Breaking Bad in Cyberspace: Understanding why and how Black Hat Hackers Manage their Nerves to Commit their Virtual Crimes

Accommodating Practices During Episodes of Disillusionment with Mobile IT

“…First, as an analysis methodology, grounded theory introduces the formulation of mid-range theories that are able to explain both behavior and processes (Charmaz 2001); this entails that, it is possible to uncover the sensemaking process that users develop, because this methodology "specifically includes elements of process" (Orlikowski 1993). Second, grounded theory methodology is based on the development of analytic codes and categories from the empirical material, rather than from a strict theoretical framework and "preconceived hypotheses" (Urquhart and Fernández 2006); while in many occasions this is understood as disregarding extant literature, in practice it entails that the researcher needs to allow for the emergence of new themes from the empirical material, which previously may not have been uncovered by prior studies (Silic and Lowry 2019). Open coding commenced by examining the data line by line, identifying as many codes as possible.…”

Profiling the Cybercriminal: A Systematic Review of Research

“…The review found that one of the primary types of cybercriminals that studies have focused on is hackers. One example of which is a study exploring black hat hackers and offering valuable new insights on the psychological reasoning in the hacker's decision-making process, during their crime life cycle [51].…”

“…The type of data used to investigate cybercriminals is also crucial to understanding the nature of this research on this topic. We found that 22 (or, just over half of the) articles rely on new data, be it from surveys, interviews (with criminals and law enforcement), court records, case studies, underground markets or honeypots [3], [7], [8], [10], [11], [24], [29], [31]- [36], [43]- [45], [48], [49], [52], [57]- [59]. The other studies primarily use existing literature to form their arguments and often rely on research from other fields, or established approaches mapped to the cybercrime domain [2], [4], [5], [9], [12], [13], [15], [18], [21], [25], [27], [46], [50], [53]- [56].…”

“…The papers focusing on hackers study white hat, black hat hackers and hacktivists [3], [4], [7], [12], [13], [18], [21], [27], [49], [54]- [56]. The basis on which different members of the hacker community differentiate themselves is the ethics of their activities, such as black hat or white hat hackers which acknowledges the use of malicious or ethical applications of hacking [20].…”

“…Upon reviewing the selected studies, the majority provide different types of research contributions on existing knowledge in the field. For a number of articles the description of different types of offenders and the different ways they exploit ICTs (e.g., traditional organised criminal groups, organised cybercrime groups, and ideologically and politically motivated cybercrime groups) is the main focus [12], [25], [31], [49].…”