Modus Operandi in Cybercrime

Abstract

Even though we are not aware of it most of the time, we often recognize our opposite because of his/her way or method of doing something, also called modus operandi, before we can see his/her face. Especially in the field of crime studies, the modus operandi represents an important concept for learning about offenders and their approach. While it is already a well-known method to analyze the modus operandi of offenders in traditional crime investigations, this is not yet commonly used in cybercrime. The most important reason for this omission currently is the lack of insight into the approach of a cybercriminal. In this article, the term “modus operandi in cybercrime” will be discussed. The objectives of this article are (1) to demonstrate why a valid definition has to take into account the highly interdisciplinary nature of the field, (2) to explain how the modus operandi in cybercrime could look like in practice, and (3) to present recommendations and a conclusion on what should be kept in mind when talking about the modus operandi in the context of cybercrime.