Importance of Cybersecurity in Crime Prevention in Australia

CYBERSECURITY IN CRIME PREVENTION/LAW

Running Head: CYBER SECURITY IN CRIME PREVENTION 2
Table of Contents
PART 1: RESEARCH PROPOSAL..........................................................................................4
Abstract..................................................................................................................................4
Introduction............................................................................................................................5
Outline of the thesis...........................................................................................................5
Problem statement..............................................................................................................5
Research question...............................................................................................................5
Research hypotheses..........................................................................................................6
Structure of the paper.........................................................................................................6
Literature review....................................................................................................................6
Methods................................................................................................................................11
Research Design...............................................................................................................11
Data Collection.................................................................................................................11
Data Collection Tools......................................................................................................12
Sampling..........................................................................................................................12
Data Analysis...................................................................................................................13
Gantt chart........................................................................................................................13
PART 2: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL.......................................................................................15
Individual reflection 1:.........................................................................................................15
Individual reflection 2:.........................................................................................................20
Individual reflection 3:.........................................................................................................24

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PART 3: ETHICS APPLICATION.........................................................................................27
References................................................................................................................................32

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PART 1: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Abstract
The research aims at analysing the importance of cyber security in preventing cybercrime. As
Australia is considered as an attracting place for cybercriminals due to its economic
development and massive use of internet, cybercriminals are targeting this place constantly.
Based on this problem, the research aim and objectives are developed and an overall
structure of the research is also provided. Further, analysis of existing literature is carried
out critically for having a better insight on the selected topic. In the next section, necessary
research methods are selected for conducting the research effectively and a Gantt chart is
developed for conducting the research in a methodical way.

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Introduction
Outline of the thesis
The aim of the report is to analyse the importance of cybersecurity in preventing crime.
Cybercrime is increasing day-by-day with the rapid technological development. Hence, it has
become critical to making the cybersecurity even stronger for reducing crime and
encouraging safety culture in the world of internet. Hence, the study focuses on the way
cybersecurity helps to prevent crime in Australia.
Problem statement
Australia is an interesting target for organised and serious crime associates because of the
country’s comparative wealth and higher use of technology like online banking, social media
and government services. Due to potential profitable financial advantages for serious and
planned crime organization, the threat of cybercrime is tenacious. The ACIC (Australian
Criminal Intelligence Commission) is worried about cybercriminals, who are making a profit
from Australian every day. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet carried out a
cyber-security assessment and found that cybercrime costs up to $1 billion to Australian
economy every year. It is diverting capitals from valid Australian economy to the unlawful
economy. Not only financial cost, but cybercrime also creates other significant damages as
well such as damage to personal reputation and identity, loss of employment or business
opportunities and impact on psychological and emotional wellbeing (Acic, 2018). Hence, the
topic is selected for gaining insight into the issue by developing recommendations for
mitigation.
Research question
The research questions are developed based on the research aim. The major research
questions include:

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 What is cybercrime?
 What is the impact of cybercrime in Australia?
 What is the significance of cyber security in crime prevention?
 What are the challenges of implementing cybersecurity?
 What is the recommendation for overcoming the issues?
Research hypotheses
H0- Cyber security can prevent cybercrime
H1-Cyber security cannot prevent cybercrime
Structure of the paper
In the first part, then a thorough an introduction to the research topic is provided including
the problem statement and key research questions that are to find out by completing the
research. In the next section, a critical review of the existing literature on cybercrime and
cybersecurity is carried out. Further, research methodologies needed for conducting and
completing the research effectively. Lastly, the conclusion of the entire report is provided.
Literature review
The concept of cybercrime-
Cybercrime can be defined as a computer-based crime in which, the computer is used for
hacking, spamming and phishing. The computer is used as an object or tool for omitting an
offence like hate crimes and child pornography. Criminals, who carry out the illegitimate
activities, are often stated to as hackers. Cybercrime is also known as computer crime
(Leukfeldt & Yar (2016). In the words of Moore (2014) & Hui, Kim & Wang (2017),
cybercrime has two types. Crimes, where information and communication technologies such
as a computer are an essential part of crime like online fraud and offence focused on
computers or other technologies. Some of the examples of cybercrime include ransomware

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and credential harvesting malware. Ransomware is a sort of malware, which helps coercion.
Normally, it infects the computer of a victim opens a malevolent email attachment. Following
contagion, ransomware locks the contents of a computer and shows a message, needingthe
victim to pay money for a decryption key, which will allegedly enable them to regain access.
The emails providing ransomware to the victims of Australasia use branding of well-known
and trusted Australian companies as part of their social engineering methods.
According to Holt & Bossler (2014) &Keyser (2017), credential harvesting malware is
designed for harvesting identifications of a user when he/she is logging onto a website. It is
done entirely secretly and hence, the victim remains unaware that their IDs are being
whipped. The malware that helps this reaping is normally sent via mail to the victim’s
computer by a malicious attachment. Cybercriminals, who are affecting Australian victims
work in collaboration although, they live in different nations or even different continents. It
makes cybercrime acts integrally flexible and fluid.
The conceptof cybersecurity-
Cybersecurity that is also called information technology security are the methods of
protecting networks, computers, data and programs from illegal access or attacks that are dine
for exploiting network security containing activities to safeguard the reliability, usability,
safety and integrity of the network (Buczak& Guven, 2016 & Gordon, Loeb, Lucyshyn &
Zhou, 2015). As stated by Fielder, Panaousis, Malacaria, Hankin & Smeraldi (2016) & Ben-
Asher& Gonzalez (2015), the key areas under cybersecurity include application security,
disaster recovery, information security and network security. Application security includes
measures, which are considered at the time of life-cycle development for protecting
application for threats, which can occur from flaws in the design, deployment, development,

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maintenance or upgrade of the application. User/role authentication 7 authorisation, input
parameter validation, session management is some basic methods of application security.
According to Bates, Tian, Butler & Moyer (2015) & Conteh & Schmick (2016), disaster
recovery refers to the process of conducting a risk assessment, setting priorities, developing
recovery strategies at the time of disaster. Any business must have a solid plan for recovering
disaster. Information security involves protecting information form unlawful access to
protect privacy and evade identity theft. Major techniques applied to cover this field are
cryptography and identification, authentication & authorization of the user. Network
security focuses on protecting the network from multiple threats and averts them from
spreading or entering the network. The elements of network security include anti-virus,
firewall, anti-spyware, intrusion prevention systems and virtual private networks.
Game theory for cybersecurity-
A game is an explanation of the strategic communication between co-operating or opposing
interests, where the payoff and constraints for action are considered. The theory has been a
crucial concept in different security circumstances and has found high application in
cybersecurity. Game theory can be applied to web security, network security and many more
(Kamat & Gautam, 2018& Hussein, 2018).
As stated by Chang, Zhong & Grabosky (2018) & Cherdantseva et al. (2016), while there is
notable development in information-technology and infrastructure that offers new prospects.
Cyberspace is still away from complete security. In several cases, the installed security
solutions are unplanned and deficiency a measurable decision structure. While they are
competent in resolving specific issues they are meant to be designed, they fail to react
appropriately to rapidly changing the environment. As commented by Gordon, Loeb,
Lucyshyn & Zhou (2015) & Elmaghraby & Losavio (2014), game theory offers a huge