Blockchain in Digital Criminology: Problem Statement

Abstract

The problem under consideration is highly topical as damage from cybercrime is predicted to reach six trillion dollar in 2021, compared with 3 trillion in 2015. The authors put forth a hypothesis that blockchain could become the techno­logy that will reduce the scale of damage from criminal infringements in the sphere of digital economy by simplifying control over illegal movement of capital. The goal of this research is to analyze the role that the technology of distributed registers/blockchain plays in digital criminology and counteracting cybercrime. In blockchain, there is no single point of attack on the database, and it is impossible to access data encrypted with a key without that key. There is not centralized storage for keys: each user-owner stores them. The authors study the technology of storing data in blockchain or distributed register (blockchain being a special case of distributed re­gister). If such a server center is attacked, it is impossible to steal all data that are stored on it at once. This will deliver a serious blow on the criminal transactions because the whole history of operations is saved, the financial flows are transpa­rent in the chain of blocks and it will be virtually impossible to hide them, which will eliminate all illegal transactions and make the financing of terrorist and extremist organizations much more difficult. Because all users-owners have the database, the theft will be noticed immediately, and it cannot be hidden. It will get known whose secret key is used for access, and it will point directly at the perpetrator and could, in itself, stop them. The authors describe how distributed registers can be used to fight cybercrime. They believe that 1) the problem of cybercrime is most relevant for developed countries (with high GDP) because the more developed a society is, the more it depends on digital technologies; 2) the distributed registers/blockchain technology will help counteract cyberattacks and, consequently, will protect finan­ces and confidential information against criminal infringements.