• Published date: 01 November 2023
• Author: Cynthia Lum,Christopher S. Koper,Jin R. Lee,Thomas J. Holt
• Date: 01 November 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12654

DOI: 10.1111/1745-9133 .12654

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

CYBERCRIME AND CYBERSECURITY

Cybercrime (e.g., computer hacking, social engineering, intellectual property theft, electronic

fraud, online interpersonal violence, identity theft, and Internet-facilitated sexual victimization)

is a top national security threat and a source of widespread victimization in the United States

and globally. Although estimating the number of cybercrime victims and victimization types is

challenging, many believe there are millions of such incidents in the United States alone.1In

2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) received over 800,000 complaints of cybercrime

victimization, reflecting an estimated cost of over $10.3 billion.2Additionally, the Federal Trade

Commission received almost 1.4 million reports of various types of identity theft.3Although dated,

a 2015 United Nations report estimated that cybercrime had affected 431 million adult victims

globally.4The pervasiveness of cybercrime is staggering.

In response, Criminology & Public Policy offers readers its first-ever special issue on cybercrime

and cybersecurity.Criminology and its related disciplines are just scratching the surface of under-

standing cybercrime and how best to deter and prevent it—or at least mitigate its harms. Despite

technical solutions and policy suggestions being propagated by industry and academic sources,

many contemporary attempts to addresscybercrime remain best guesses. As a result, more empir-

ical testing, systematic analysis, evaluation, and theory development are needed to address this

multifaceted and complex crime. Led by special issue editors and cybercrime experts Jin R. Lee

(George Mason University) and Thomas J. Holt (Michigan State University),5this issue compiles

cutting-edge research and knowledge in this area.

The human elements of cybercrime and cybersecurity pose unique and complex challenges

to criminology. Although the victims of cybercrime are everyday individuals, businesses, and

communities, offenders are often international, hard to find, and sometimes state sponsored.

A good example was the infamous SolarWinds attack by hackers linked to Russian intelligence

services,6who used a routine software update to infect hundreds of thousands of people. Corpo-

rate victims included about a hundred major companies (including Microsoft, Intel, and Cisco)

and several government agencies (including the U.S. Treasury, Justice, Homeland Security, and

Energy departments, and the Pentagon). Although this attack impacted millions of individuals

within these organizations, consumers who used products from these companies were also heav-

ily impacted. Unlike traditional offline crimes with standardized reporting systems, an individual

who suffers a data breach or identity theft due to such an attack will likely hit a dead end when

reporting the incident(s) to their local police. If they report it to the FBI, it may or may not be

investigated, depending on its priority at the global level. If businesses take on the costs of cyber-

crime victimization, these costs will eventually be borne by consumers, and more profoundly,the

crimes will not be addressed. This can all result in a lack of response and clear accountability for

any given agency or organization to address the crime.

Studies in this special issue build our knowledge base for understanding and addressing cyber-

crime and improving cybersecurity by applying many theories and methods in criminology and its

related fields. Readers of Criminology & Public Policy will find that although unique, cybercrime

and cybersecurity have many parallels with—and can benefit from—approaches well developed

in criminology.For example, several studies in this issue build on decades of knowledge about how

crime deterrence works. Sinclair et al., using a hot spots approach to examine cyber-facilitated

romance fraud, note the geographic specificity and local impacts of this type of crime, arguing for a

Criminology & Public Policy. 2023;22:589–590.© 2023 American Society of Criminology.589wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/capp