Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

International CyberCrime Research Centre

Welcome to the International CyberCrime Research Centre

The online aspect of crime is a growing reality that can no longer be ignored. A new generation of criminals has made the Internet its playing field, and there is a clear need to continue to build the new generation of scholars, police investigators, policy makers, and practitioners who will interact with and manage this clientele.

The International CyberCrime Research Centre (ICCRC) was established to contribute to this goal. The ICCRC opened at the Surrey Campus of Simon Fraser University in the summer of 2008 with significant core funding provided by the Government of British Columbia.

The ICCRC aims to promote education and conduct research in cybercrime prevention, detection, and response, in collaboration with the public and private sectors at the regional, national, and international levels. 

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We would like to inform visitors to our site about a study being conducted by the International CyberCrime Research Centre in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University. The objectives of this study are to investigate the prevalence of ransomware attacks against businesses in British Columbia, and to identify possible ways to prevent and/or mitigate such attacks. It should only take you 20-25 minutes to complete this anonymous online survey. We would encourage all of our clientele who are owners/managers of B.C.-based businesses to complete the online survey, regardless of whether or not they have been victimized by ransomware, as the researchers are hoping to obtain as broad and representative a sample as possible. Please note that for reasons of representativeness, only ONE person from your business should complete this survey. Your participation in the survey would be greatly appreciated. The link to the online survey is as follows:  https://www.surveymonkey.ca/r/Z5N2P5D.

Recent Publications:

Scrivens, R. (In Press). Examining Online Indicators of Extremism Among Violent and Non-Violent Right-Wing Extremists. Terrorism and Political Violence.

Scrivens, R., Gaudette, T., Conway, M., & Holt, T. J. (In Press). Right-Wing Extremists' Use of the Internet: Trends in the Empirical Literature. In B. Perry, J. Gruenewald, & R. Scrivens (Eds.), Right-Wing Extremism in Canada and the United States. Palgrave.

Davies, G., Scrivens, R., Gaudette, T., & Frank, R. (In Press). A Longitudinal Comparison of Violent and Non-Violent Right-Wing Extremist Identities Online. In B. Perry, J. Gruenewald, & R. Scrivens (Eds.), Right-Wing Extremism in Canada and the United States. Palgrave.

Scrivens, R. (2021). Exploring Radical Right-Wing Posting Behaviors Online. Deviant Behavior. 

Gaudette, T., Scrivens, R., Davies, G., & Frank R. (2021). Upvoting Extremism: Collective Identity Formation and the Extreme Right on Reddit. New Media and Society.

Singh, M. M., Frank, R., & Zainon, W. M. N. W. (2021). Cyber-Criminology Defense in Pervasive Environment: A Study of Cybercrimes in Malaysia. Bulletin of Electrical Engineering and Informatics.

Scrivens, R., Chermak, S. M., Freilich, J. D., Wojciechowski, T. W., & Frank, R. (2021). Detecting Extremists Online: Examining Online Posting Behaviors of Violent and Non-Violent Right-Wing Extremists. RESOLVE Network Policy Note.

McIntyre, D. L., & Frank, R. (2021). No Gambles with Information Security: The Psychology of a Ransomware Attack. In M. Weulen Kranenbarg & R. Leukfeldt (Eds.), Cybercrime in Context: The Human Factor in Victimization, Offending, and Policing. Springer.

Davies, G., Wu, E., & Frank, R. (2021). A Witch’s Brew of Grievances: The Potential Effects of COVID-19 on Radicalization to Violent Extremism. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism.

Scrivens, R., Osuna, A. I., Chermak, S. M., Whitney, M. A., & Frank, R. (2021). Examining Online Indicators of Extremism in Violent Right-Wing Extremist Forums. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism.

Scrivens, R., Burruss, G. W., Holt, T. J., Chermak, S. M., Freilich, J. D., & Frank, R. (2021). Triggered by Defeat or Victory? Assessing the Impact of Presidential Election Results on Extreme Right-Wing Mobilization Online. Deviant Behavior.

Knoechelmann, M., Davies, G. & Macnair, L. (2021). Personality Traits-Based Terrorism Risk Assessment: Determining Reliability Using Open-Source Data. In R. Corrado, G. Wössner, & A. Merari (Eds.), Terrorism Risk Assessment Instruments: NATO Science for Peace and Security Series. IOS Press.

Champion, A., & Frank, R. (2021). Exploring the “Radicalization Pipeline” on YouTube. In R. Corrado, G. Wössner, & A. Merari (Eds.), Terrorism Risk Assessment Instruments: NATO Science for Peace and Security Series. IOS Press.

Hutchinson, J., Amarasingam, A., Scrivens, R., & Ballsun-Stanton, B. (2021). Mobilizing Extremism Online: Comparing Australian and Canadian Right-Wing Extremist Groups on Facebook. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression.

Scrivens, R., Wojciechowski, T. W., Freilich, J. D., Chermak, S. M., & Frank, R. (2021). Comparing the Online Posting Behaviors of Violent and Non-Violent Right-Wing Extremists. Terrorism and Political Violence.

Scrivens, R., & Gaudette, T. (2021). Terrorists’ and Violent Extremists’ Use of the Internet and Cyberterrorism. In T. J. Holt (Ed.), Crime Online: Causes, Correlates and Context, Fourth Edition. Carolina Academic Press.

Leung, C., & Frank, R., (2020). Unity Starts with U: A Case Study of a Counter-Hate Campaign Through the Use of Social Media Platforms. Journal of Hate Studies.

Scrivens, R., Wojciechowski, T. W., & Frank, R. (2020). Examining the Developmental Pathways of Online Posting Behavior in Violent Right-Wing Extremist Forums. Terrorism and Political Violence.

Frank, R., & Mikhaylov, A. (2020). Beyond the ‘Silk Road’: Assessing Illicit Drug Marketplaces on the Public Web. In M. A. Tayebi, U. Glässer, & D. B. Skillicorn (Eds.), Open Source Intelligence and Cyber Crime. Springer.

Gaudette, T., Scrivens, R., & Venkatesh, V. (2020). The Role of the Internet in Facilitating Violent Extremism: Insights from Former Right-Wing Extremists. Terrorism and Political Violence.

Scrivens, R., Gill, P., & Conway, M. (2020). The Role of the Internet in Facilitating Violent Extremism and Terrorism: Suggestions for Progressing Research. In T. J. Holt & A. Bossler (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of International Cybercrime and Cyberdeviance. Palgrave.

Bouchard, M., Davies, G., Frank, R., Wu, E., & Joffres, K. (2020). The Social Structure of Extremist Websites. In J. Littlewood, L. Dawson, & S. Thompson (Eds.), Canada Among Nations: Terrorism and Counterterrorism. University of Toronto Press.

Smith, R., & Frank, R. (2020). Dishing the Deets: How Dark-Web Users Teach Each Other About International Drug Shipments. In Proceedings of the 53rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. 
*Won Best Paper at HICSS 2020

Scrivens, R., & Amarasingam, A. (2020). Haters Gonna “Like”: Exploring Canadian Far-Right Extremism on Facebook. In M. Littler & B. Lee (Eds.), Digital Extremisms: Readings in Violence, Radicalisation and Extremism in the Online Space. Palgrave (Cybercrime Series).

Scrivens, R., Davies, G., & Frank, R. (2020). Measuring the Evolution of Radical Right-Wing Posting Behaviors Online. Deviant Behavior.

Cartwright, B., Weir, G., Frank, G., & Padda, K. (2019). Deploying Artificial Intelligence to Combat Disinformation Warfare. International Journal On Advances in Security.

Cartwright, B., Weir, G., Nahar, L., Padda, K., & Frank, R. (2019). The weaponization of Cloud-Based Social Media: Prospects for Legislation and Regulation. In Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Cloud Computing, GRIDs, and Virtualization.

Conway, M., Scrivens, R., & Macnair, L. (2019). Right-Wing Extremists’ Persistent Online Presence: History and Contemporary Trends. The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague.

Scrivens, R., & Conway, M. (2019). The Roles of ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Media Tools and Technologies in the Facilitation of Violent Extremism and Terrorism. In R. Leukfeldt & T. J. Holt (Eds.), The Human Factor of Cybercrime. Routledge.

Levey, P., & Bouchard, M. (2019). The Emergence of Violent Narratives in the Life-Course Trajectories of Online Forum Participants. Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice and Criminology.

Scrivens, R., Gaudette, T., Davies, G., & Frank, R. (2019). Searching for Extremist Content Online Using The Dark Crawler and Sentiment Analysis. In M. Deflem & D. Silva (Eds.), Methods of Criminology and Criminal Justice Research. Emerald Publishing.

Cartwright, B., Weir, G., Nahar, L., Padda, K., & Frank, R. (2019). The Weaponization of Cloud-Based Social Media: Prospects for Legislation and Regulation. In Proceedings of Tenth International Conference on Cloud Computing, GRIDs, and Virtualization.

Cartwright, B., Weir, G., & Frank, R. (2019). Cyberterrorism in the Cloud. In L. Chen, H. Takabi, & N-A. Le-Khac (Eds.), Security, Privacy, and Digital Forensics in the Cloud (pp. 217-236). John Wiley & Sons.

Scrivens, R., & Bouchard, M. (2019). 21st Century Crimes: Cybercrime and Terrorism. In N. Boyd (Ed.), Understanding Crime in Canada (Second Edition). Emond Publishing.

Gaudette, T., Davies, G., & Scrivens, R. (2018). Upvoting Extremism, Part II: An Assessment of Extreme Right Discourse on Reddit. VOX-Pol Network of Excellence Blog.

Gaudette, T., Davies, G., & Scrivens, R. (2018). Upvoting Extremism, Part I: An Assessment of Extreme Right Discourse on Reddit. VOX-Pol Network of Excellence Blog.

Gaudette, T., Scrivens, R., & Davies, G. (2018). The Future of Detecting Extreme-Right Sentiment Online. VOX-Pol Network of Excellence Blog.

Macnair, L., & Frank, R. (2018). Changes and Stabilities in the Language of Islamic State Magazines: A Sentiment Analysis. Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict.

Monk, B., Mitchell, J., Frank, R., & Davies, G. (2018). Uncovering Tor: An Examination of the Network Structure. Security and Communication Networks.

Mikhaylov, A., & Frank, R. (2018). Illicit Payments for Illicit Goods: Noncontact Drug Distribution on Russian Online Drug Marketplaces. Global Crime.  

Macnair, L., & Frank, R. (2018). The Mediums and the Messages: Exploring the Language of Islamic State Media through Sentiment Analysis. Critical Studies on Terrorism.

Scrivens, R., & Davies, G. (2018). Identifying Radical Content Online. Policy Options.

Scrivens, R., Davies, G., & Frank, R. (2018). Searching for Signs of Extremism on the Web: An Introduction to Sentiment-based Identification of Radical Authors. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression.  

Macdonald, M., & Frank, R. (2017). Shuffle Up and Deal: Use of a Capture-Recapture Method to Estimate the Size of Stolen Data Markets. American Behavioral Scientist.

Macnair, L., & Frank, R. (2017). Voices Against Extremism: A Case Study of a Community-Based CVE Counter-Narrative Campaign. Journal for Deradicalization.

Macnair, L., & Frank, R. (2017). "To My Brothers in the West...": A Thematic Analysis of Videos Produced by the Islamic State’s al-Hayat Media Center. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice.

Mikhaylov, A., & Frank, R. (2016). Cards, Money and Two Hacking Forums: An Analysis of Online Money Laundering Schemes. In Proceedings of the 2016 European Intelligence and Security Informatics Conference (EISIC).

Frank, R., Macdonald, M., & Monk, B. (2016). Location, Location, Location: Mapping Potential Canadian Targets in Online Hacker Discussion Forums. In Proceedings of the 2016 European Intelligence and Security Informatics Conference (EISIC).

Scrivens, R., & Frank, R. (2016). Sentiment-based Classification of Radical Text on the Web. In Proceedings of the 2016 European Intelligence and Security Informatics Conference (EISIC).

Macdonald, M., & Frank, R. (2016). The Network Structure of Malware Development, Deployment and Distribution. Global Crime.

Westlake, B., Bouchard, M., & Girodat, A. (2016). How Obvious Is It? The Content of Child Sexual Exploitation Websites. Deviant Behavior. 

Davies, G., Neudecker, C., Ouellet, M., Bouchard, M., & Ducol, B. (2016). Toward a Framework to Assess Online Programs for Countering Violent Extremism. Journal for Deradicalization.

Ducol, B., Bouchard, M., Davies, G., Ouellet, M., & Neudecker, C. (2016). Assessment of the State of Knowledge: Connections between Research on the Social Psychology of the Internet and Violent Extremism. Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society: No.16-05.

Weir, G.R.S., Frank, R., Cartwright, B., & Dos Santos, E. (2016). Positing the Problem: Enhancing Classification of Extremist Web Content Through Textual Analysis. In Proceedings of the 2016 International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF).

Westlake, B., & Bouchard, M. (2016). Liking and Hyperlinking: Community Detection in Online Child Exploitation Networks. Social Science Research.

Figea, L., Kaati, L., & Scrivens, R. (2016). Measuring Online Affects in a White Supremacy Forum. In Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security Informatics (ISI).

Current Projects:

Latest News:

Research Associates Logan Macnair was awarded a research internship with Valens Global.

Dr. Richard Frank was named Director of the ICCRC. Congrats on your new role, Richard!

Ryan Scrivens, Research Associate at the ICCRC, was appointed Associate Theses Research Editor of Perspectives on Terrorism.

ICCRC's Bryan Monk was accepted into the PhD Program in the School of Criminology at SFU. Well deserved!

Research Associate Ryan Scrivens will be returning to VOX-Pol's Network of Excellence this summer, collaborating with Prof. Maura Conway and Dr. Lorraine Bowman-Grieve on a project to assess the online role(s) of females of the extreme right.

Research Associates Logan Macnair and Ryan Scrivens will be presenting their research at the TASM Conference in Wales, UK this summer.

Members of the ICCRC presented their research at the 2017 Western Society of Criminology (WSC) conference in Las Vegas on Friday February 10th. Theme of the panel: Radicalization and Extremism through Media-Based Platforms.

Dr. Richard Frank, Associate Director of the ICCRC, was named Associate Editor-in-Chief of Security Informatics.

A non-profit group led by Dr. Frank's CRIM 481 students, Voices Against Extremism (VAE), was one of three finalists for a regional competition hosted by the Organization for Security and Co-operation held in Hamburg.

ICCRC member Bryan Monk gave a keynote speech at the Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity Conference held in Vancouver. His presentation was titled Targeted by Cybercriminals - How Cybercrime is Shifting from Large to Small.

Research Associate Mitch Macdonald was awarded a SSHRC Doctoral Scholarship.

Research Associate Ryan Scrivens completed a three-month internship with the VOX-Pol Network of Excellence.

Dr. Martin Bouchard, Director of the ICCRC, was promoted to Full Professor in the School of Criminology at SFU.

Research Associate Ryan Scrivens was named Coordinator of the Canadian Network of PhD Theses Writers for the Terrorism Research Initiative (TRI).

Research Associate Mitch Macdonald won best paper award at the International Symposium on Foundations of Open Source Intelligence and Security Informatics (FOSINT-SI).