Conceptualizing Cybercrime: Definitions, Typologies and Taxonomies

Abstract

Cybercrime is becoming ever more pervasive and yet the lack of consensus surrounding what constitutes a cybercrime has a significant impact on society, legal and policy response, and academic research. Difficulties in understanding cybercrime begin with the variability in terminology and lack of consistency in cybercrime legislation across jurisdictions. In this review, using a structured literature review methodology, key cybercrime definitions, typologies and taxonomies were identified across a range of academic and non-academic (grey literature) sources. The findings of this review were consolidated and presented in the form of a new classification framework to understand cybercrime and cyberdeviance. Existing definitions, typologies and taxonomies were evaluated, and key challenges were identified. Whilst conceptualizing cybercrime will likely remain a challenge, this review provides recommendations for future work to advance towards a universal understanding of cybercrime phenomena as well as a robust and comprehensive classification system.