Concurrent session 1d—Cyber: Measuring cybercrime activity—A conceptual framework

Mr Brad Petry, Director, National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics, Australian Bureau of Statistics

A key function of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) role as Australia's national statistical agency is to provide information to support decision making by government, organisations and the community. In this role, the ABS has been working in consultation with a range of key stakeholders to produce a draft Conceptual Framework for Cybercrime, the first step in building an evidence base for cybercrime in Australia. An evidence base can provide a range of information that reflects the experiences of individuals and organisations involved in and affected by cybercriminal activity and at present, data in this field is scarce and largely inconsistent in its collection and presentation. The ABS cybercrime framework offers a structure for data to support the analysis of cybercrime as an area of social and economic concern. It provides a statistically measurable definition of cybercrime that aims to remain relevant in the rapidly evolving cyberspace environment and outlines the challenges in the identification and measurement of cybercrime. As well as defining cybercrime, it identifies six key statistical elements that aim to further place cybercrime into a statistically measurable context. The ABS recognises that this field of social concern is an issue of shared interest to private organisations, individuals and government and is seeking to ensure the framework is relevant and applicable to all stakeholders. At the time of the ISOC conference, the framework will be in the field for final consultation prior to publication and the ABS is seeking input and comment from all interested stakeholders.