Department of Computer Science and Technology

Cambridge Cybercrime Centre

The Cambridge Cybercrime Centre is a multi-disciplinary initiative based in the University of Cambridge's Department of Computer Science and Technology. We started work on 1 October 2015.

Our approach is data driven. We have collected some very substantial datasets relating to cybercrime and have negotiated access to other feeds of cybercrime data. We aim to leverage our neutral academic status to obtain more data and build one of the largest and most diverse data sets that any organisation holds.

We mine and correlate these datasets to extract information about criminal activity. Our analysis enhances understanding of crime 'in the cloud', and enables us to devise identifiers of such criminality, allowing us to build systems to detect this type of crime when it occurs, and aiding us in showing how it is possible to collect extremely reliable evidence of wrongdoing. When it is appropriate, we work with law enforcement so that effective interventions can be undertaken.

Our overall objective is to create a sustainable and internationally competitive centre for academic research into cybercrime.

Data sharing

We do not keep all this data to ourselves... a key aim of our Centre is to make data available to other academics for them to apply their own skills to address cybercrime issues.

Academics currently face considerable difficulties in researching cybercrime. It is difficult, and time consuming, to negotiate access to real data on actual abuse and then it is necessary to build and deploy data collection tools before the real work can even be started.

We intend to drive a step change in the amount of cybercrime research by making datasets available, not just of URLs but content as well, so that other academics can concentrate on their particular areas of expertise and start being productive immediately. These datasets are both 'historic' and, where appropriate 'real-time'.

We maintain high ethical standards in everything we do and have developed a strong legal framework for our operations. In particular we will always ensure that the data we handle is treated fully in accord with the spirit, and not just the letter, of the agreements we enter into.

Details of our sharing process and the datasets we have available are here.

COVID Briefing Papers

Our COVID Briefing Papers are an ongoing series of short-form, open access reports aimed at academics, policymakers, and practitioners, which aim to provide an accessible summary of our ongoing research into the effects which the coronavirus pandemic (and government responses) are having on cybercrime.

Full details at https://cambridgecybercrime.uk/COVID.

Cybercrime Conferences

The Cambridge Cybercrime Centre ran a one day conference on cybercrime on Thursday, 14th July 2016. Click here for full details!

The Cambridge Cybercrime Centre ran a one day conference on cybercrime on Thursday, 13th July 2017. Click here for full details!

The Cambridge Cybercrime Centre ran a one day conference on cybercrime on Thursday, 12th July 2018. Click here for full details!

The Cambridge Cybercrime Centre ran a one day conference on cybercrime on Thursday, 11th July 2019. Click here for full details!

There was no conference in 2020 or 2021 because of the pandemic ....

The Cambridge Cybercrime Centre ran a one day conference on cybercrime on Monday, 5th September 2022. Click here for full details!

The Cambridge Cybercrime Centre ran a one day conference on cybercrime on Thursday, 22nd June 2023. Click here for full details!

The Cambridge Cybercrime Centre will run another one day conference on cybercrime on Monday, 10th June 2024. Click here for full details!

People

Alice Hutchings Director, Cambridge Cybercrime Centre; Professor of Emergent Harms, Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge

Alastair Beresford Professor of Computer Security, Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge

Gilberto Atondo Siu PhD Student, Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge

Jenny Blessing PhD Student, Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge

Nicholas Boucher PhD Student, Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge

Hridoy Sankar Dutta Post-doc Researcher, Cambridge Cybercrime Centre, University of Cambridge

Jack Hughes Post-doc Researcher, Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge

Tina Marjanov PhD Student, Cambridge Cybercrime Centre, University of Cambridge

Yanna Papadodimitraki Post-doc Researcher, Cambridge Cybercrime Centre, University of Cambridge

Anna Talas PhD Student, Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge

Kieron Ivy Turk PhD Student, Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge

Anh V. Vu PhD Student, Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge

Richard Clayton Director 2015--2021, Cambridge Cybercrime Centre, University of Cambridge

Alumni

Ruba Abu-Salma Lecturer in Computer Science, Kings College, London

Ross Anderson Professor of Security Engineering, Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge

Maria Bada Lecturer in Psychology, Queen Mary University of London

Yi Ting Chua Assistant Professor, School of Cyber Studies, University of Tulsa

Ben Collier Lecturer in Digital Methods, University of Edinburgh

Simon Deakin Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge

Michael Dodson US Navy

Paul Leyland Tacande Observatory, La Palma, Canary Islands

David Modic Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Helen Oliver Creative Technologist, UK

Ildikó Pete Google

Sergio Pastrana Portillo Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Julia Powles UWA Law School, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

Lawrence Sherman Director, Jerry Lee Centre for Experimental Criminology, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge

Ilia Shumailov Google DeepMind, London

Daniel Thomas Chancellor's Fellow, University of Strathclyde

Sven Übelacker Technische Universität Hamburg

Alexander Vetterl Boston Consulting Group, Hamburg

Lydia Wilson Culture Editor, New/Lines Magazine

People, 9 May 2019

Back row: Maria, Alexander, Michael, Ildikó, Yi Ting, Ben; Front row: Daniel, Alastair, Richard, Ross, Alice, Ilia