CC-DRIVER: Human & Technical Drivers of Youth Cybercrime

Last updated: 2023-02-03

About our SID activities

The CC-DRIVER research project team at University of East London has conducted research and developed evidence-based educational materials which we are now sharing as part of Safer Internet Day. It is important to educate young people and adults about knowing what types of online behaviours are risky, harmful, or criminal.

1. “What are cybercrimes?” Poster
Informed by our research, we have developed a “What are cybercrimes?” poster, which you can download or print. This poster describes what cybercrimes are, gives examples of different types of criminal behaviours online, and gives examples of what individuals can do to reduce their risky online behaviours. One of our main findings, corroborated by previous research, is that harmful online behaviours are normalised and one of the reasons maybe why most people don’t realise what they are doing online can be harmful to themselves or others and may be against the law. 

2. “Crossing the line into Cybercrime” Youth Quiz and Score Sheet 
We have developed a ‘Crossing the line into Cybercrime’ quiz and score sheet informed by our research, to educate young people (from the ages of 12 and up) about potential online risks and what measures can be taken to reduce and avoid behaviours that are risky, harmful, and associated with online crime. Download the Quiz (2a “Crossing the line into Cybercrime” Youth Quiz in the resources section below) and either print and write your scores or complete them by looking at the screen and taking note of your scores. Then check out your scores (2b “Crossing the line into Cybercrime” Youth Quiz Score Sheet in the resources section below)! 

3. “Pathways into Cybercrime” Resource for parents, caregivers, and educators
We have developed a ‘Pathways into cybercrime’ poster, which you can download or print. This is a checklist resource for parents, caregivers, and educators, based on our latest research findings. This resource is to help inform parents, caregivers, and educators about potential online risks that young people might be taking, the various factors that are associated with online risk-taking and what potential measures can be taken to reduce and avoid behaviours that are risky, harmful, and associated with online crime.

What we are doing to create a better internet...

The CC-DRIVER project produces cutting-edge research to understand children’s risky, harmful and illegal behaviours online, to provide evidence-based thought leadership on how to prevent harm and promote digital well-being, and contribute to the conversation at the national and international scale. We support Safer Internet Day initiatives by providing key resources, educational materials and intervention resources. Our findings contribute to the conversation about child online safety and youth cybercrime at national and global levels. The resources that we are sharing as part of Safer Internet Day will be shared with Safer Internet Centres across all of Europe, in the hope of sharing these evidence-based interventions with young people and reducing online crime at national levels. As supporters, we encourage our expert network and CC-DRIVER partners to take part. 

About us

The CC-DRIVER project focuses on understanding the drivers of cybercriminality, and new methods to prevent, investigate and mitigate cybercriminal behaviour. The EU Horizon 2020 project is a 3-year, €5 million project, led by Trilateral Research and involves 13 partners across eight European countries. The work from this project represents the most up-to-date and cutting-edge knowledge on cybercriminality and online harms, in particular our work examines the ‘human factor’ of cybercrime. The term ‘human factor’ is used to refer to a variety of aspects about individuals, for example, demographic variables, personality or character traits, social relationships, mental health and how someone interacts with technology. 

University of East London CC-DRIVER partners at the Institute for Connected Communities conducted various stages of research. Firstly, we have interviewed 36 Cybercrime experts, to gain expert opinion on why individuals (in particular young people) might become involved in risky, harmful, or illegal behaviours online. Secondly, we have conducted a survey of approximately 8,000 young people across nine European countries, to gain insight from young people’s self-reported behaviours and investigate how various different ‘human factors’ may be related to risky, harmful, or illegal behaviours online. Finally, we are conducting interviews with cybercrime offenders in UK prisons, to gain insight directly from offenders about what led them to become involved in online crime. CC-DRIVER have translated the findings from our research into educational materials which we are sharing as part of Safer Internet Day.

Additional links/resources

Website
https://www.ccdriver-h2020.com

Email address
ccdriver@uel.ac.uk

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