Under the Corporate Radar: Examining Insider Business Cybercrime Victimization through an Application of Routine Activities Theory

ABSTRACT

Cybercrime is recognized as one of the top threats to UK economic security. On a daily basis, the computer networks of businesses suffer security breaches. A less explored dimension of this problem is cybercrimes committed by insiders. This paper provides a criminological analysis of corporate insider victimization. It begins by presenting reviews of insider criminal threats and routine activities theory as applied to cybercrime. Analysis of the nationally representative Cardiff University UK Business Cybercrime Survey then informs statistical models that predict the likelihood of businesses suffering insider cyber victimization, using routine activities and guardianship measures as predictors.     

Revision from the Margins: Fromm's Contributions to Psychoanalysis

Fromm's important contributions to the modern development of psychoanalytic thought are often ignored and frequently misunderstood. An early proponent of revisions of psychoanalytic theory and therapy similar to recent trends in object relations, self-psychology and interpersonal psychoanalysis, Fromm was a visionary for a Freudian theory built upon orthodoxies of the past but going beyond them. It is argued here that Fromm's unique role in helping create a new version of psychoanalysis for the 21st century was as sociological as it was intellectual. Fromm's contributions were intimately linked to his institutional positioning close to the center but on the relative margins of the discipline. This paper will outline how sociological dynamics shaped Fromm's revision of psychoanalysis. We will conclude by discussing how Fromm was able to have a more dramatic influence than other Freudian revisionists who were less favourably positioned.     

Evaluating Attitudes and Experience With Emerging Technology in Cadets and Civilian Undergraduates

Existing research on the characteristics of digital natives, traditionally defined as those born after 1980, has shown subtle differences in how they approach technology compared with other cohorts. However, much of the existing research has focused on a limited set of conventional technologies, mostly related to learning. In addition, prior research has shown differences within this cohort in how they respond to autonomous technology (e.g., trust, reliance; Pak, Rovira, McLaughlin, &; Baldwin, 2016 Pak, R., Rovira, E., McLaughlin, A., &; Baldwin, N. (2016). Does the domain of technology impact user trust? Investigating trust in automation across different consumer-oriented domains in young adults, military, and older adults. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 18, 199–220. 10.1080/1463922x.2016.1175523[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The purpose of this short report, representing the first wave of data collection in a larger study examining technology experience and attitude change, is to directly address 2 shortcomings in the literature on digital natives which tends to emphasize: (a) civilian students; and (b) conventional, often learning technologies. We addressed these 2 issues by recruiting 2 subgroups of digital natives (students and military cadets) and assessing attitudes and experience with a wide range of technology spanning from conventional (e.g., mobile) to emerging (e.g., robotics). The results showed that that both groups were surprisingly unfamiliar with emerging consumer technologies. Additionally, contrary to expectations, cadets were significantly, albeit only slightly, less experienced with mobile technologies, VR/augmented reality, social media, and entertainment technology as compared to civilian undergraduates.     

Epistemic closure under deductive inference: what is it and can we afford it?

The idea that knowledge can be extended by inference from what is known seems highly plausible. Yet, as shown by familiar preface paradox and lottery-type cases, the possibility of aggregating uncertainty casts doubt on its tenability. We show that these considerations go much further than previously recognized and significantly restrict the kinds of closure ordinary theories of knowledge can endorse. Meeting the challenge of uncertainty aggregation requires either the restriction of knowledge-extending inferences to single premises, or eliminating epistemic uncertainty in known premises. The first strategy, while effective, retains little of the original idea—conclusions even of modus ponens inferences from known premises are not always known. We then look at the second strategy, inspecting the most elaborate and promising attempt to secure the epistemic role of basic inferences, namely Timothy Williamson’s safety theory of knowledge. We argue that while it indeed has the merit of allowing basic inferences such as modus ponens to extend knowledge, Williamson’s theory faces formidable difficulties. These difficulties, moreover, arise from the very feature responsible for its virtue- the infallibilism of knowledge.     

Homicide as conflict resolution

Homicide research at societal, subcultural, and interaction levels of analysis has not produced a comprehensive model for the killer‐victim transaction. But rules for organizing the experience of homicide can be generated from Simmel's definition of conflict as a “resolution of divergent dualisms” (1955:11). A model of homicide as a form of conflict resolution is demonstrated through interviews with a random sample of 35 adjudicated killers. Respondents’ definitions of homicide correspond to the conflict resolution model, with their verbal accounts, their socio‐psychological orientation to the victim at the point of the killing, their method of killing, and the general dynamics of the killer‐victim transaction, all varying as a resolution of a distinctive relationship, either between lovers, adversaries, or strangers. The situational definition casts homicide within the realm of normal behavior and at the same time delineates its distinctive features.     

Homicide and suicide: Structure and process

This article brings together major new findings on homicide and suicide in order to contribute to an awareness of the similarities and differences between the two at both the structural and process levels of analysis, to make causal inferences, and to stimulate future research. Both homicide and suicide are processes of fixation on conflict resolution. The process of conflict resolution in turn is conditioned by structural disorganization. The process of fixation is conditioned by structural segregation, taking the particular form of estrangement, self‐reliance, and partial isolation. Intentional suicide, as distinct from intentional homicide, involves a negative fixation on self resulting primarily from the physical or psychological unavailability of a victim. The lack of a victim leaves the would‐be suicide feeling overwhelmed by the emotion that he or she fears. This process is conditioned by age and societal centralization, which together deny opportunities for homicide and detract from the kind of social support that might make life seem worthwhile.     

Individual Therapy via the Phenomenon of Hope for Treating Chronic and Complex PTSD

Evidence-based treatment (EBT) supports different types of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet, a growing body of evidence shows a high therapy dropout rate and non-response rate among PTSD patients, especially patients with complex PTSD. A different, short-term therapeutic approach is therefore needed which combines CBT and psychodynamic therapy (PDT) because it is better for patients with chronic and/or complex PTSD to work with clarified stages and an end of treatment in mind. The patient's mental structure is conceptualized as a continuum, and functional problems are regarded as stemming from cognitive structures and unresolved developmental conflict. The five phases of the phenomenon of hope model proposed in an earlier article—a connection phase; an agency and pathway phase (developing a goal-oriented decision-making pattern and learning to plan toward goal achievement); a reconstruction phase; a phase of processing the conflict characteristic of PTSD by utilizing the natural power of hope; and a summary and separation phase—advance a short-term therapy that combines CBT and PDT techniques. This integrated therapy is based on notes that were kept relating to the case study of a chronic PTSD patient.     

Public Attitudes Toward the Use of Bioremediation to Clean Up Toxic Contamination

Bioremediation is an innovative approach to environmental management that uses microorganisms or plants to clean up toxic contamination in the environment. This research examines public attitudes toward the use of bioremediation at 2 sites in California: an urban site (Avila Beach) and a natural site (Guadalupe Dunes). At both sites, the study participants preferred excavation of the contaminated soil to bioremediation. The survey results help to explain the reasons why there is limited support for the use of bioremediation.     

Heart Rate Changes Accompanying Jaw Movement Pavlovian Conditioning in Rabbits: Concomitant Blood Pressure Adjustments and Effects of Peripheral Autonomic Blockade

Two experiments were conducted to ascertain the cardiovascular accompaniments of differential Pavlovian jaw movement (JM) conditioning. The first examined the blood pressure (BP) changes that accompany the tachycardiac conditioned responses (CRs) associated with JM conditioning. The BP response in all instances consisted of a depressor response that was greater to the reinforced CS+ than CS-, although the magnitude of the CR was quite small. The second experiment determined the effects of peripheral autonomic antagonists on the cardiac accelerations associated with JM conditioning. It was found that the peripheral vagal antagonist methyl scopolamine completely abolished responses to both CS+ and CS-, whereas atenolol, a beta adrenergic antagonist, augmented the response, compared to saline control injections. The JM responses were also affected by the autonomic blockades, with minimal responding occurring in the scopolamine group but slightly more JM CRs in the atenolol group, compared to saline control animals. These results suggest that the major cardiovascular response to an appetitive stimulus, which evokes JM conditioning, consists of cardiac accelerations with the BP depressor responses playing a minimal, if any, role. Moreover, these conditioned cardiac increases appear to be due solely to the release of vagal inhibition.     

Factual and Affective/Evaluative Recall of Pretrial Publicity: Their Relative Influence on Juror Reasoning and Verdict in a Simulated Fraud Trial1

This study investigated the relationship between recall of real‐life pretrial publicity (PTP) in a high‐profile fraud case and subsequent reasoning about the trial evidence and verdict decisions. Tracking the reasoning and verdict judgments of 50 mock jurors during a video simulation of the trial material, the effect of factual recall of PTP was compared with recall indicating an affective or evaluative response from the PTP. Affective/evaluative recall, but not factual recall, was significantly associated with anti‐defendant reasoning and confidence in guilt. This effect was partially mediated by reasoning developed during the course of evidence presentation. The potentially prejudicial effect of affective/evaluative recall of PTP is discussed in terms of it activating an explanatory structure that frames evidence interpretation.