Profiling Cybercriminals
Electronic or digital forensics acknowledges the need to profile cybercriminals. As early as the 19th century, profiling has been used by criminal investigators as an investigative aid. Criminal profiling can either be done in an inductive way where behavioral patterns and personality traits of offenders are generalized from an existing database of offenders or deductively where specific evidences from existing cases are analyzed to be able to arrive at a behavioral profile applicable to a specific case. However, no matter what method of profiling is used, profiling alone seldom identifies the criminal, which is the main objective of criminal investigations. The role of profiling would be to aid investigators in narrowing down possible suspects and digital evidences. (Rogers, 2003)
It is already known that most cyber criminals possess some technical knowledge, they enjoy the thrill of getting the better of others and thinks that laws does are not applicable to them. The common motives for committing cyber crimes are usually stealing money from others, having fun, personal beliefs, sexual desires or just mere boredom of a person. Today’s cyber criminals do not come from a specific age bracket. They range from pre-teens to old ages. Most of the time, cybercriminals are said to commit white collar crimes, because they use sophisticated materials, especially the computers to commit the crime and often go for months or years without being caught. (Shinder, 2010)
There is no enough evidence to say that there is an existing distinct psychological pattern of cyber criminals that could help in apprehending them. A recent Dutch research found out a different and contrary to the common perception of the profiles of cyber criminals. It is indicated in the report that there are also various cybercriminals who are ordinary criminals operating individually and on small scale. (Wilson, 2011)
References
Rogers, Marc (2003). “The role of criminal profiling in the computer forensics process”. Retrieved on 2012, March 3 from http://www2.tech.purdue.edu/cit/Courses/cit556/readings/Profile-Rogers.pdf
Shinder, Deb (2010). “Profiling and Categorizing Cyber Criminals”. Retrieved on 2012, March 3 from http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/security/profiling-and-categorizing-cybercriminals/4069
Wilson, Tim (2011). “Cybercriminal Profiles Don't Always Match Perceptions, Report Says ”. Retrieved on 2012, March 3 from http://www.darkreading.com/smb-security/167901073/security/client-security/229300078/cybercriminal-profiles-don-t-always-match-perceptions-report-says.html
