Cybercrime in the UK: Motives, Theories, Prevention, and Analysis

This report delves into the multifaceted world of cybercrime, examining its increasing prevalence, especially within the UK. It explores the diverse motivations behind cybercrimes, including monetary gain, political agendas, sexual impulses, entertainment, and emotional factors. The report outlines various types of cyber offenses, such as hacking, fraud, and terrorism, and classifies them based on the method of attack. It also discusses relevant theories like the space transition theory, offering insights into why individuals engage in such activities. Furthermore, the report emphasizes the importance of proactive measures and enhanced law enforcement capabilities to combat the rising cybercrime rates. It also highlights the need for public awareness and the role of education in preventing cybercrimes.

Cyber crime

INTRODUCTION
Cybercrime is an illegal act in which the "computer" is used as a tool or target or both. These
days "cyber crime" is the latest and fastest growing area of crime. Like other countries, the
incidence of cyber crime in UK is increasing day by day. This article describes cyber crime and
its spread, cyber law and the major measures taken by the government to prevent it. These
criminals are mainly involved in various criminal activities by taking advantage of internet
speed, convenience and anonymity and exploiting people around the world by making them their
victims. The crimes committed by them include phishing, credit card and debit card related
fraud, bank robbery, illegal downloading, child pornography and distribution of viruses. This
project report consists of understanding of cybercrime theory explanation about the reason
behind commitment of such crimes by individuals. The comparison of current theory with other
theoretical aspect will support report analysis in identifying common between theories of all
author.

Why individuals may commit cybercrime
The growth of cybercrime continues and is now quite coordinated. Cybercrime continues. As
with all the emerging markets, suppliers in the cyber crime industry have expanded their offer to
cover a variety of activities. They have become a big business (Manky, D., 2013).
Cybercrime has grown into a complicated, tightly structured system of officials, developers,
soldiers and hired money mules, and the Cybercrime as a service (CaaS) dictionary has been
launched in another troubling paragraph. Derek Manky from Forti Guard Labs explores how the
world of cybercrime has become a major business. It is important to briefly recall its history in
any discussion of cybercrime and its development. Of reality there's nothing new about
cybercrime. Since the early days of mobile computerization, citizens have been researching and
searching for ways to exploit such devices for their own gain, but mostly for free calls. With
increasing integration of computerization into more life areas, cybercrime has developed parallel,
driven by those who are prepared to break the system over the hours. Certain authors and
commentators are currently experiencing full organized cybercrime. Law enforcement and
internet protection spokespeople have also contrasted the system of cyber offenders with
organisations such as La Cosa Nostra. But, in reality, those that use them sometimes lack
traditional criminal labels used by cyber-crime themselves. This report attempts at researching
rigorously how profit-driven cybercrime would fit into the traditional concepts of organized
crime and mafia (Lusthaus, J., 2013).
With the speed at which technology has progressed, at the same speed, human dependence on
internet has also increased. By sitting in one place, the access of human beings through the
Internet has become easier to every corner of the world. In today's time, everything that a person
can think about, can be accessed through the Internet, such as social networking, online
shopping, storing data, gaming, online study, online jobs, etc (Wall, 2007). Such crimes include
cyber extortion, identity theft, credit card fraud, hacking of personal data from computers,
phishing, illegal downloading, cyber stalking, virus propagation, and so on. It is to be noted that
software theft is also a form of cyber crime, in which it is not necessary that the cyber criminal
commit the crime through online portal. Cybercrime can be classified in two ways: Offenses in
which computers are attacked. Examples of such crimes are hacking, virus attacks, DOS attacks,

etc.; Offenses in which computer is used as a weapon / device /. These types of crimes include
cyber terrorism, IPR violations, credit card fraud, EFT fraud, pornography, etc (Furnell, 2002).
According cybercrime theory explained in module; different motivational factors and effects of
cybercrime were found. These are explained below:
Monetary Profit: Individuals who commit cyber crime has the main motive to earn monetary
benefit. These thieves used to fishing people through look alike website and then greed them to
use it and take out their bank balances. This crime requires special profession in web design,
coding, encryption and decryption of data and feel users like it is original website. Political
Motive: Sometimes political groups also use website and networking to put down their opposite
party through spreading fake news and viral videos. This technique also used by political party to
promote their supremacy on opposite parties. They usually targets social media like whatsapp,
facebook, twitter and other social sites. This cyber crime is not committed by individual but
initiated by group and usually get support from political parties. This type of crime is ignored by
cyber cell due to political pressures. Sexual impulses: Some countries bans provoking sites
called porn sites due to accepting it as the cause behind rape and all feminine crimes. Child
pornography is serious crime but still on demand by public it is committed by rackets. Hence
government imposes restrictions on such sites to reduce the demand and decline the crime rate
for the same. Entertainment: It was found through secondary report of cybercrime theories that
many of the cyber criminals commit cyber attack only for fun and enjoyment for which internet
is medium to put things an end. Many hackers just to become famous, hacks sites and announce
their name to become popular. Sometimes company also hires such hackers for the job of
protecting their data and information at good package. Which is also becomes one of the reasons
behind cybercrime (Yar and Steinmetz, 2019). Emotional Motivators: Some of the cases also
detected who commits cyber crime for emotional reasons such as show anger, employees fired
with no reason, business associates who feel cheated and feeling of revenge. Such criminals are
accepted as very dangerous due to their fixed motives and they are ready to take full risks.
Individual expert in IT and cyber attack and motivates to take revenge with full planning can be
unstoppable and could impact large population.
The legislator said it was created "to manage digital crimes". Various Talk Talk customers
thought that they focused on their registers or visas. Nonetheless, no malfunctions have been

committed so far as a legitimate result of the attack on the telephone service provider and
broadband management. One client, Hilary Foster, told the BBC that she had lost £ 600 from her
record, which the bank said would give a discount (BBC NEWS).
Space Transition Theory:
Ever since crime began to consider the rise of the Internet as an alternative crime scene, another
hypothesis is expected to clarify why digital crimes occur. The change of venue idea introduced
above clarifies Internet criminal behavior. Spatial mobility theory needs to be tested to see if it
illuminates digital crime (Jaishankar 2008).
The second issue of the diary contains a diverse range of articles produced by the development
and creation of experts in the field of cyber. Russell Smith's main article deals with how
advances in data and letter innovation (ICT) have caused a number of new illegal problems, but
it has likewise inspired, found, investigated, l the scope and control of the crime. This document
identifies the main areas of concern for human rights that the computer era has raised. The
document concludes with how human rights violations could be prevented in the computer era.
They propose to conduct an in-depth evaluation review once the new progress is known along
with the screen for their potential denial of human rights and violations of global and national
laws.
The third article, entitled "Are we protecting our youth online?" By Catherine D. Marcum. This
document begins with a concise presentation of web startups and defense estimates are taken by
the government to exploit young people online. This document discusses the use of elimination
and prevention of the program as one of the key proactive phases. The ban on proactive
prevention programs and various types of online wellness measures is limited. The first and most
important advances in online insurance for children tell them why it is essential to stay away
from certain practices and positions on the Internet. The use of protective equipment and other
lighting measures, of course, making a website a point of protection for teenagers and teenagers
is imperative.

How useful is that explanation in understanding why individuals may
commit cybercrime?
The reason explained behind commitment of cyber crime by individuals was found not so useful
from present trend point of view. This module explains why individuals 4 to 5 years ago use to
commit cybercrime but in this changing world motivation and state of living has changed. Thus
taking old data and information for current situation analyses statement will not be fair. As
compared to other sectors; internet has grown with an unexpected rate. Cybercrime is no more
crime now; it has become defense security for many countries, it has reached to another level.
War between countries is not only about bio bomb attack but hacking official and confidential
data of other countries and practices all efforts to destroy such data’s. Underground agencies of
military with no identity work day and night to encrypt secret codes of enemy country to know
about their upcoming planning and strategies (Broadhurst, 2006).
The bulk of computer viruses attack computers and never contributes to physical attacks. Much
of it is technically and sometimes insensitive. It is possible that cyber intimidation would be both
mental and Physical and typically personal damages (Brenner, 2012). Internet fraud is mainly
driven financially, and it calls for positive contact with the perpetrator with the offence. Virtual
pirates are special computer violence, when more victims are more prone than offenders. Author
has researched perception of online bullying perception of cyber bullying. They find that a good
and optimistic "perceived danger". The factor is the "victimizing memory" for the apprehension
of cybercrime. The key explanations could be this outcome attributed to trans-regulatory
obstacles, subterfuge and ignorance of key players to understand essential elements of
technologically facilitated violence in criminal justice systems. Of the nation much as technology
influences the quality of criminal inquiries, to order to consider improper usage of information,
police, lawyers, judges and jurors conviction levels specifically impact (Yu, 2014). So due to
above reasons, this is essential to understand for users to know about why individual tends to
force towards cyber crime.
There is a general perception among the people that the people who commit cyber crimes have
tremendous knowledge of computer and technology, due to which they commit such crimes. But
you will be surprised to know that the number of criminals who have done any course related to
information technology is more than IT professionals. Most of these criminals learn cyber crime

by learning different ways from Internet and YouTube. A recent report of the Global Information
Security Survey 2018-19 revealed that 58 percent of the total criminals committing cyber crimes
are those who have not done any computer related studies. While 44 per cent of the number of
cyber criminals is people who have done computer courses from an institute, but have committed
cyber crime due to lack of job or money (Shinder and Cross, 2008).
Although the number of cyber crime cases increased during 2015, this number (11,592) suggests
that cyber crimes are still rarely reported due to negligence of UK. Companies do not register
cases thinking that their reputation will be damaged, as well as companies and people do not
have confidence in their ability to resolve these matters. The percentage of cases leading up to
prosecution (46% of the total registered cases) also shows that the cases that require investigation
from different fields need to be strengthened to investigate cyber crimes (Brenner, 2010). .
In order to face the following rates of prosecution and punishment in cases of cyber crime it is
necessary to: In cyber crime cases, law enforcement agencies should be proactive rather than
reactive after the incident. For this they will have to take all the concerned parties including
people from the private sector and academia. The capacity of law enforcement agencies should
be improved. For this, apart from enhancing their skills, attention will also have to be given on
strengthening the infrastructural facilities. Develop a platform for gathering and working on
intelligence at the international level. Provide strategic and research support to agencies for
combating cyber crime (Loader and Thomas, 2013).
Cyber terrorism is the most terrible and abominable form of terrorism. In this, a terrorist can
attack anywhere in the whole world from one place (McQuade III, 2008). In this, the identity of
the terrorist is hidden - no name, no idea, no picture, nothing as an identity. If something happens
in the name of the evidence then only and only - an IP address.
How does this theory differ to other theoretical explanations of cyber
crime?
This theory is different to other theoretical explanations because other theories are based on
latest facts and figures; which better relates cybercrime with present situation. On the basis of
report published by UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA); the main reason behind committing
cyber crime found was financial reward, recognition from peers, popularity in the surroundings

and sense of success. These factors were found responsible for motivating individuals to commit
cybercrime (What motivates some young people to become cybercriminals?, 2017). Out of these;
the main element found for commit such a crime is sense of accomplishment receive by
individuals after completing a challenge. Only 15% case commit cybercrime for financial
rewards; rest have another reason for this crime. Other theoretical explanations shows that the
main reason behind increasing in the frequency of committing cyber crime in society is due to
the risk of using the internet is low and the rate of return is high, so people always use this
facility which leads to the occurrence of "cyber crime". Out of total crimes in UK; it is surveyed
that 65% are cybercrime and 35% are non cybercrimes; this shows majority of crimes are related
to technically advancement. It is also recorded that out of every 5 crimes in UK only one crime is
non cyber rest of four is cyber related crime (Cyber crime in the UK – is it is bad as they say or
worse?, 2019). The use of information and data from the Internet is good for getting "returns",
but it is difficult to catch criminals through it. Because of this, the phenomenon of "cyber crime"
is increasing all over the world at the present time. Other theorists also explained that
cybercrimes can be defined as such unlawful acts, where computers are used as either a device or
a target or both. Cybercrime is a common term, which includes crimes like phishing, spoofing,
DoS attack, credit card fraud, online transaction fraud, etc. Some of the types of cybercrime
attempt by individuals are:
Hacking: In this type of cyber crime, access is made inside a person's computer for the purpose
of obtaining his personal or sensitive information. Significantly, this crime is different from
ethical hacking, which many organizations use to check their Internet security protection. Many
hackers try to gain access to your resources with the help of software capable of cracking
passwords. Hackers can also see what users do on their computer and hackers can also import or
access user files on their computer (Britz, 2009).
DDoS attacks: It is used to make the online service unavailable and the site is downed by
bringing traffic from various sources. Large networks of infected devices, called botnets, are
created by depositing malware on users' computers. The hacker hacks the system as soon as the
network is down.

Cyber stalking: This is a type of online harassment, in which the victim is harassed through
online messages and mails. Generally, online harassing stockers know the victims and use the
Internet, rather than resorting to offline means (Taylor, Fritsch and Liederbach, 2014).
Identity Theft: Identity theft can be broadly defined as its unlawful use of other's personal
identity information. This is a major problem with people using the Internet for online financial
transactions and banking services. In this cyber crime, a criminal obtains information about a
person's bank account, credit card, debit card, full name and other sensitive information.
Phishing: In this type of attack, malicious email attachments or URLs are sent by hackers to
users for the purpose of gaining access to their accounts or computers. Since cyber criminals are
becoming increasingly established and they use advanced technology, their mails are often not
marked as spam. Significantly, phishing is a type of financial crime.
Some other factors found by theorist are:
Sense of impunity: Individuals think that cybercrime is not actually crime but showing talent to
whole world about how much they are capable. Due to low risk of law enforcement interference
in matters not associated with traditional crimes and not able to prove crime of convict makes it
easy for tenants to commit cybercrime without any prior thinking about results. Individuals get
supported by free online tools of hacking which makes their work easier to commit such crime
(Ablon, Libicki and Golay, 2014).
Cybercrime business model: Some companies encouraging teenagers and students to obtain
crash course of hacking through selling packages of tools which is easily usable by criminals
with less technical knowledge. This automated self customizable models supports criminal in
easy development of fishing web pages to attack financially on victims. Services offered by such
a model includes sale of ransom ware and other types of services include fraud, attacks and
malwares.
Supportive tools: Availability of supporting tools at cheap rate open new ways for cyber
criminals to commit crime proper training and hesitations. Some of the tools like boosters and
remote access Trojans avail services to individuals to commit such a crime at small amount and
sometimes free of cost.

Non-availability of mentor: Students trying to mastery in cybercrime topics become criminal
unwillingly due less knowledge about what is right and what is wrong. Mentor required for every
learner to channelize their effort, talent and energy in right and positive way. A mentor is the
leader having complete knowledge about cybercrime and its positive and negative impact on the
society (Halder, Jaishankar and Jaishankar, 2012).

CONCLUSION
Hence on the basis of project report analyses it can be concluded that; most Internet users do not
pay attention to the fact that their information can be hacked and such people rarely change their
passwords / ensure the security of documents. They do not have awareness about using the
Internet by being vigilant and not aware of the cyber attack on their information and due to this
many people, inadvertently fall prey to cyber crime.
Apart from this, to tackle the issue of cyber crimes, CIA (Criminal Intelligence Agency) of
different cities has opened cybercrime cells in different cities. The Information Technology Act
of UK clearly states that when a cyber crime is committed, it has a global jurisdiction and
therefore a complaint can be filed in any cyber cell.