Single and Double Power Laws for Cyber-Crimes
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ABSTRACT
Eleven years of financial loss data from the CSI annual Computer Crime and Security surveys have been analysed to discover whether or not they obey some form of power law relationship. Evidence is adduced for the existence of both single and double power laws, and their characteristic exponents are determined, together with various statistical and probabilistic reliability measures. The findings are interpreted in terms of the modus operandi of cyber-criminals as revealed in the CSI survey data. In particular, a distinction between opportunistic cyber-crime and serious organized cyber-crime is found at cyber-heists with an average magnitude of circa US$2.86M.
AUTHORS
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Department of Informatics, King’s College London Strand
London UK
Richard E Overill obtained his BSc and PhD degrees from the University of Leicester, UK. He has held the positions of Special Lecturer in Computing Methods and Senior Analyst, Lecturer in Computer Science, and Senior Lecturer in Computer Science, all based at King’s College London, University of London. As well as holding the designations of Chartered IT Professional, Chartered Mathematician, Chartered Scientist and Chartered Engineer, he is a Fellow of the British Computer Society, the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, and the UK Higher Education Academy. His research output includes over 85 refereed papers in international journals, international conference proceedings, and edited volumes, covering topics in computational quantum theory, high-performance computing, and, since 1995, many aspects of information security including fraud detection, information warfare, cybercrime and digital forensics. He is currently joint Principal Investigator of a two-year project funded by the US Office of Naval Research entitled ‘Strategy and the Network Society’, in collaboration with colleagues from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London.
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Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security University of Oxford
Oxford, United Kingdom
Jantje Silomon is a DPhil (PhD) student in cyber security at the University of Oxford. Her main research interest is cyber security, with a focus on malware weaponization. She has previously worked in both academia and the private sector.
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Journal of Information Warfare
The definitive publication for the best and latest research and analysis on information warfare, information operations, and cyber crime. Available in traditional hard copy or online.
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