Hacking in High School: Cybercrime Perpetration by Juveniles

Assessing the Factors Associated With the Detection of Juvenile Hacking Behaviors

“…A relatively small proportion of respondents reported engaging in hacking behaviors at any time (N = 3,733; 7.3%), and only 25.2% of those individuals (N = 943) were detected (see Table 1). Though the overall rate of self-reported hacking is relatively low, it is consistent with prior rates reported among youth (Holt et al, 2012;Marcum et al, 2014) and late adolescent populations (Skinner and Fream, 1997;Rogers et al, 2006;Bossler and Burruss, 2011;. The relatively small number of individuals who reported being detected for hacking allowed for the construction of a three-item variable: those who did not hack (0), those who hacked and were not discovered (1), and those who hacked and were caught (2).…”

“…In fact, multiple correlates of hacking are consistent with predictors of traditional acts of crime and delinquency. To that end, Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) general theory of crime has been found to predict individual involvement in hacking behaviors, such as password guessing to access accounts and alter content without permission from the owner (Bossler and Burruss, 2011;Holt et al, 2012Holt et al, , 2019Marcum et al, 2014;Udris, 2016). Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) argued that crime is a choice derived from weighing the costs and benefits of offending, including the risk of detection.…”

“…Since many individuals report engaging in early hacking behaviors at home (Taylor, 1999;Holt, 2007), increased monitoring of computer use or limiting the amount of time one spends on the computer may reduce opportunities to hack. Similarly, the more supervision and monitoring of computer activity, the more likely an individual's actions will be observed and punished (Marcum et al, 2014). There may, however, be economic barriers to technology access that may affect an individual's risk of detection for hacking.…”

“…A small number of studies also demonstrate that individuals who hack may be from higher socio-economic status backgrounds and larger cities due to greater access to technology (Schell and Dodge, 2002;Holt, 2007;Steinmetz, 2016). Few quantitative studies have examined this relationship (Marcum et al, 2014;Holt and Bossler, 2016), though recent research by Holt et al (2019) found that youth in smaller cities and higher socio-economic status families were more likely to self-report hacking during adolescence. It may be that families in higher socio-economic status groups provide opportunities for technology use, which reduces their risk of detection.…”

“…This study tested multiple hypotheses regarding the risk of detection for computer hacking which has been largely underexamined in social sciene research to date (Maimon et al, 2014;Holt and Bossler, 2016). First, it is expected that individuals with low self-control will be more likely to hack, regardless of the likelihood of detection (e.g., Holt et al, 2012;Marcum et al, 2014;Udris, 2016;Back et al, 2018). Second, youth with greater access to and frequent use of technology in private settings will be more likely to hack without detection.…”