• India ranked number 10 in cybercrimes, with frauds involving people to make advance fee payment being the most common type, according to a new research that surveyed cybercrime experts around the world.
• An international team of researchers has compiled the ‘World Cybercrime Index’ that ranks roughly 100 countries and identifies key hotspots according to various categories of cybercrime, including ransomware, credit card theft and scams.
• The Index shows that a relatively small number of countries house the greatest cybercriminal threat.
• Russia tops the list, followed by Ukraine, China, the USA, Nigeria, and Romania. The UK comes in at number eight. Brazil is at the ninth position, according to the research published in the journal PLoS ONE.
• The World Cybercrime Index has been developed as a joint partnership between the University of Oxford and UNSW Canberra, and has also been funded by CRIMGOV, a European Union-supported project based at the University of Oxford and Sciences Po.
• The data that underpins the Index was gathered through a survey of 92 leading cybercrime experts from around the world who are involved in cybercrime intelligence gathering and investigations.
• The survey asked the experts to consider five major categories of cybercrime, nominate the countries that they consider to be the most significant sources of each of these types of cybercrime, and then rank each country according to the impact, professionalism, and technical skill of its cybercriminals.
Cybercrime is a major global challenge
• As people around the world become more reliant on information and communication technologies (ICTs), criminals are increasingly shifting online.
• Cybercrime is an evolving form of transnational crime. The complex nature of the crime as one that takes place in the borderless realm of cyberspace is compounded by the increasing involvement of organised crime groups.
• Cybercrime covers a wide variety of offences that present a significant threat including identity crime, computer hacking, phishing, botnet activity, computer-facilitated crime, and cyber intrusion directed at private and national infrastructure.
• Cybercrime is a major challenge facing the world, with estimated costs ranging from the hundreds of millions to the trillions. Despite the threat it poses, cybercrime is somewhat an invisible phenomenon.
• In carrying out their virtual attacks, offenders often mask their physical locations by hiding behind online nicknames and technical protections.
• Advances in technology have offered new opportunities for serious and organised crime, which use increasingly sophisticated methods to counter law enforcement efforts.
• As cybercriminals often employ proxy services to hide their IP addresses, carry out attacks across national boundaries, collaborate with partners around the world, and can draw on infrastructure based in different countries, superficial measures do not capture the true geographical distribution of these offenders.
• Perpetrators of cybercrime and their victims can be located in different regions, and its effects can ripple through societies around the world, highlighting the need to mount an urgent, dynamic, and international response.
