HO Cyber Crime
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bath
Department Name: Psychology
Abstract
Each fellowship will last up to 18 months to cover a three-month inception phase for set up activity, followed by a 6-12-month placement with the host organisation, and concluding with an impact phase lasting up to three months. Fellows will co-design projects and activities with their host and produce analysis to inform government decision-making across a range of policy priorities. Fellows will also engage across the host organisation, building effective working relationships and supporting wider knowledge exchange with researchers. This will be supported through their embedded role within the host organisation, including line management support.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Katie Maras (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Maras K
(2024)
Cyber offending in adolescence: The role of knowledge and experiences online on propensity to engage in unauthorised access
in Computers in Human Behavior Reports
Maras K
(2024)
Cyber offending predictors and pathways in middle adolescence: Evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study
in Computers in Human Behavior
| Description | During the Policy Fellowship I was seconded to the Homeland Security Analysis and Insight (HSAI) unit of the Home Office. HSAI is the Government's centre for analysis and insight on Homeland Security issues, focussing on understanding the outcomes of policy and operational interventions to ensure that Homeland Security decisions are based on robust evidence. Within HSAI, I worked in the Cyber Crime team, focussing specifically on Cyber Prevent. Cyber Prevent, led by the National Crime Agency (NCA), forms a key part of the government's National Cyber Strategy. It seeks to proactively prevent individuals from engaging in or progressing further down a cyber criminal pathway. My role within the Cyber Crime team at HSAI was to evaluate Cyber Prevent interventions, as well as synthesising existing evidence and generating new knowledge on the nature of cyber offending. My key projects and findings included: 1. I worked with external stakeholders, including the NCA and cyber industry leads, to evaluate a schools-based blocklisting Cyber Prevent intervention, using a mixed-methods approach. My findings highlighted the difficulties in implementing this intervention, while also questioning whether the core assumptions that underpin such interventions are valid and appropriate. Findings underscore the need for improvements through careful planning in the development, implementation, and evaluation of future online blocklisting interventions. 2. I carried out and reported a qualitative content analysis of a large dataset of ~1000 Cyber Prevent cases recorded to date. My findings highlighted significant diversity in Cyber Prevent referrals, including subjects' cyber skills and interests, their background, education and aspirations, their attitudes and knowledge regarding the Computer Misuse Act (CMA) and their engagement with Cyber Prevent intervention. My findings also indicated partial support for the assumptions underpinning Cyber Prevent. Together, these findings highlight the need for tailored intervention planning with Cyber Prevent subjects, based on the subject's characteristics, background and risk profile. 3. I designed and reported a quantitative analysis of data from the Millennium Cohort Study to examine characteristics and predictors of cyber offending in a UK sample of over 11,000 young people. The overall prevalence of self-reported cyber offending was 5.6% at age 14 and 3.8% at age 17, although persistence over time by the same individuals was relatively low (1.1%). Findings indicate that young cyber offenders are often males and those who have experienced a range of risk factors that are connected to poorer wellbeing and engaging in multiple risky/offending behaviours. 4. I synthesised evidence on cyber offender characteristics from existing reviews, Home Office-led primary research, law enforcement assessments, intelligence reports and official statistics to produce an Evidence Brief for the Home Office's Cyber Policy Unit. Findings highlight significant diversity in the profiles of offenders and their pathways to cyber criminality. Contrary to popular stereotypes, there is no archetypal cyber offender who is distinct from all other types of offenders; multiple individual factors contribute to different types of cyber offending across different individuals. |
| Exploitation Route | Findings from this work offer new insights into cyber offender characteristics, Cyber Prevent referrals, and the appropriateness, feasibility and effectiveness of interventions. These findings are important to inform future research, policy and policing practice in relation to preventing cyber crime. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Education Government Democracy and Justice Security and Diplomacy |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.108011 |
| Description | My Evidence Brief, which highlighted key findings and gaps in the extant literature, was used to underpin the narrative for the government's Cyber Crime Action Plan. Findings from my other projects have resulted in changes to the development, implementation, and evaluation of particular Cyber Prevent interventions. Key learnings have also been taken to inform evaluation of Counter Terrorism Prevent interventions. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Government, Democracy and Justice,Security and Diplomacy |
| Impact Types | Societal Policy & public services |
| Description | Collaborative partnership with the National Crime Agency (NCA) |
| Organisation | National Crime Agency |
| Department | National Cyber Crime Unit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Evaluation of Cyber Prevent intervention in schools |
| Collaborator Contribution | The NCA developed a cyber prevent intervention and I am leading the evaluation of it. |
| Impact | TBC |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Secondment with the Home Office |
| Organisation | Home Office |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | I am currently on an ESRC-funded Policy Fellowship with the Cyber Crime team HOAI, Home Office. I am leading several analytical projects in relation to Cyber Prevent. |
| Collaborator Contribution | I am working within the Home Office, with relevant support and access to data etc. |
| Impact | TBC |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation at the National Cyber Crime Unit (National Crime Agency) Prevent Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Invited talk on Evaluating Cyber Prevent interventions - disseminating findings from my policy fellowship secondment at the Home Office. National Cyber Crime Unit (National Crime Agency) Prevent Conference, Birmingham, UK. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Series of talks to Home Office |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I gave a series of talks to various Home Office and DfE teams, disseminating findings from the projects that I led during my secondment there. These included: - Home Office Economic Crime, Fraud and Cyber Programme meeting - Home Office Analysis and Insight team (a series of 3 separate presentations disseminating each of my projects) - Home Office Cyber Policy Unit - Home Office Counter Terrorism Prevent team - Department for Education cyber teams |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |