Dis-Organised Crime: Towards a Distributed Model of the Organization of Cybercrime

Abstract

There exists a widespread and uncritical assumption that the internet and society have been brought to their knees by Mafia-driven organised crime groups. Yet, this rhetorical narrative is not supported by research into the organisation of online crime groupings which finds that the organisation of crime online follows a different logic to the organisation of crime offline, a difference which is also reflected in other organised crime groupings though with different actors. Such findings identify instead a ‘disorganised’ or distributed model of organization, rather than a hierarchical command and control structure. This article maps out the logic behind the organisation of criminal behaviour online before looking critically at the organised cybercrime debates. It then draws upon a simple analysis of the structures of known cybercrime groups and then three case studies of different cybercrime types to explore their organization.