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Trends in Security Information
The HSD Trendmonitor is designed to provide access to relevant content on various subjects in the safety and security domain, to identify relevant developments and to connect knowledge and organisations. The safety and security domain encompasses a vast number of subjects. Four relevant taxonomies (type of threat or opportunity, victim, source of threat and domain of application) have been constructed in order to visualize all of these subjects. The taxonomies and related category descriptions have been carefully composed according to other taxonomies, European and international standards and our own expertise.
In order to identify safety and security related trends, relevant reports and HSD news articles are continuously scanned, analysed and classified by hand according to the four taxonomies. This results in a wide array of observations, which we call ‘Trend Snippets’. Multiple Trend Snippets combined can provide insights into safety and security trends. The size of the circles shows the relative weight of the topic, the filters can be used to further select the most relevant content for you. If you have an addition, question or remark, drop us a line at info@securitydelta.nl.
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Cyber profiling
We can say criminal profiling consists of an analysis of behavior patterns that can
help predict several things about a person who has committed a crime:
1. Their personality traits
2. Their modus operandi
3. The motivation to commit the crime
4. Potential future steps
Why do criminologists employ profiling? The main goal is to not only understand the enemy, but also to reach an understanding that will allow preventative measures to be put into place.
The Cyber Criminal Profile
But what are these criminals like? Based on Rashmi Saroha´s report Profiling a Cyber Criminal the characteristics of the cyber criminals can be divided into four groups:
1. Technical know-how
2. Personal traits
3. Social characteristics
4. Motivating factors.
For this report, Saroha asked 20 psychology and sociology students to describe the personality and characteristics of cyber criminals. The resulting words that describe these types of criminals are:
1. Sharp
2. Well-trained
3. Strategic planners
4. Resourceful
5. Passionate
6. Determined
7. Marginalized
8. Seeking monetary gain
9. Greedy
10. Strong political beliefs
11. Intolerant and control-freak
We know our adversaries are smart, determined, highly technical and resourceful, but how can we use what we know to learn their individual style and objectives? In the Cybercrime Psychology – Proposal of an Offender Psychological Profile Report, Jakub Lickiewicz said that a specific characteristic of cyber crimes is “a scene of crime without a scene of crime.”
Lickiewicz's study explains that there are different factors that have an influence on the cyber criminals, such as:
1. Biological factors
2. External environment
3. Intelligence
4. Personality
5. Social or technical skills
According to Solomia Fedushko, from Lviv Polytechnic National University; and Natalia Bardyn from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, typical motives to commit a cybercrime are:
– Striving to demonstrate courage, bravery and firmness
– Absurd and dead earnestness that is expressed in a reckless, socially dangerous act
– Selfish attitude toward the harassment subject
Meanwhile, reports show that there are varying motivating factors for different criminals and they should be considered when designing cybersecurity strategies.Three of the most common motivating factors are:
- Hackers and mafias motivated by financial gain and quick profits
- ‘Hacktivists’ who have strong political motivation
- Cyber criminals or networks of government-sponsored hackers who carry out cyber warfare.
The internet grants criminals anonymity—however, that does not mean their modus operandi, motivation and signature can’t be recognized.
Computer crimes are often serial crimes, so, with the right cybersecurity tools and team with the ability to identify and understand the profiles and behavior, it is possible to determine the profile of the offender or the threat actor, as some cyber criminals have their own techniques and procedures.