Improving cybercrime reporting in Scotland

This dissertation aims to improve cybercrime reporting in Scotland, a responsibilised society, where the state has rolled back its support for cybervictimised populations. The main research questions is: “What is required to improve cybercrime reporting in Scotland.” Firstly, a systematic literature review (SLR) was completed, which defines a victim typology and cybercrime reporting approaches. The SLR concludes that improving reporting requires a social rather than a purely technical approach. Secondly, interviews using the victim typology were conducted (N=10). Factors that improved (e.g., fund reimbursement, increased awareness and “best practices”) and impeded reporting (e.g., lack of support from the police) were identified. Thirdly, a victimised private institution from the prior study received a research-driven bespoke cybercrime training. This training improved some work practices but did not improve reporting, which was connected to a lack of state support. Fourthly, work into Responsibilised Non-Policing Agencies (RNPAs for short) was completed. These varied agencies stem from multidisciplinary work and substitute the police in the cybercrime arena. ... mehrQualitative interviews on Scottish (N=10) and Italian (N=4) RNPAs were conducted to use their expertise to improve cybercrime reporting. As a result, it was found that the Scottish state supports victims to a greater degree than the Italian state post-victimisation. The overall discussion ties the material together by contrasting the frameworks from the SLR with the collected data. It was found that cybercrime reporting is unaffected by Police Scotland’s organisational politics, but it is affected by responsibilisation. It is recommended that future work focuses on the needs of SMEs and continues to develop the expertise of RNPAs both from policy as well as technological perspectives. It is concluded that research into improving cybercrime reporting has enduring potential because it addresses the major economical and psychological costs of cybercrime victimisation in Scotland.