All cybercrime victims are equal, but…

Equity refers to being impartial and fair, treating all people the same regardless of any real or imagined differences. How do we apply this concept of equity to victims of cybercrime? Have you ever read about the victim of a getrich-quick fraud and thought “serves them right for being greedy”? How many times have you heard about the victim of a romance scam and thought, “serves them right for being gullible, or desperate”? How about when a large agency is impacted by ransomware or online fraud? How many of us have read about companies blaming the person who unknowingly let the malware in or fell victim to a business email compromise fraud? What about when an elderly person is scammed by a cybercriminal? Do we feel empathy for the victim that would be lacking if a younger person had been scammed?

A very insightful peer-reviewed article by Dr Cassandra Cross, Associate Professor in the School of Justice at QUT, No laughing matter, blaming the victim of online fraud (2015), found that, despite an increase in awareness of cybercrime, there is still an “overwhelming sense of blame and responsibility levelled at [the victims.”

Take a moment to think about this. In reality, the only person, or persons, to blame for cybercrime are the criminals. Regardless of what bait was used to successfully trick a victim, whatever unpatched exploit a criminal wormed their way through to impact a network, the blame for cybercrime should fall solely on the criminal. Yes, everyone needs to ensure they operate with cybersecurity in mind whether they be a large organisation or an individual, and we need to mitigate the risk of cyber threats as much as practicable. We also need to react to cybercrime effectively. That being said, the blame for cybercrime should be laid solely at the feet of the criminals.

I say this at conferences. I said it in a keynote last year. I say it in lectures, and I say it frequently in everyday conversations: anyone can become a victim of cybercrime, none of us is immune. Knowing that to be true, we need to ensure we treat victims of cybercrime impartially and fairly. The exponential growth of cybercrime means it is only a matter of time before we, someone we know or somewhere we work will be impacted.

Unconscious bias can make us feel that a victim of cybercrime somehow brought it on themselves. Instead, let’s have a New Year with new, healthier thought patterns. Let us all model treating all victims of cybercrime equally. www.linkedin.com/in/amandajane1