Understanding the Human Factor in Cybercrime

Criminological scholarship on cybercrime and online deviance has dramatically expanded over the last two decades (Holt and Bossler 2015;Lusthaus 2024;Wall 2024).The near ubiquity of technology, particularly mobile devices and cellular Internet connectivity, and our dependence on web-based applications for communications, finance, and commerce has created unparalleled opportunities for crime and deviance (Steinmetz 2024;Wall 2024).Individuals can readily use the Internet and various technologies for interpersonal and economic offenses that cut across both virtual and real spaces (Holt and Bossler 2015; Lusthaus 2024).Research has increasingly grown in both methodological and analytical sophistication, shifting from limited college samples (Holt and Bossler 2015; Steinmetz 2024) to more robust general population surveys that provide a more nuanced understanding of the correlates of both offending and victimization (see Holt 2023 for review).Qualitative scholars are increasingly using distinct samples to understand deviance and crime, whether based on police data sources, open source searches triangulating various data, or novel online data sources cultivated from the Open and Dark Web (for review see Holt 2023; Steinmetz 2024).As cybercrime research has matured, so too has the global body of scholars working in this space.There are more research networks focusing on cybercrime among the social sciences, creating unique opportunities for collaboration and communication of research findings.This special issue is a direct result of one such event, the Human Factor in Cybercrime Conference.This annual conference was created to link those studying cybercrime together, allowing junior and senior scholars from across different disciplines to share their research in a collegial environment.The quality and volume of publications allowed the organizing committee to develop a call for papers for this special issue.This journal is an excellent home for the issue, as Deviant Behavior has been at the forefront of publications consistently addressing online crime and deviance.In fact, studies of online sexual activity and deviance appeared in Deviant Behavior beginning in 1995 (Durnk and Bryant 1995), and continued into the 2000s with an expansion into various forms of cybercrime, whether hacking (e.g.Holt 2007; Rogers, Smoak, and Liu 2006), piracy (e.g.Higgins, Wolfe, andMarcum 2008;Ingram and Hinduja 2008), or person-based offenses (e.g.Holt andBossler 2008;Reyns, Henson, and Fisher 2012).This special issue continues this tradition, with studies that reflect works that were presented during the conference, as well as novel submissions that were developed in response to the published call for research.There is great breadth and depth in terms of the focus of these studies, including methodological and topical issues that address contemporary technologies and criminal behaviors.There are several pieces exploring the pivots observed in the practices of computer hackers from