Unauthorised Access to Computer Information: The Motives for Committing a Crime

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the main internal motives that led to the commission of illegal access to computer information. The motive in the study is defined as the internal motivation of a person to achieve a specific result, due to needs, and causing the determination to commit a crime. To conduct the study, 300 acts of the courts of the Russian Federation were analysed, they were issued in connexion with committing unauthorised access to computer information. It was revealed that in most of the considered cases, there was no relationship between the criminal and the victim, but 17.6% of the victims were not accidental. The study of judicial acts revealed the most common motives: desire to commit further theft; desire to get payment for the received information; personal discountenance; desire to get secure data; revenge. At the same time, more than 80% of acts of unauthorised access are committed for reasons directly related to money and property. The material being studied made it possible to divide them into two categories: "interested in financial gain" and "non-interested in financial gain". Depending on the category, different preventive measures are proposed.

Keywords

• Unauthorised access
• motive of financial gain
• revenge
• multiple victimisation

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