schwerha, J. (2004) ‘Introduction—Cybercrime: A Note on International Issues’ in Information Systems Frontiers 6, pp:111-114

Hill, J. & Marion, N. (2016) Introduction to Cybercrime: Computer Crimes, Laws, and Policing in the 21^st Century Santa Barbara: Praeger

Holt, T., Bossler, A. & Seigfried-Spellar, K. (2018) Cybercrime and Digital Forensics: An Introduction (2^nd edition) London: Routledge

Krohn, M., Hendrix, N., Hall, G. & Lizotte, A. (eds) Handbook on Crime and Deviance Cham: Springer Nature

Key words search

Cybercrime, cyberterrorism, cyberwar, open source