The simple economics of cybercrimes

The characteristics of cybercriminals, cybercrime victims, and law enforcement agencies have a reinforcing effect on each other, leading to a vicious circle of cybercrime. In this article, the author assessed the cost-benefit structure of cybercriminals. From the potential victims' perspectives, an economic analysis can help explain the optimum investment necessary as well as the measures required to prevent hackers from cracking into their computer networks. The analysis from the cybercriminal's viewpoint also provides insight into factors that might encourage and energize his or her behavior.

The Vicious Circle

We define a cybercrime broadly as a crime that employs a computer network during any phase. Examples include critical infrastructure attacks, online fraud, online money laundering, criminal uses of Internet communications, ID fraud, use of computers to further traditional crimes, and cyberextortions.