International Cybercrime Research Centre

As most software used by government agencies and companies is proprietary, malicious computer activity targeting breaches in that software can be likened to a pandemic of an infectious disease in the cyber world. When a breach occurs, the consequences can be widespread and damaging because the damage can spread rapidly. Therefore, cybercrime prevention needs to involve all users in a cooperative effort, with warnings and information on countermeasures distributed to users in order to prevent the "disease" from spreading when unprotected computers encounter an attack. This cooperative effort relies heavily on all institutions reporting information security incidents. Based on institutional theory, together with regulatory pluralism and responsive regulation theory, this paper examines the pluralized regulatory approach adopted to promote a system for sharing reports of information security incidents in Taiwan and China. An expanded model of regulatory enforcement and a strengths-based pyramid are proposed and used as a framework for discussing existing systems for encouraging the reporting of information security incidents.

The core concept of restorative justice has long existed and been practiced in Taiwan's criminal justice system. It has however, been marginalised for a very long period of time. That was until 2003 when Taiwan began pursuing a polarised approach to its criminal policy with both 'leniency' and 'punishment' policies coexisting. Restorative justice has become a key component of Taiwan's leniency criminal policy. This paper examines current restorative justice practices in Taiwan. After providing a short history of restorative justice in Taiwan, the paper will focus on the various legislative bases for restorative justice at different levels within Taiwan's criminal justice system. Restorative justice practices examined by this paper include mediation, deferred prosecution, and the restorative justice pilot programme. The paper concludes by comparing each of these restorative justice practices and suggests that mediation and deferred prosecution should be applied to more types of crime. Additionally, the paper concludes that more research needs to be done to evaluate these practices.

This paper aims to evaluate four restorative justice programs in Taiwan: (1) a mediation system; (2) deferred prosecution and conditional suspended sentence; (3) a youth justice system; and (4) the Taiwan Restorative Justice Initiative. In this paper, models proposed in Marshall (Restorative justice: An overview. London: Home Office, 1999) and Braithwaite (British Journal of Criminology 42:563-577, 2002b) are used as criteria to evaluate the four programs. Based on governmental documents, official statistics, and the findings of previous empirical studies, this paper will examine whose needs and power is focused and what types of value are highlighted in those four programs. This paper finds that current restorative justice programs in Taiwan place greater emphasis on offenders than on other parties such as victims and communities. In addition, maximizing and emergent standards that Braithwaite identifies are implemented more in Taiwan's restorative justice programs than constraining standards. This paper suggests that restorative justice practices in Taiwan need to be more concerned with victims' needs and interests, and to strengthen constraining types of restorative justice values.

This chapter will discuss the nature of cybercrime. It will examine the limitations of laws and regulations and constraints to cybercrime investigation. It will then discuss the formation of strategies aimed at cybercrime prevention. Central to our discussion will be the recognition that no one institution or sector is able to secure cyberspace on its own. Cyber security requires pluralistic solutions involving cross-national and cross-sector collaboration wherever possible, and independent, unilateral security measures when cooperative efforts prove elusive.

This chapter provides an insight into cyber crowdsourcing in the
Greater China region. It will, firstly, define and then describe the origins of cyber crowdsourcing. Based on archival studies conducted in 2012, it will categorize cyber crowdsourcing cases between 2003 and 2012. It will then discuss the positive and negative impacts of cyber crowdsourcing and discuss the possibility of using cyber crowdsourcing in criminal investigations.

With the development of the internet, internet vigilantism (netilantism) has emerged as a new phenomenon in recent years. While there are several qualitative studies explaining netilantism, there is little empirical research on public perceptions of netilantism. This paper aims to outline Hong Kong university students’ general perception of netilantism and investigate the differences between different roles in netilantism. By using empowerment theory as the theoretical framework, we will investigate whether internet vigilantes (netilantes) 1) perceive the criminal justice system as effective, 2) possess high levels of self-efficacy in the cyber world, and 3) tend to believe netilantism can achieve social justice. Findings support the proposition that human flesh search engine is an empowerment tool for the netilante enabling him/her to achieve his goal of social justice. Different roles in netilantism (i.e. bystander, vigilante, victim and none of the above roles) have different perceptions of netilantism and the criminal justice system. The results will be explained by studying two representative cases of netilantism - the “Government Official Molestation” case and the “Cat Abuse in Shun Tin Village” case from China and Hong Kong respectively.

This letter is in response to the call for submissions on Australia's approach to International Cyber Engagement. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to comment on this timely issue. My comments are based on my experience working on cyber security issues in Asia over the past 15 years and with a special focus on ASEAN countries over the past few years.

Cybercrime has become a world concern. According to unofficial statistics, the projected loss of cybercrime will reach USD 2 trillions by 2019 (Forbes 2016). It affects not only individual but also corporates and states as a whole. Its transnational and anonymity characters make it hard to investigate. The blurred line between national security and crime also contribute to the complexity in international collaboration on crime investigation.
Among all the regions in the world, Asia has the most internet users. More than half of the internet users in the world are in Asia. The number of internet users in Asia has almost doubled since 2011 and is still increasing (Miniwatts Marketing Group 2016). The member countries of the Association of Southeast-Asia Nations (ASEAN) have definitely contributed significantly to the increase in internet users in Asia. The Association of Southeast-Asia Nations was formed in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand to promote regional security and cooperation. It has ten member states now including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. All ASEAN member states have had a dramatic increase in internet subscribers.  This is especially the case for countries like Myanmar, which has recently opened to the world and privatized the internet provider. Of course, the region has become a new field for hackers and cyber criminals.

Being an emerging cybercrime market, there is still limited research that looks into cybercrime and cyber security in the ASEAN region. What are the trends in and challenges of cybercrime in ASEAN? Are current conventions such as Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime appropriate for ASEAN? What are the challenges faced by ASEAN countries when collaborating internationally against cybercrime? This chapter aims to answer these questions and to consider whether the strategies developed in the global north are relevant to ASEAN. This paper will provide an overview of cybercrime trends in ASEAN, assess current measures adopted by ASEAN countries in combatting cybercrime, and make policy recommendations to strengthen those measures.