Introduction

Awareness is essential when it comes to cybercrimes and cybercriminals. The Center for Cybercrime Investigation & Cybersecurity published a journal called International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime. International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime published an article titled “Awareness and Perception of Cybercrimes and Cybercriminals.” The authors of this article, Hannarae Lee and Hyeyoung Lim, focused on the challenges in studying cybercrime. As stated in the article, “The majority of studies on people’s cybercrime awareness and victimizations are based on self report surveys and provide mixed-results… a self-report survey also carries several limitations, which include but are not limited to telescoping, deception, and social desirability biases”. (International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, Vol. 2, Iss. 1, Page. 1, 2019). In order to address these limitations, the authors emphasize the importance of triangulation. This means that multiple research methods should be used to improve study validity. The article introduces an empirical study to give more insight on this topic. This topic relates to the principles of social sciences as it is directly about the study of individuals in a social environment. 

The empirical study

The authors use examples of different studies in order to emphasize the fact that using different research methods can be a more effective way to examine people within cyberspace. Self-report surveys on cybercrime awareness often have mixed results due to biases. To address this issue, Broadhurst et al. (2019) used a quasi-experimental observational study. This study was used to “examine the impact of people’s awareness of cybercrime risks on their actions when handling phishing scams”. (International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, Vol. 2, Iss. 1, Page. 1, 2019). The results of this study found that individuals’ awareness of phishing is not enough to deter or prevent a person from victimization. They found that targeted, urgent messages may be more effective. The authors state that “…we are not arguing that Broadhurst et al. (2019) study provided the best approach. Instead, this exploratory study opens the door for future studies to replicate and enhance the methods to examine people’s actions in cyberspace”. (International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, Vol. 2, Iss. 1, Page. 1, 2019). 

Article’s connection to PowerPoint presentation

This article relates to the PowerPoints as they both discuss awareness. 

Article’s impact on individuals

This article could have a strong impact on all the individuals that are not aware of potential cyber threats. It can really positively impact everyone that struggles with their awareness of these threats.

Contributions of the studies to society

This article’s study has a substantial contribution to society. Awareness is one of the most important aspects in cybersecurity. Being aware of potential threats is the first step towards preventing cybercrimes.