Predicting Youth Intention to Hack

The research was led by UEL Professor of Forensic Cyberpsychology Mary Aiken and the University’s Professor of Criminology Julia Davidson OBE, with researchers from two Belgian institutions, the University of Antwerp and Ghent University, also involved. 

Criminal hacking in youths aged between 16 and 19 was assessed using a theoretical framework, the Theory of Planned Behaviour which incorporates cognitive processes and human drivers informed by psychology, cyberpsychology, and criminology theory. 

The study identified multiple possible vectors with which to stage interventions in relation to human factors, either to tailor interventions to most at-risk groups, for example, older teen males or to intervene on strong predictors of behaviours, for example, parental attitudes or teens known to be engaging in offline delinquent behaviour. 

The findings indicate that there is little sharp division between offline and online crime; rather, they point towards a general propensity for engaging in risky and criminal behaviour. This suggests a requirement for a significant policy shift in how cybercrime, in particular technical cybercrimes like hacking, are conceptualised, investigated, and legislated. 

Professor Aiken said, 

Despite the complexity of the criminal hacking behaviour our study has formulated a powerful predictive model of youth hacking intention and behaviour, incorporating and importantly being able to concurrently assess different cyberpsychological, psychological, and criminological factors in addition to identifying useful evidence-based points of intervention - this present research builds on the findings of our 2016 'Youth Pathways into Cybercrime’ study." 

Professor Davidson added,

This research helps us better understand behavioural patterns amongst young people by identifying predictors of youth hacking. These will be used to design preventative strategies to predict and deter cyberdeviance and cybercrime, ultimately contributing to a safer digital environment. These can start from an early age through educational programmes, which is key with the ever-growing need to understand how typical adolescent risk-taking intersects with the vastly criminogenic potential of digital technology.” 

Last year, research by University of East London academics on the EU-funded, €5 million CC-DRIVER project concluded. During the three-year study, Professor Davidson and Professor Aiken examined the human and technical drivers of cybercrime in reports, conferences, workshops, webinars and journal articles. 

The project surveyed just under 8,000 young people in nine European countries and found, 69 per cent, of those who provided answers reported committing at least one form of cybercrime or online harm or engaging in risky behaviour online. Just under half reported they had engaged in criminal behaviour online. Over 16 per cent of those questioned had taken part in hacking. 

The project also developed tools that law enforcement authorities could use to detect cyber-attacks. It conducted a comparative analysis of cybercrime legislation and policies across eight different EU member states and the UK and made recommendations for greater harmonisation. 

The new paper has been published in the Forensic Sciences journal. Kirsty Phillips and Dr Ruby Farr of UEL also contributed to the research, along with Professor Michel Walrave of the University of Antwerp and Professor Koen S. Ponnet of Ghent University.

Read the paper

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