UGENT
Selected Issues: Cybercrime,
Technology and Surveillance
B001717A
2024-2025
Anna Sonnenschein
, Introduction
Cybercrime, Technology and Surveillance | Anna Sonnenschein
1. General information
Aim = to gain a multi-perspective understanding of and insight into
→ cybercrime phenomena (what are the type that occur) and online risk behavior
→ the use of technology and data analytics for law enforcement purposes, and
→ surveillance
to do that, we will focus on particular on
→ the legal dimension and => how do we regulate all the phenomenon that we talk about, how certain acts
are formally legalized, what are the safeguard to use technology by the police, …
→ EU and international policy dimension: how are the policies implemented, created and inforced
This is a multi-actor issue: we have regional international bodies on top of the victims and the initiators
Final competences:
→ Identify, understand and interpret the relevant criminological and legal principles, instruments and case-
law with regard to cybercrime, technology and surveillance.
→ Develop, articulate and orally present a critical and substantiated opinion on the various criminological
and legal dimensions and aspects of cybercrime, technology and surveillance.
→ Collect, critically analyse and scientifically assess (historical) sources, (scientific) literature and (empirical)
research data concerning cybercrime, technology and surveillance and reactions thereto.
→ Write a clear report on the results of (own) scientific research and own critical opinion.
→ Develop a life-long learning attitude with regard to issues related to cybercrime and surveillance, by
identifying, interpreting and reflecting on actual developments.
Prepare the mandatory material for the classes and the exam!
◊ Exam:
1°: 40% research paper
Aim: to provide a critical legal or criminological scientific answer to an original question in the field of
cybercrime, surveillance and technology (so quite broad)
→ We have to do research and formulate a research question that must be original (not written about
extensively)
→ The question must be sufficiently innovative that provides a new advancement in the state of the art
Structure: problem statement, research question, methodology (very important!! It must be explicitly said what
we use), analysis, (critical) conclusion (not just a summary of what we aid before BUT a critical answer to the
question), bibliography / reference list
Detailed information is available in the paper information note on Ufora (Content ➜ Research paper: Information
note) => all the instructions!!
2
, Cybercrime, Technology and Surveillance | Anna Sonnenschein
We can choose a topic (we should use one that really interest us)
→ It is possible that we will have to narrow it down so the research quesyion must be sufficiently limited
→ Make sure that the topic you propose is sufficiently delineated (paper = short = 2500 words)
→ Make sure that the topic has a link to the issues that we discuss in class
The assessment is based on the
→ content (research question, methodology, accuracy, thoroughness (beyond mere description of the
topic), sources and quality of those sources (diversity, recent, ..))
→ critical dimension (own opinion, originality)
→ form (structure, language, scientific style, referencing, lay-out).
2°: 60%: oral exam (BUT could be written OR we could have the option)
Consists of
→ short-answer questions: testing students’ knowledge
→ open questions: testing students’ understanding and enquiring about students’ (argumented) opinions
on topics discussed in class
Based on the powerpoint presentations (incl. guest lectures), mandatory materials and discussions during the
classes
◊ Structure
we will talke about a number of selected issue (there are still many more things that we could discuss)
2. Cybercrime: acts, actors and challenges
Cybercrime commonly refers to a : broad range of different criminal activities where computers and information
systems are involved either as a primary tool or as a primary target.
→ Started to emerge at the end of the previous century
→ It is quite a broad notion
→ There is usually some categories on whether we are talking about
o Cyber-facility cybercrime: criminal activities that occur in the analog world BUT that are
facilitated by the use of computer/internet/information system
o Cuber-depending cybercrime; they cannot occur without the use of the technology
▪ Ex: hacking
Characteristics of cybercrime that differentiate it from the crime we have known until now
→ scale (number of victims/offenders) which is huge
→ accessibility (internet access): it is easy to commit cyber crime as you only need internet access
→ anonymity (masking identity)
o note: it is a bit contested BUT there are more ways to hide your identity
→ portability & transferability (traces & storage): the information and data can be moved very easily BUT
then it is also very use to delete certain info/data
→ global reach (cross-border) because we are using the internet so you can reach many more victims
regardless of your own position
2.1. Acts
What is qualified as a cybercrime?
Examples
→ Sextortion
→ Identity theft
→ Deep fake/ deep nudes (which is a big concern in the area of disinformation)
→ Cryptocurrency scam
→ Doxing (making private information public to harass people)
→ Fishing through email, text message, vocal message, .... (which remains the most common type)
3
, Cybercrime, Technology and Surveillance | Anna Sonnenschein
IOCTA 2024: very interesting document that is published yearly (good to find a topic) and they try to explain what
the most important are or have been in recent years
ENISA Threat Landscape 2024 (publish it every year) =>Top threats
→ Ransomware
→ Malware
→ Social Engineering
→ Threats against data
→ Threats against availability: Denial of Service
→ Information Manipulation
2.2. Actors
Who plays a role in this area? There are actually many actors that we will see poppin gout in the different modules
→ Threat Actors
→ International/Regional organization (UN, Council of Europe who adopted the first convention on
cybercrime in 2001, the EU level with the agencies and bodies)
→ National actors: often the rules and framework come from the international and EU level BUT then
have to be implemented at the national level
→ Victims: we will look at how they are supported, the role they play, how they are protected and how
the perpetrators are punished
2.3. Challenges
These challenges are triggering many of the discussions that we will have
→ Evolving threat landscape & expertise gap: which threats and how to tackle them
o Ex: use of AI
o Technology evolves so fast so this is a big challenge and there is an expertise gap
→ Criminalization of offenses
o which offences, how to define them, etc.
o How do we apply the offenses that we have to those cybercrimes?
o How to make this criminalization future proof?
→ Jurisdiction
o who is competent to investigate and prosecute
→ Procedural law & investigations
o e-evidence & loss of data, cross-border access to data, anonymity of perpetrators
→ International cooperation
o how can cooperation between LEA in different countries be facilitated
→ Role of intermediaries
o what is the role of private actors, for instance regarding subscriber data, handing over evidence,
removing illegal content, etc.?
→ Assistance to victims
o how can victims be encouraged to report crimes (there are still many vicitms who do not report
the crimes they have suffered), how can they be assisted in the aftermath
→ Education, training and awareness
o how can awareness and knowledge of citizens be improved
4
Selected Issues: Cybercrime,
Technology and Surveillance
B001717A
2024-2025
Anna Sonnenschein
, Introduction
Cybercrime, Technology and Surveillance | Anna Sonnenschein
1. General information
Aim = to gain a multi-perspective understanding of and insight into
→ cybercrime phenomena (what are the type that occur) and online risk behavior
→ the use of technology and data analytics for law enforcement purposes, and
→ surveillance
to do that, we will focus on particular on
→ the legal dimension and => how do we regulate all the phenomenon that we talk about, how certain acts
are formally legalized, what are the safeguard to use technology by the police, …
→ EU and international policy dimension: how are the policies implemented, created and inforced
This is a multi-actor issue: we have regional international bodies on top of the victims and the initiators
Final competences:
→ Identify, understand and interpret the relevant criminological and legal principles, instruments and case-
law with regard to cybercrime, technology and surveillance.
→ Develop, articulate and orally present a critical and substantiated opinion on the various criminological
and legal dimensions and aspects of cybercrime, technology and surveillance.
→ Collect, critically analyse and scientifically assess (historical) sources, (scientific) literature and (empirical)
research data concerning cybercrime, technology and surveillance and reactions thereto.
→ Write a clear report on the results of (own) scientific research and own critical opinion.
→ Develop a life-long learning attitude with regard to issues related to cybercrime and surveillance, by
identifying, interpreting and reflecting on actual developments.
Prepare the mandatory material for the classes and the exam!
◊ Exam:
1°: 40% research paper
Aim: to provide a critical legal or criminological scientific answer to an original question in the field of
cybercrime, surveillance and technology (so quite broad)
→ We have to do research and formulate a research question that must be original (not written about
extensively)
→ The question must be sufficiently innovative that provides a new advancement in the state of the art
Structure: problem statement, research question, methodology (very important!! It must be explicitly said what
we use), analysis, (critical) conclusion (not just a summary of what we aid before BUT a critical answer to the
question), bibliography / reference list
Detailed information is available in the paper information note on Ufora (Content ➜ Research paper: Information
note) => all the instructions!!
2
, Cybercrime, Technology and Surveillance | Anna Sonnenschein
We can choose a topic (we should use one that really interest us)
→ It is possible that we will have to narrow it down so the research quesyion must be sufficiently limited
→ Make sure that the topic you propose is sufficiently delineated (paper = short = 2500 words)
→ Make sure that the topic has a link to the issues that we discuss in class
The assessment is based on the
→ content (research question, methodology, accuracy, thoroughness (beyond mere description of the
topic), sources and quality of those sources (diversity, recent, ..))
→ critical dimension (own opinion, originality)
→ form (structure, language, scientific style, referencing, lay-out).
2°: 60%: oral exam (BUT could be written OR we could have the option)
Consists of
→ short-answer questions: testing students’ knowledge
→ open questions: testing students’ understanding and enquiring about students’ (argumented) opinions
on topics discussed in class
Based on the powerpoint presentations (incl. guest lectures), mandatory materials and discussions during the
classes
◊ Structure
we will talke about a number of selected issue (there are still many more things that we could discuss)
2. Cybercrime: acts, actors and challenges
Cybercrime commonly refers to a : broad range of different criminal activities where computers and information
systems are involved either as a primary tool or as a primary target.
→ Started to emerge at the end of the previous century
→ It is quite a broad notion
→ There is usually some categories on whether we are talking about
o Cyber-facility cybercrime: criminal activities that occur in the analog world BUT that are
facilitated by the use of computer/internet/information system
o Cuber-depending cybercrime; they cannot occur without the use of the technology
▪ Ex: hacking
Characteristics of cybercrime that differentiate it from the crime we have known until now
→ scale (number of victims/offenders) which is huge
→ accessibility (internet access): it is easy to commit cyber crime as you only need internet access
→ anonymity (masking identity)
o note: it is a bit contested BUT there are more ways to hide your identity
→ portability & transferability (traces & storage): the information and data can be moved very easily BUT
then it is also very use to delete certain info/data
→ global reach (cross-border) because we are using the internet so you can reach many more victims
regardless of your own position
2.1. Acts
What is qualified as a cybercrime?
Examples
→ Sextortion
→ Identity theft
→ Deep fake/ deep nudes (which is a big concern in the area of disinformation)
→ Cryptocurrency scam
→ Doxing (making private information public to harass people)
→ Fishing through email, text message, vocal message, .... (which remains the most common type)
3
, Cybercrime, Technology and Surveillance | Anna Sonnenschein
IOCTA 2024: very interesting document that is published yearly (good to find a topic) and they try to explain what
the most important are or have been in recent years
ENISA Threat Landscape 2024 (publish it every year) =>Top threats
→ Ransomware
→ Malware
→ Social Engineering
→ Threats against data
→ Threats against availability: Denial of Service
→ Information Manipulation
2.2. Actors
Who plays a role in this area? There are actually many actors that we will see poppin gout in the different modules
→ Threat Actors
→ International/Regional organization (UN, Council of Europe who adopted the first convention on
cybercrime in 2001, the EU level with the agencies and bodies)
→ National actors: often the rules and framework come from the international and EU level BUT then
have to be implemented at the national level
→ Victims: we will look at how they are supported, the role they play, how they are protected and how
the perpetrators are punished
2.3. Challenges
These challenges are triggering many of the discussions that we will have
→ Evolving threat landscape & expertise gap: which threats and how to tackle them
o Ex: use of AI
o Technology evolves so fast so this is a big challenge and there is an expertise gap
→ Criminalization of offenses
o which offences, how to define them, etc.
o How do we apply the offenses that we have to those cybercrimes?
o How to make this criminalization future proof?
→ Jurisdiction
o who is competent to investigate and prosecute
→ Procedural law & investigations
o e-evidence & loss of data, cross-border access to data, anonymity of perpetrators
→ International cooperation
o how can cooperation between LEA in different countries be facilitated
→ Role of intermediaries
o what is the role of private actors, for instance regarding subscriber data, handing over evidence,
removing illegal content, etc.?
→ Assistance to victims
o how can victims be encouraged to report crimes (there are still many vicitms who do not report
the crimes they have suffered), how can they be assisted in the aftermath
→ Education, training and awareness
o how can awareness and knowledge of citizens be improved
4
