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Fieldwork Experiences Researching Cybercriminals

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Fieldwork Experiences in Criminology and Security Studies

Abstract

Cybercriminals are an elusive population to study. This makes social research with cybercriminals as valuable as it is scarce. To stimulate research on cybercriminals, it is important that researchers share their insights on successful and unsuccessful approaches, strategies, and techniques. This chapter collects our fieldwork experiences researching cybercriminals, potential cybercriminals, hackers, and hacktivists. After presenting the phases of our fieldwork, we outline six research techniques we have applied and discuss the ethical issues involved. We conclude with some lessons learned and methodological perspectives to guide future research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See http://www.zone-h.org/. Last accessed on February 27, 2023.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Asier Moneva & E. Rutger Leukfeldt

  2. Center of Expertise Cyber Security, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Asier Moneva, E. Rutger Leukfeldt & Marco Romagna

Authors
  1. Asier Moneva
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  2. E. Rutger Leukfeldt
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  3. Marco Romagna
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Correspondence to Asier Moneva .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Cadiz, Cadiz, Spain

    Antonio M. Díaz-Fernández

  2. Institute of Security and Global AffairsLeiden University, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Cristina Del-Real

  3. University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Lorena Molnar

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Moneva, A., Leukfeldt, E.R., Romagna, M. (2023). Fieldwork Experiences Researching Cybercriminals. In: Díaz-Fernández, A.M., Del-Real, C., Molnar, L. (eds) Fieldwork Experiences in Criminology and Security Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41574-6_27

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