Cybercrime and Online Safety in Cyberspace

Abstract

Cybercrime is essentially a transnational crime with a �modus operandi� that exploits inter-state differences in the capacity to respond to such crime, and appears in the same company as such powerful global concerns as civil war, genocide and poverty (United Nations 2004). This transnational character provides cybercriminals, especially organized crime (OC), with the agility to avoid counter-measures even when implemented by capable actors (Brenner 2002, 2006; Council of Europe 2004). Although some have questioned the existence of organized criminal activities in cyberspace, several studies have noted the potential and actual synergy between organized crime and cyberspace in recent years. This paper outlines some of the issues and problems in respect to the role of OC in cybercrime.