Inside the mind of a cybercriminal: do digital law breakers have a personality type?
December 12, 2022 – Published on SC Magazine
Antisocial, loner, computer addicted — malicious hackers have long been labeled with these stereotypes by the public. While movies and popular culture may paint a simple, unflattering portrait of the average cybercriminal, a scientific approach to the question found a more nuanced and complex picture, with many actors exhibiting skills and traits that would be considered positive or even admirable in other contexts.
A recent study led by Marleen Weulen Kranenbarg, assistant professor of criminology at Vrije University in Amsterdam, sheds new light on the specific personal characteristics of digital offenders by comparing a sample of 261 cybercrime suspects with that of offline offenders. The study found that cyber offenders have a higher level of diligence, conscientiousness, and self-regulation but scored low on modesty, fearfulness, flexibility, and aesthetic appreciation.
Studying the specific mindsets and psychological proclivities of cybercriminals may be worth the effort in part because, as the study notes, online crime continues to steadily rise as other forms of offline crime become less and less frequent. Further, online crime differs from offline crime in important ways that may shape the behavior of both cybercriminals and their victims.
Drew Schmitt, lead analyst and ransomware negotiator at GuidePoint Security, suggested that understanding cyber offenders’ behaviors and enhancing threat profiles are particularly useful in deploying ransomware negotiation strategies as attackers today often interact with victims directly to discuss the payments.
“My team builds negotiation profiles for every threat actor we have engaged with,” Schmitt said. “For groups like Vice Society that have fewer numbers of individuals, we have fewer variables [in the profiles] because there are fewer individuals we need to deal with, but for larger groups like LockBit with many different affiliates, we will put a lot more varied details [into the profiles] and craft appropriate messages accordingly.”
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