The 26th annual Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (ANZSOC) Conference was held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre between 1st and 3rd of October 2013 on the topic of 'Local and International Perspectives on the Prevention of Crime'.  RegNet and ANU Cybercrime Observatory members Dr Mamoun Alazab and Mr Darrell Chan attended the conference to present their research.
 
Dr Mamoun Alazab presented a preliminary analysis of spam provided by the Australian Communication Media Authority’s (ACMA) Spam Intelligence Database (SID) from 2012. Drawing from domestic data the diversity of spam was examined and its evolving nature and sophistication explored.  Spam remains one of the major vectors for the dissemination of malware and facilitates many forms of cybercrime.  He argued that understanding the nature of spam activity, in particular its prevalence, frequency, duration and severity, may assist in crime prevention efforts and improve information security practices.
 
Mr Darrell Chan focused on cybercrime offenders in China.  He compared compared statistical data collected from police agencies, procuratorates and courts from selected provinces and cities with international data, to profile cybercrime perpetrators and groups.  His research shows that cybercrimes in China are profit-driven dominated, and perpetrators are overwhelmingly male, young, and with low education level and professional skills.  The flexible, loose, fluid structure and the inherent cross-border nature of cybercrime make offenders hard to identify and to interdict. Drawing from crime prevention models, he discussed a comprehensive countermeasure framework to prevent and combat cybercrime in China, especially focusing on situational crime prevention approaches with the emphasis on victim-oriented prevention.
 
More details can be found on the ANZSOC 2013 Conference program here.