A Systematic Approach Toward Description and Classification of Cybercrime Incidents

The advancements in computer systems and networks have created a new environment for criminal acts, widely known as cybercrime. Cybercrime incidents are occurrences of particular criminal offences that pose a serious threat to the global economy, safety, and well-being of society. This paper offers a comprehensive understanding of cybercrime incidents and their corresponding offences combining a series of approaches reported in relevant literature. Initially, this paper reviews and identifies the features of cybercrime incidents, their respective elements and proposes a combinatorial incident description schema. The schema provides the opportunity to systematically combine various elements-or cybercrime characteristics. Additionally, a comprehensive list of cybercrime-related offences is put forward. The offences are ordered in a two-level classification system based on specific criteria to assist in better classification and correlation of their respective incidents. This enables a thorough understanding of the repeating and underlying criminal activities. The proposed system can serve as a common reference overtaking obstacles deriving from misconceptions for cybercrimes with cross-border activities. The proposed schema can be extended with a list of recommended actions, corresponding measures and effective policies that match with the offence type and subsequently with a particular incident. This matching will enable better monitoring, handling and moderate cybercrime incident occurrences. The ultimate objective is to incorporate the schema-based description of cybercrime elements to a complete incident management system with standard operating procedures and protocols.