Benjamin Cortinez <\/p>\n\n\n\n
ODU <\/p>\n\n\n\n
24Feb2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
CYSE 201S <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Jordan Quinn <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Article Review 1: The Interdisciplinary Evolution of Cybercrime and Digital Victimization <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Principles of the Social Sciences:<\/strong> The editorial introduction by Kayser and Choi (2025) connects to social science principles like social structures and how humans act in digital spaces. Basically, the text uses Deviant Place Theory to show how someone\u2019s location or the digital sites they visit can make them more likely to be a victim. From a sociological view, the research sees cybercrime as more than just a computer problem. It is a result of human interaction, building trust with the wrong people, and how we define identity legally. By looking at how scammers use social rules about romance or how certain groups in Nigeria are hit harder, the work fits the social science goal of seeing how our environment and social labels change how people behave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Research Overview: Questions, Hypotheses, and Variables<\/strong>: This editorial covers a few different studies, but the main research question is about how new digital tools like blockchain and open source intelligence change what it means to be a victim and how we hold people accountable. We can pick out some variables from these summaries. In the study about Nigerian internet users, the Independent Variable is where the users are located socially or geographically. The Dependent Variable is the actual rate and type of cybercrime they face. In the romance scam study, the Independent Variable is the use of high tech money laundering like mixers, while the Dependent Variable is the 1.1 billion dollar loss and the fact that police cannot track the money. The general hypothesis here is that as digital tools get more anonymous, victimization goes up because it is harder for the law to catch anyone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Research Methodology<\/strong>: The journal uses a mix of research methods to get the full picture. The first study uses technical blockchain forensics, which is a type of digital quantitative analysis used to follow money patterns. The second study uses a legal dogmatic and comparative method, which is a qualitative way of looking at laws and international agreements like the Budapest Convention. The third study looks at investigation patterns over a long time from 2014 to 2024, and the last study uses a survey of 924 internet users to get real numbers on how many people are being targeted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Types of Data and Analysis Done<\/strong>: The data in these studies is all over the place, ranging from financial logs for Bitcoin or Ethereum to legal documents and surveys where people report their own experiences. The analysis includes thematic categorization, which means putting crimes into groups like cyber enabled versus cyber dependent. They also used forensic mapping to see how people hide cryptocurrency. The researchers used comparative analysis to see where Spanish law does not match up with international privacy rules. All of this is done to understand the Modus Operandi, or the specific way these criminals operate, rather than just looking at basic stats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Connection to Course Concepts<\/strong>: The article ties back to ideas from the PowerPoints like Social Control and Inequality. The talk about criminal law being a last resort relates to Formal Social Control and the big debate over how much the government should be allowed to look into our digital lives. Also, the mention of how there is a low risk of getting caught but a high reward for the criminal sounds a lot like Rational Choice Theory. This is an idea often found in social science where people weigh the pros and cons before they decide to break the law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Impact on Marginalized Groups<\/strong>: A big part of this article is about what is happening on the ground for marginalized or ignored groups. By focusing on the study in Umuahia North LGA in Nigeria, the authors highlight how people in the Global South are vulnerable to cyber abuse. This group is usually left out of cybersecurity research which mostly focuses on the West. This helps society by showing that cybercrime is not the same for everyone. It shows that being a victim is often tied to your economic status and whether your region has good laws in place. It argues for digital equity so that everyone gets the same protection from bad actors, no matter where they live. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Conclusion<\/strong>: To wrap things up, Kayser and Choi (2025) say that digital safety is not just a technical problem but a human rights and social science issue. These studies show that as long as it is easy to get away with cybercrime, we need everyone from tech experts to sociologists working together to fix it. By looking at groups that are usually ignored and questioning how public data is used, this journal helps create a better and more fair digital world for everyone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n References<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Kayser, C., and Choi, S. (2025). Editorial Introduction: International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, 8(2), 1 3. https:\/\/vc.bridgew.edu\/ijcic\/vol8\/iss2\/1\/ <\/p>\n\n\n\n Article review #2 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Benjamin Cortinez <\/p>\n\n\n\n Old Dominion university <\/p>\n\n\n\n CYSE 201S <\/p>\n\n\n\n 7Apr2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Introduction:<\/strong> For this article review we will be looking at \u201cSecurity enhanced Cloud Compute Using the Integration of Dense Belief Network and RK-AES Algorithm\u201d (Al-Safarini et al., 2025) and how it is dealing with complex algorithms finding a way to protect the cloud networks. The second article will be \u201cVishing and Smishing Perpetrators and Their Victims in Nigerian Slums\u201d (Adeyemo et al., 2026) that takes dives into a world where no matter the technology level a person might have social engineering is still possible with low tech. Both of these articles listed above give a glimpse into the world of security professionals and cybercriminals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Relation\/ Foundations to Social Science:<\/strong> This review will directly link the two listed above articles by showing the disorganization in social science advocates that someones physical and social environment can influence the person more than just individual traits as seen in the article provided by Adeyemo et al., 2026 (which will now be referred to article #2). Which will be shown in the crimes that are necessary for survival. In the article by Al-Safarini et al., 2025 ( now referred to article #1) it shows how cloud computing is considered an essential digital need. It is required to maintain an economic and social exchange between different worlds that both require a secure infrastructure but also more importantly one that does not easily fall apart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Research: <\/strong> The current study in cloud computing investigates if having a deeply hidden learning model can squeeze past the minimum security standard within the targeted infrastructure. Independent variable would be the type of security framework (AES-RK) and the dependent variable would be the performance system that intakes data for accuracy and detection rates. Article #2 investigates how the attackers gain trust and then turnaround and start vishing and smishing and how and which environmental factors can magnify the weak spot that gave them access. The independent variables are socio-economic status and the digital literacy of residents, while the dependent variable is the success rate of fraudulent interactions. Hypothesis would be that a cybercrime occurs as a legitimate trade. In article #2 we see how the in the slums, which has little to no infrastructure, does not have security and is a breeding ground for the crime we learn and read about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Methods:<\/strong> The methods we see used to collect information in article #1 is the quantitative experimental method, which tests the person hypothesis by messing with the independent variable while also measuring how much those changes altered, if any, the dependent variable. What we see for article #2 it seems that they used a qualitative cross-sectional design, a type of method that gathers in-depth information that is from interviews and or focus groups from a population or a certain point in time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Relationship to Course Theories: <\/strong>Both papers are directly related to class concepts that include the Intrusion Detection System (IDS) and social engineering. As we see in the Nigerian slums (article #2), it provides the examples and details of actual vishing and smishing are able to get passed the firewalls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Marginalized Group Challenges, Concerns and Contributions: <\/strong> Both articles show the communities and how they are weaker in some spots than others, but from different angles, via attackers vs defenders. In Article #2 we see the communities of slum inhabitants, who are not just seen as outcasts in a social way but also they are the main target of attacks due to their slim to none knowledge of digital literacy. Article #1 shows the importance of digital literacy by doubling down on the importance of security frameworks no matter how simple or intricate it is, but without the security system anybody or anything is easy picking for data breaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Societal Contributions and Conclusion:<\/strong> Studies like these or anything similar is able to help bring complex technology achievements into the world of human behavior. Cloud computing gives you a cheat sheet for insuring the infrastructure of being able to protect sensitive information. Article #2 shows the data of social intervention by saying that it does not stop at punishing criminals and that society needs to make an effort at implementing digital education and a type of \u201ciron dome\u201d around the higher risk areas comprised of the same high risk community. Overall security must be accomplished more than just one way. Article #1 shows that no matter how good a security system is, how advanced the encrypting is, (article #2) attackers will always see it as a challenge and attempt to get in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Reference:<\/strong> References. Adeyemo, L.J., Olabulo, T.Y., & Peter, I.G. (2026). Vishing and smishing perpetrators and their victims in Nigerian slums. International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, 9(1), 23-43. Al-Safarini, M. Y., Al-Milli, N., Maghrabi, L. A., & Elian, M. (2025) https:\/\/vc.bridgew.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1208&context=ijcic<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Security enhanced cloud computing using the integration of dense belief network and RK-AES algorithm. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 19(1), 154-179. 10.5281\/zenodo.476619108 <\/p>\n\n\n\n