How to prevent cyberattacks and how to strengthen reporting mechanisms to make prevention occur?
Assessing the Life Histories and Backgrounds of Ideologically Motivated Actors Engaging in Cyberattacks and Online Violence
This project seeks to prevent a potential cyber 9/11. The thrust is by bolstering the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative through a more comprehensive look at how online behavior of bad actors mirrors offline behavior, how predictive cybercrime might be of physical crime and how better to inform law enforcement.
Objective/Purpose
The primary goal of this project is to improve SAR protocols as they relate to online violence and pre-operational planning behaviors. To do so, this project uses criminology theories and archival information from online platforms to examine the social and developmental life histories of individuals who have engaged in three forms of behavior: 1) ideologically motivated cybercrimes, 2) targeted violence through online platforms, and 3) targeted violence in physical spaces as a function of belief in an ideology born online.
Methodology
This project will use information from multiple online repositories (e.g., media sources, watch group data, offender self-reporting, scholarly sources, and official government reports). The data will be analyzed with case study methods and content analysis procedures before findings are translated into practitioner-oriented knowledge products.
Investigators
Thomas Holt, Micighan State University Professor of Criminal Justice
Steve Chermak, Michigan State University Professor of Criminal Justice
Joshua D. Freilich, John Jay College Professor of Criminal Justice