Understanding cybercrime from a criminal's perspective: Why and how suspects commit cybercrimes?

Cybercrime is a current and worsening problem all over the world. Various types of cybercrimes such as hacking, identity theft, harassment, and various forms of financial fraud are rampant. Further, although cybercrimes using information and communication technology (ICT) are widespread, effective measures and legislation to prevent or cope with them are in short supply. These circumstances warrant an analysis from a criminal's perspective of the reasons and methods for committing cybercrimes. Therefore, in this study cybercrimes are classified into three types—integrity-related, computer-related, and content-related—to identify major factors for each type and then propose measures to thwart them. We derived the main crime factors (i.e., cybercrime motives, enablers, methods, channels, suspects, and victims) for each type of cybercrime, then compared and analyzed them through interviews with police officers who specialize in combating them. This study contributes to the expansion of the literature on cybercrimes by deriving the main crime factors for each type of cybercrime from a criminal's perspective. Preventive measures for each type of cybercrime, based on the derived factors, can also contribute to the prevention of and response to actual cybercrimes.