The World Cybercrime Index (WCI), released in 2024, identifies the world’s key cybercrime hotspots. It measures the significance of the cybercrime produced in different countries, and then ranks these countries according to their “cybercriminality”: the impact of the cybercrimes produced there, and the skills of the cybercriminals who commit these crimes. The WCI is the first index to use expert survey data to map cybercrime geography.

The Index was developed as a joint partnership between the University of Oxford and UNSW Canberra, and was partly funded by the CRIMGOV Project and ERC Advanced Grant based at the University of Oxford and Sciences Po. It was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Co-authors include Dr Miranda Bruce from the University of Oxford and UNSW Canberra, Associate Professor Jonathan Lusthaus from the University of Oxford’s Department of Sociology and Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, Professor Federico Varese from Sciences Po in France, Professor Ridhi Kashyap from the University of Oxford, and Professor Nigel Phair from Monash University.

To develop it, the co-authors of the study conducted a survey with 92 of the world’s top experts in cybercrime intelligence and investigations in 2021. These experts nominated up to five countries they believed were the most significant sources of five different cybercrime types – Technical products/services, Attacks and extortion, Scams, Data/identity theft, and Cashing out/money laundering. Experts then rated each country they nominated according to the impact of their cybercrimes, and the technical and professional skills of the cybercriminals who operate there. The co-authors then used this data to generate the World Cybercrime Index.

The WCI has been featured in more than 200 news items across the world, including national newspaper and magazine outlets, ABC News Radio in Australia, and "Somewhere on Earth: the Global Tech Podcast" in the UK.

A newly developed World Cybercrime Index shows that most cybercrime threats originate in a few countries, and highlights specialisations according to the type of threat. These results, published in the journal PLOS ONE on 10 April 2024, were obtained as part of the ERC CRIMGOV project led by Federico Varese.
Cyber attacks, online scams, etc.: the cost of cybercrime around the world is growing, not only financially but also in terms of corporate reputation and people's privacy. Until now, the dominant approach to cyber security has been technological, aimed at raising the level of protection of digital infrastructures and detecting intrusions into networks. However, it is difficult to know where cybercriminals are operating from, because of the strategies they use to mask their location. Yet, locating the perpetrators of cybercrime would enable us to understand the social and economic context in which these people live and to explore long-term social solutions for combating this type of crime.

The new index shows where cyber criminals are, and the impact they are having.

An international team of researchers has compiled the first ever World Cybercrime Index, which identifies the globe’s key cybercrime hotspots by ranking the most significant sources of cybercrime at a national level.

The Index, released today after three years of intensive research, 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. Australia comes in at number 34.

Co-author of the study, Dr Miranda Bruce from UNSW Canberra and the University of Oxford, said the study will enable the public and private sectors to focus their resources on key cybercrime hubs and spend less time and funds on cybercrime countermeasures in countries where the problem is not as significant.

“The research that underpins the Index will help remove the veil of anonymity around cybercriminal offenders, and we hope that it will aid the fight against the growing threat of profit-driven cybercrime,” Dr Bruce said.

“We now have a deeper understanding of the geography of cybercrime, and how different countries specialise in different types of cybercrime.

“By continuing to collect this data, we’ll be able to monitor the emergence of any new hotspots and it’s possible early interventions could be made in at-risk countries before a serious cybercrime problem even develops.

In the early hours of 3 May 2023, 10 countries took action against the Calabrian mafia, the ‘Ndrangheta. More than 130 people were arrested, 30 of them in Germany. Prosecutors spoke of the biggest international strike so far, against one of the most notorious mafia organisations worldwide.

Following the arrests - the result of a three-year investigation - Dr Zora Hauser spoke to numerous news outlets about whether this operation will have any real impact on the ‘Ndrangheta.

Dr Zora Hauser was interviewed by Fluter, Germany's Federal Agency for Civic Education magazine, about her work investigating the presence of the 'Ndrangheta mafia in Germany.

Dr Martina Baradel appeared on the popular Japanese TV show, 'What are you doing in Japan?', discussing her research into the Japanese crime organisation, the yakuza. The appearance prompted writer Tomohiko Suzuki, an expert on the yakuza, to interview Martina about her perspective as a researcher and outsider.

Headlines were made when Sicilian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was captured by authorities, after 30 years on the run. Messina Denaro is the boss of the Castevetrano mafia family and, in 2002, was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for multiple murders.

Messina Denaro was detained in Palermo at a private health clinic where he was receiving treatment for cancer. Federico Varese, Professor of Criminology, spoke to numerous press outlets about the arrest.

Book review by Matías Dewey of ExLegi Senior Research Fellow Jonathan Lusthaus' book (Industry of Anonymity: Inside the Business of Cybercrime) published in the American Journal of Sociology.

As part of the international network "Scholars at Risk" (SAR) and its Italian section SAR-Italia, the University of Milan is offering 4 positions for at-risk scholars. To be eligible, candidates must be Ukrainian citizens or other non-EU country nationals coming from areas where political and/or military crisis is underway.

Deadline: 2 pm (CEST, Italy) on April 22nd 2022

See the link for further details and requirements.

Speakers: T. Wing Lo (City University of Hong Kong), Hirosue Noboru (Ryukoku University), and Peng Wang (University of Hong Kong)