Application of Situational Crime Prevention Framework for Cybercrime Mitigation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to apply the Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) technique to cybercrime mitigation using the South Africa cybercrime incidences as a case study. The SCP was first explained from the theoretical perspective and its five major strategies namely “increase effort”, “increase risks”, “reduce reward”, “reduce provocation” and remove excuses” were explained and linked to remote and online crimes. Prevalent cybercrimes perpetrated in South Africa were also highlighted with hacking used specifically as an example in this study. The SCP technique was tailored towards the mitigation of hacking and its prevalent forms. The SCP fraud prevention “hardening framework” was developed and validated using the hacking incidences in South Africa as a case study. Based on this policy recommendations were made to promote cyber resilience. The outcomes of this study are conceptual frameworks with guidelines for applying the SCP strategies to remote and online crime. The conceptual frameworks are suitable for cybercrime prevention and mitigation and for achieving cyber-resilience