Open AccessCyber-Situational Crime Prevention and the Breadth of Cybercrimes among Higher Education Institutions
Author(s) -
Sinchul Back,
Jennifer Lee
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of cybersecurity intelligence and cybercrime/international journal of cybersecurity intelligence and cybercrime
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2578-3297
pISSN - 2578-3289
DOI - 10.52306/03020320rgws2555
Subject(s) - cybercrime , situational ethics , crime prevention , conceptualization , computer security , phishing , realm , situation awareness , business , public relations , internet privacy , political science , computer science , engineering , criminology , psychology , the internet , law , artificial intelligence , world wide web , aerospace engineering
Academic institutions house enormous amounts of critical information from social security numbers of students to proprietary research data. Thus, maintaining up to date cybersecurity practices to protect academic institutions’ information and facilities against cyber-perpetrators has become a top priority. The purpose of this study is to assess common cybersecurity measures through a situational crime prevention (SCP) theoretical framework. Using a national data set of academic institutions in the United States, this study investigates the link between common cybersecurity measures, crime prevention activities, and cybercrimes. By focusing on the conceptualization of cybersecurity measures as SCP techniques, this study also offers the SCP approach as a framework by which universities can seek to reduce incidents of cybercrime through the design, maintenance, and use of the built environment in the digital realm. Implications for theory, research and practice are discussed.