The Implications of Economic Cybercrime for Policing
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The Implications of Economic Cybercrime for Policing RESEARCH REPORT CITY OF LONDON CORPORATION OCTOBER 2015 The Implications of Economic Cybercrime for Policing RESEARCH REPORT CITY OF LONDON CORPORATION OCTOBER 2015 www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/economicresearch The implications of economic cybercrime for policing is published by the City of London Corporation. The lead author of this report is Cardiff University. This report is intended as a basis for discussion only. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the material in this report, the lead author, Cardiff University, and the City of London Corporation give no warranty in that regard and accept no liability for any loss or damage incurred through the use of, or reliance upon, this report or the information contained herein. October 2015 © City of London Corporation PO Box 270 Guildhall London EC2P 2EJ www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/business/researchpublications Authors This report was prepared for the City of London Corporation by Cardiff University. Dr Michael Levi, Professor of Criminology, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University (lead author) Mr Alan Doig, Visiting Professor, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University Mr Rajeev Gundur, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University Dr David Wall, Professor of Criminology, School of Law, Leeds University Dr Matthew Williams, Reader in Computational Criminology, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University Acknowledgements Many people have given their time to this project, especially in the City of London Police (not least former Commander Stephen Head), but also in the National Crime Agency, EC3 at Europol, Police Scotland and in the ‘family of policing’ around Great Britain, which includes Trading Standards officers, Get Safe Online, and cyber security firms in the private sector, as well as the Intellectual Property Office and private sector anti-counterfeiting bodies. However, we would like to express particular thanks to Dr Steve Strickland, formerly of the City of London Police, for his time and skills in marshalling a variety of collaborators, and for his thoughtful commentary; to Sabrina Basran and her colleagues at the City of London Corporation for their editorial contributions and for their efforts to keep us on the right lines, balancing the academic and the practical; and to EC3 staff and Professor Alan Woodward for their comments on an earlier draft. Contents List of abbreviations ........................................................................................................ 1 Foreword ......................................................................................................................... 2 1. Executive summary .................................................................................................. 3 1.1. What is economic cybercrime? ............................................................................ 3 1.2. What is the scale of the challenge?...................................................................... 4 1.3. What is the nature of economic cybercrime? ...................................................... 4 1.4. What are the practical implications for policing? ................................................ 5 1.5. Concluding remarks .............................................................................................. 7 2. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 8 2.1. Context .................................................................................................................. 8 2.2. What does ‘economic cybercrime’ mean for this research? .............................. 9 2.3. What are cyber-dependent economic crimes? ................................................ 10 2.4. What are cyber-enabled economic crimes? ..................................................... 11 2.5. Report structure ................................................................................................... 11 3. The modern role of policing and economic cybercrime ..................................... 13 3.1. What does ‘policing’ mean in this context? ....................................................... 13 3.2. The policing landscape for economic cybercrime ............................................ 14 3.3. Data and measurement as challenges to effective policing ............................ 18 3.4. Key considerations and issues for policing economic cybercrime: innovation . 20 3.5. Key considerations and issues for policing economic cybercrime: offenders ... 24 3.6. Key considerations and issues for policing economic cybercrime: cyber defences..................................................................................................................... 26 3.7. What do these issues mean for the policing of economic cybercrime? ........... 27 3.8. Summary .............................................................................................................. 28 4. The impacts of economic cybercrime: who, what and how much .................... 30 4.1. The main themes of economic cybercrime ........................................................ 30 4.2. The current UK situation ....................................................................................... 33 4.3. Key issues .............................................................................................................. 41 4.4. The data: key questions for further consideration ............................................... 43 4.5. The impact of economic cybercrime on individuals/the general public .......... 44 4.6. The impact of economic cybercrime on organisations ..................................... 46 4.7. How could policing help organisations? ............................................................. 48 4.8. Summary .............................................................................................................. 51 5. The implications of economic cybercrime for policing ........................................ 53 5.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 53 5.2. The police role in Protect ..................................................................................... 55 5.3. The police role in Prevent .................................................................................... 57 5.4. The police role in Protect and Prepare: information and awareness ................ 57 5.5. The police role in Protect and Prepare: increasing resilience and reducing repeat victimisation .................................................................................................... 58 5.6. The police role in Pursue reassessed .................................................................... 60 5.7. Engagement and integration.............................................................................. 60 5.8. Targeting responses and integrating the Four Ps: combating economic cybercrimes against individuals ................................................................................. 64 5.9. Targeting responses and integrating the Four Ps: combating economic cybercrimes against business ..................................................................................... 67 5.10. Challenges of the current approach to victims generally: choosing between the ‘Ps’ ........................................................................................................................ 71 5.11. Summary ......................................................................................................... 75 6. Concluding remarks and suggestions for next steps ............................................ 76 6.1. The scale of the challenge .................................................................................. 76 6.2. Developing responses.......................................................................................... 76 6.3. Themes from the research ................................................................................... 78 6.4. Themes from the UK data .................................................................................... 79 6.5. Questions for responses to economic cybercrime ............................................. 79 6.6. Potential policing responses ................................................................................ 80 6.7. Summary .............................................................................................................. 81 Glossary of terms ........................................................................................................... 84 References .................................................................................................................... 85 List of abbreviations ABI Association of British Insurers ATM Automated teller machine (a cashpoint) BCS British Crime Survey CERT-UK UK National Computer Emergency Response Team Cifas Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance Service CiSP Cyber-security Information Sharing Partnership CNP Card-not-present CPNI Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure CSEW Crime Survey for England and Wales CVS Commercial Victimisation Survey DCPCU Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit DDoS Distributed denial of service (attack) DWP Department for Work and Pensions FACT Federation Against Copyright Theft FFA UK Financial Fraud Action UK GDP Gross domestic product HMRC Her Majesty’s Revenue