Browsing by Author "Dearden, Thomas E."

Now showing 1 - 16 of 16
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    Changes in Online Illegal Drug Buying during COVID-19: Assessing Effects due to a Changing Market or Changes in Strain using a Longitudinal Sample Design
    Hawdon, James E.; Parti, Katalin; Dearden, Thomas E. (Springer Nature, 2022-11-11)
    This research uses longitudinal data to investigate if illegal online drug purchases changed over time during the COVID-19 pandemic, and if these changes were primarily driven by users adjusting to market conditions or by a heightened level of pandemic-induced strain that could drive a greater demand for drugs. Data were collected across four waves between fall 2019 and fall 2021 using an online survey. Data showed an increase in reported online drug purchases across the waves, but the online drug purchases remained consistent for the first year of the pandemic, but increased by approximately 44% between the fall 2020 and fall 2021 when over 13 percent of the sample admitted to buying illegal drugs online. Strain was also related to buying illegal drugs online as those respondents who made illegal online purchased had an average of 5.2 strain events in the past 12 months compared to only 2.4 events among those who did not report purchasing illegal drugs online. However, the influence of strain on online purchases remained consistent across time. These results suggest that the increase in online drug purchases was primarily driven by users adapting to changing market conditions rather than the cumulative strains associated with the pandemic producing a greater effect on purchases. Policy implications are also discussed.
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    CIVIIC: Cybercrime in Virginia: Impacts on Industry and Citizens Final Report
    Gainey, Randy; Vandecar-Burdin, Tancy; Albanese, Jay; Dearden, Thomas E.; Hawdon, James E.; Parti, Katalin (CoVA CCI, 2023-01-01)
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    Cybercrime and Strain Theory: An Examination of Online Crime and Gender
    Parti, Katalin; Dearden, Thomas E. (Lifescience Global, 2024-09-11)
    Purpose: Historically, cybercrime has been seen as a near exclusively male activity. We were interested to learn whether the relationship between strain and crime holds for both males and females. Methods: We utilized an online survey instrument to collect data from a national sample of individuals (n=2,121) representing the US population by age, gender, race and ethnicity. We asked offending related questions regarding various cybercrimes. In the current study, we use data from 390 individuals who reported a cybercrime activity within the past 12 months. Results: We find strong support for prior strains correlating with both specific (e.g., illegal uploading) and general cyber-offending. We further examine whether gender interacts with strain. While general strain theory (GST) correlates with cyber-offending for both males and females, we did find a few important differences. Except for lack of trust in others and receiving unsatisfactory evaluation at school or work, there are different variables responsible for online offending for men and women. Parents’ divorcing, anonymity, and online video gaming increase cybercrime offending in women, whereas falling victim to a crime, breaking up with a significant other, and darkweb activity are correlated with cyber-offending for men. Conclusion: Although GST functions differently by gender when it comes to engaging in cyber-offending, the theory is indeed gender-specific, as different strain variables are responsible for engaging in cyber-offending in women and men. Components of general strain responsible for cyber-offending need to be further studied concerning gender. According to our results, GST is gender-specific, and these variables need to be further studied.
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    Cybercrime victimization among Virginia businesses: frequency, vulnerabilities, and consequences of cybervictimization
    Hawdon, James E.; Parti, Katalin; Dearden, Thomas E.; Vandecar-Burdin, Tancy; Albanese, Jay; Gainey, Randy (Taylor & Francis, 2023-09-04)
    The Commonwealth of Virginia, USA, is one of the most vulnerable states to cyberattacks and breaches. Analyzing data from 428 online surveys collected from Virginia businesses from multiple vendors and several unique resources, this study provides an in-depth view of the nature and extent of cybercrime victimization in Virginia, highlighting specific vulnerabilities, how the victimization occurred, the consequences of victimization, and if and to whom these breaches were reported. In addition, we describe the extent to which businesses perceive their vulnerabilities, the extent in which companies engage in behaviors that can potentially make them vulnerable, the policies and practices they have in place to reduce vulnerability, and their experiences with victimization. The results provide a quality baseline for understanding cybercrimes against businesses in Virginia.
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    Cybercrime, Differential Association, and Self-Control: Knowledge Transmission Through Online Social Learning
    Dearden, Thomas E.; Parti, Katalin (Springer, 2021-11-10)
    In an increasingly digital world, our social interactions are increasingly moving online. Differential association and social learning theories suggest that we learn both moral definitions and the how-to of crime from those we associate with. In this paper we examine whether online or offline social learning leads to more selfdisclosed forms of cyber-offending. Using a national online sample of 1,109 participants, we find both online and offline social learning are important correlates to cyber-offending. In addition, we predict that lower self-control will interact with social learning to further increase the likelihood of cyber-offending. Overall, we find that both social learning and self-control, individually and as an interaction, have a large effect-size in predicting cyber-offending.
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    Differentiating Insider and Outsider Cyberattacks on Businesses
    Dearden, Thomas E.; Parti, Katalin; Hawdon, James E.; Gainey, Randy; Vandecar-Burdin, Tancy; Albanese, Jay (Springer Nature, 2023-08-01)
    The use of information and communication technologies in business has opened several new ways for employees to commit cybercrimes against their employers. Utilizing opportunity theory, the current paper investigates the characteristics of businesses victimized by employee-committed cyberattacks and compares insider- and outsider-committed cybercrime in terms of the damage they cause to the business. We used online sampling to obtain information on 350 businesses in the Commonwealth of Virginia, revealing 29 outsider cases and 17 insider attacks that were clearly identified. We found that insider attacks were more costly, resulting in more damage than external attacks; the most frequent attack type was impersonating the organization online for insiders, and viruses, spyware, and malware for outsiders. Our data suggested restricting personal devices, making cybersecurity a priority, cybersecurity updates among management, and employee training do not significantly lessen the risk or mitigate the effects of insider attacks. We suggest that organizational security culture must be refined and strengthened to identify and prevent insider attacks successfully.
  • Follow the Money: Analyzing Darknet Activity Using Cryptocurrency and the Bitcoin Blockchain
    Dearden, Thomas E.; Tucker, S. E. (SAGE, 2023-03-14)
    Transactions on the darknet are notoriously difficult to examine. Prior criminological research has generally used web scraping and qualitative text analysis to examine illegal darknet markets. One disadvantage of this process is that individuals can lie. Fortunately for researchers, the currency used for transactions on the darknet, cryptocurrency, is designed to be tracked. In this article, we examine transactions from a former darknet marketplace, AlphaBay. Using the blockchain, we examine the interconnectedness of both legal and illegal cryptocurrencies. In addition, we provide a structured approach to quantitatively examine the Bitcoin blockchain ledger, offering both the tools and our own experiences for other researchers interested in such approaches. While cybersecurity, information technology, accounting, and other disciplines can examine the financial data itself, we believe that criminologists can provide additional benefits in pattern analysis and organizing the context and theory around the transactions. Our results show that cryptocurrency transactions are generally identifiable (90%) and involve likely illegal transactions, transactions that attempt to obfuscate other transactions, and legal transactions. We end with a discussion of newer cryptocurrencies and related technology and how they will likely shape future work.
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    Inequality and the Homicide Rate in New York City
    Reed, Daryl W. (Virginia Tech, 2024-05-16)
    This paper examines the relationship between income inequality and the homicide rate in 59 geographic areas in New York City known as Community District Tabulation Areas (CDTAs). The premise for this paper is that community members in each CDTA share similar social characteristics and therefore these areas provide a useful lens through which to analyze ecological social phenomena such as homicide. The main hypothesis for this paper is that the homicide rate in the CDTAs will vary directly with the level of income inequality within each CDTA. The outputs from several models testing this hypothesis do not support this hypothesis. The models failed to produce a result showing a relationship between income inequality and the homicide rate that is statistically significant. However, the models did produce results showing a strong relationship between a composite of several indicators of disadvantage and the homicide rate in the CDTAs. The model also produces results that show a moderate relationship between the homicide rate and the racial makeup of CDTAs along with a moderate inverse relationship between voter turnout and the homicide rate.
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    Institutional Anomie Theory and Cybercrime-Cybercrime and the American Dream, Now Available Online
    Dearden, Thomas E.; Parti, Katalin; Hawdon, James E. (SAGE, 2021-03-24)
    As the world becomes increasingly connected and interdependent upon technology, crimes are moving online. Research on cybercrime is beginning to test the applicability of traditional criminological theories for understanding crime in this new medium. Using a national sample of 215 self-admitted cybercriminals, we examine Messner and Rosenfeld’s institutional anomie theory. Negative binomial regressions reveal that expressed levels of institutional anomie correlate with increased cybercrime activity. A curvilinear relationship was found, such that low and high levels of institutional anomie lead to higher levels of cybercrime. Our findings reveal how the dark side of the American Dream can lead to online criminality. Specifically, the penetration of, and accommodation to economic values dictated by American capitalism can lead individuals to adopt values such as the fetishism of money that, in turn, affects their online behavior and criminality.
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    The (Non)normative Administration of Justice by the Crowd: An Adaptation and Application of Hirschman's Exit, Voice and Loyalty Framework
    Ireland, Leanna (Virginia Tech, 2021-06-29)
    Injustice, be it procedural, retributive, or restorative, can propel the crowd into different forms of collective action. This dissertation explores the motivations and responses that crowds undertake in response to perceived injustices using a sequential exploratory research design. The dissertation uses multicase research to investigate the injustices against which crowds (broadly defined) are fighting and provides nuances into each type of injustice. Focusing on these cases, the research adapts and applies Hirschman's Exit, Voice and Loyalty theory to provide a typological model connecting injustices to crowd response types. Second, a series of linear, logistic and multinominal regression models using newly collected nationally representative data show the associations between perceived injustices and support for responses of various types. The research contributes a theoretical model for understanding responses to injustices which advances the discussion about the public's role in fighting injustice within society.
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    Perceptions of Law Enforcement Officers: Pornography as a Risk Factor for Peer-on-Peer Child Sexual Abuse
    Amabile, Gianna Sara (Virginia Tech, 2023-05-25)
    Data on peer-on-peer child sexual demonstrates up to one-third of child sexual assaults perpetrated by other children and what the limited data suggest is that these rates are increasing. These alarming rates of sexual abuse take place alongside increased hyper-access to pornography, with the average first age of exposure at 11. Frontline workers who handle child sexual assault victims and perpetrators indicate that pornography creates a risk of sexual assault by and among children. Given that law enforcement officers will eventually see these same cases, what are their perceptions of pornography as a risk factor for peer-on-peer child sexual abuse? By interviewing law enforcement officers in the United States working directly on cases involving child sexual abuse, I examine law enforcement officer's perceptions of the connections between pornography and child sexual abuse. A sample of 11 law enforcement officers identify pornography to have a role in peer-on-peer child sexual abuse. Additionally, the sample distinguishes several differences between how pornography impacts peer-on-peer child sexual abuse versus adult-on-child sexual abuse. This study is essential given the confusion in the law and eventual prosecutions; law enforcement is struggling with legislation that does not fit the reality of the cases and results in prosecutorial issues.
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    Perspectives of Paid Panel Survey Research in Cybercrime Victimization and Offending: Validity of global online market research sampling and data collection
    Parti, Katalin; Dearden, Thomas E.; Hawdon, James E. (Routledge, 2024-08-27)
    Surveys are common tools for gathering data on myriad topics, including the study of online deviance and cybercrime. Topics such as teen cybervictimization (Wright et al., 2021), differential association and self-control applied to cybercrime (Dearden & Parti, 2021), cyber hatred (Reichelmann & Costello, 2021), cybercrime and institutional anomie theory (Dearden et al., 2021), and cybercrime and COVID (Hawdon et al., 2020; Kemp et al., 2021) have been studied using the non-probability data collected from online panels and tools such as Mechanical Turk. However, the validity of these data is of concern. This chapter considers the validity of using online polling for cybercrime data. First, we compare data from two of the most prominent global data vendors. Next, we use a control question about the 2020 presidential election. This item allows us to consider the validity of both internet-polling services by comparing our online surveys with data from FiveThirtyEight’s “polls-only” and actual election results. Finally, we provide estimates of cybercrime offending and victimization from our data, and we discuss the differences in the estimates from the two samples.
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    Routine citizen Internet practices and cyber victimization: a state-wide study in Virginia
    Gainey, Randy; Albanese, Jay; Vandecar-Burdin, Tancy; Hawdon, James E.; Dearden, Thomas E.; Parti, Katalin (Taylor & Francis, 2023-10-22)
    Cybercrime has become a major societal concern, and a better understanding OF cybercrime is needed to target and prevent it more effectively, minimize its consequences, and provide support for victims. Research on cybercrime victimization has exploded in the past few years, but much of it relies on convenience samples and is largely descriptive in nature. The research presented here involves the collection of data from a large sample of Virginia households in 2022 (n = 1,206). The data are analyzed to provide a partial test of routine activity theory to better understand fraud and theft via the Internet. The data provide a solid baseline for describing the extent of cyber victimization across the state. Bivariate and multivariate analyses (logistic regressions) show support for routine activity theory and provide important insights for future research. In particular, we find that certain routine Internet activities may better predict unique forms of cybervictimization than others and that length of time on the Internet is not a good indicator of exposure to motivated offenders. Further, protective guardianship mediates the effects of exposure to motivated offenders; thus, efforts to educate the public on best practices are needed. We conclude that to better assess cybercrime, victimization and engagement, better measurement and longitudinal panel data will be needed.
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    Secret sharing in online communities: A comparative analysis of offender and non-offender password creation strategies
    Bergeron, Andréanne; Dearden, Thomas E. (Elsevier, 2024-11-05)
    Even though several authentication methods exist, passwords remain the most common type of authentication. Researchers have demonstrated the influence of a person’s environment and exposure to the Internet on their online security behavior (Bosnjak & Brumen, 2016; He et al., 2021; Juozapavičius et al., 2022). Those studies suggest that social identity seems to play a role in password choice. The objective of this study was to determine if the criminal nature of a network influences password-creation strategies. To achieve this, we utilized two databases with a substantial number of actual passwords (1,485,095) that had been leaked to the Internet. One database was sourced from a non-delinquent social network, while the other was from a hacker forum. We employed logistic regression to reveal the characteristics associated with each group, ensuring a comprehensive analysis of different types of password strategies and the similarity between actors of the same network. Results show that users of the same network have passwords with characteristics that are similar to each other. Individuals with the same social interests seem more likely to use the same password-creation strategies. From a network analysis perspective, the results show that similar individuals (sharing the same interests) are similar in other aspects (password creation strategies). These findings offer valuable insights into the diverse landscape of password varieties and user behaviors, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of internet user networks.
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    Understanding the Overlap of Online Offending and Victimization: Using Cluster Analysis to Examine Group Differences
    Parti, Katalin; Dearden, Thomas E.; Hawdon, James E. (Routledge, 2022-06)
    Criminal offending and victimization often overlap in both the virtual and offline worlds. However, scholars are still unsure how the offending-victimization relationship plays out between the online and offline worlds. Using a sample of 2,491 adults, four clusters are discovered: 1) those unlikely to have offended or been victimized, 2) those who had online victimization and offending experiences, 3) Those who have been victimized offline and online, but who are unlikely to have offended, and 4) individuals who were victims both online and offline and offended online. Thus, the offending-victimization overlap may be common, but it is certainly not exclusive.
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    Understanding the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Cybercrime
    Parti, Katalin; Dearden, Thomas E.; Choi, Sinyong (2023-09-15)
    Artificial intelligence is one of the newest innovations which offenders exploit to satisfy their criminal desires. Although understanding cybercrime that is associated with this relatively new technology is essential in developing proper preventive measures, little has been done to examine this area. Therefore, this paper provides an overview of the two articles featured in the special issue of the International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, one about deepfakes in the metaverse and the other about social engineering attacks. The articles were written by the winners of the student paper competition at the 2023 International White Hat Conference.