This study applies routine activities theory to determine whether the characteristics of jihadi-inspired web defacements in the United States vary from all other defacements performed against IP addresses hosted within the United States from 2012 to 2016. We focus on target suitability variables and use a sample of over 2.2 million defacements reported by the independent website Zone-H. We estimated a binary logistic regression model and found that jihadi cyberattacks were rare among all the defacements performed in this 5-year period. Additionally, these findings demonstrated jihadists were more likely to target organizational websites and utilized specific attack methods compared to all other defacers. We contextualize our findings and outline a number of avenues for future research.
Canetti-NisimD.MeschG.PedahzurA. (2006). Victimization from terrorist attacks: Randomness or routine activities?Terrorism and Political Violence, 18(4), 485–501.
6.
CarsonJ. V.SuppenbachM. (2018). The Global Jihadist Movement: The most lethal ideology?Homicide Studies, 22(1), 8–44.
7.
Central Intelligence Agency. (2018). The CIA world factbook 2018. Skyhorse Publishing Inc.
8.
ClarkeR. V.NewmanG. R. (2007). Situational crime prevention and the control of terrorism. NATO Security Through Science Series E Human and Societal Dynamics, 21, 285.
9.
CohenL. E.FelsonM. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American Sociological Review, 44, 588–608.
10.
DaigleL. E.FisherB. S.CullenF. T. (2008). The violent and sexual victimization of college women: Is repeat victimization a problem?Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(9), 1296–1313.
11.
DavisB. R. (2006). Ending the cyber jihad: Combating terrorist exploitation of the internet with the rule of law and improved tools for cyber governance. CommLaw Conspectus, 15, 119.
12.
DeckerS. H. (1993). Exploring victim-offender relationships in homicide: The role of individual and event characteristics. Justice Quarterly, 10(4), 585–612.
13.
DenningD. E. (2011). Cyber conflict as an emergent social phenomenon. In SchellB. H.HoltT. J. (Eds.), Corporate hacking and technology-driven crime: Social dynamics and implications (pp. 170–186). IGI Global.
14.
DrakeC. J. (1998). The role of ideology in terrorists’ target selection. Terrorism and Political Violence, 10(2), 53–85.
15.
DupontB.CôtéA. M.BoutinJ. I.FernandezJ. (2017). Darkode: Recruitment patterns and transactional features of “the most dangerous cybercrime forum in the world.”American Behavioral Scientist, 61(11), 1219–1243.
16.
FelsonM. (1994). Crime and everyday life: Insight and implications for society. Sage.
17.
FelsonM. (1998). Crime and everyday life (2nd ed.). Pine Forge Press.
18.
FenigerY.Yuchtman-YaarE. (2010). Risk groups in exposure to terror: The case of Israel’s citizens. Social Forces, 88, 1451–1462.
19.
ForestJ. J.SalamaS. (2008). Jihadist tactics and targeting. In AckermanG.TamsettJ. (Eds.), Jihadist and weapons of mass destruction: A growing threat (pp. 83–99). CRC Press.
20.
FreilichJ. D.BringuelAChermakS. MShearerJ. (2011). Animal and environmental rights extremists and crime: Setting forth a research agenda. In BringuelA.JanowiczJ. C.ValidaA. C.ReidE. F. (Eds.), Terrorism research and analysis project (TRAP) volume I: A collection of research ideas, thoughts and perspectives (pp. 263–295). Government Printing Office.
21.
FreilichJ. D.ChermakS. M.BelliR.GruenewaldJ.ParkinW. S. (2014). Introducing the United States extremist crime database (ECDB). Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(2), 372–384.
22.
FreilichJ. D.ChermakS. M.GruenewaldJ., (2015). The future of terrorism research: A review essay. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 39(4), 353–369.
23.
FreilichJ. D.GruenewaldJ.MandalaM. (2019). Situational crime prevention and terrorism: An assessment of 10 years of research. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 30(9), 1283–1311.
24.
FurnellS. (2002). Cybercrime: Vandalizing the information society (pp. 3–540). Addison-Wesley.
25.
GraboskyP. N. (2001). Virtual criminality: Old wine in new bottles?Social & Legal Studies, 10(2), 243–249.
26.
GriffithsG.JohnsonS. D.ChettyK. (2017). UK-based terrorists’ antecedent behavior: A spatial and temporal analysis. Applied Geography, 86, 274–282.
27.
GruenewaldJ.KleinB. R.FreilichJ. D.ChermakS. (2019). American jihadi terrorism: A comparison of homicides and unsuccessful plots. Terrorism and Political Violence, 31(3), 516–535.
28.
HammM. S. (2007). Terrorism as crime: From the order to Al-Qaeda and beyond. New York University Press.
HoltT. J. (2007). Subcultural evolution? Examining the influence of on- and off-line experiences on deviant subcultures. Deviant Behavior, 28(2), 171–198.
31.
HoltT. J. (2013). Examining the forces shaping cybercrime markets online. Social Science Computer Review, 31(2), 165–177.
32.
HoltT. J.BoldenM. S. (2014). Technological skills of White supremacists in an online forum: A qualitative examination. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 8(2), 79–93.
33.
HoltT. J.BosslerA. M. (2015). Cybercrime in progress: Theory and prevention of technology-enabled offenses. Routledge.
34.
HoltT. J.BurrussG. W.BosslerA. M. (2018). Assessing the macro-level correlates of malware infections using a routine activities framework. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 62(6), 1720–1741.
35.
HoltT. J.FreilichJ. D.ChermakS. M. (2017). Exploring the subculture of ideologically motivated cyber-attackers. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 33(3), 212–233.
36.
HoltT. J.FreilichJ. D.ChermakS. M. (2020). Examining the online expression of ideology among far-right extremist forum users. Terrorism and Political Violence, 1–21. doi:10.1080/09546553.2019.1701446
37.
HoltT. J.LeeJ. R.FreilichJ. D.ChermakS. M.BauerJ. M.ShillairR.RossA. (2020). An exploratory analysis of the characteristics of ideologically motivated cyberattacks. Terrorism and Political Violence, 1–16. doi:10.1080/09546553.2020.1777987
38.
HoltT. J.LeukfeldtR.van de WeijerS. (2020). An examination of motivation and routine activity theory to account for cyberattacks against Dutch web sites. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 47(4), 487–505.
39.
HoltT. J.StonhouseM.FreilichJ.ChermakS. M. (2019). Examining ideologically motivated cyberattacks performed by far-left groups. Terrorism and Political Violence, 33, 1–22.
40.
HowellC. J.BurrussG. W.MaimonD.SahaniS. (2019). Website defacement and routine activities: Considering the importance of hackers’ valuations of potential targets. Journal of Crime and Justice, 42(5), 536–550.
41.
JarvisL.MacdonaldS. (2015). What is cyberterrorism? Findings from a survey of researchers. Terrorism and Political Violence, 27(4), 657–678.
42.
JordanT.TaylorP. (1998). A sociology of hackers. The Sociological Review, 46(4), 757–780.
43.
JordanT.TaylorP. A. (2004). Hacktivism and cyberwars: Rebels with a cause?Psychology Press.
44.
KaragiannopoulosV. (2018). Living with hacktivism. Palgrave Macmillan.
45.
KatzJ. (1988). Seductions of crime: Moral and sensual attractions in doing evil. Basic Books.
46.
Weulen KranenbargM.HoltT. J.van der HamJ. (2018). Don’t shoot the messenger! A criminological and computer science perspective on coordinated vulnerability disclosure. Crime Science, 7(1), 16.
47.
KurzmanC.SchanzerD.MoosaE. (2011). Muslim American terrorism since 9/11: Why so rare?The Muslim World, 101(3), 464–483.
48.
LaFreeG.DuganL. (2007). Introducing the global terrorism database. Terrorism and Political Violence, 19(2), 181–204.
49.
LaFreeG.YangS. M.CrenshawM. (2009). Trajectories of terrorism: Attack patterns of foreign groups that have targeted the United States, 1970–2004. Criminology & Public Policy, 8(3), 445–473.
50.
LeukfeldtE. R.YarM. (2016). Applying routine activity theory to cybercrime: A theoretical and empirical analysis. Deviant Behavior, 37(3), 263–280.
51.
LeukfeldtR.KleemansE.StolW. (2017). The use of online crime markets by cybercriminal networks: A view from within. American Behavioral Scientist, 61(11), 1387–1402.
52.
LiangC. S. (2015). Cyber Jihad: Understanding and countering Islamic State propaganda. GSCP Policy Paper, 2(4), 6.
53.
MaimonD.AlperM.SobestoB.CukierM. (2014). Restrictive deterrent effects of a warning banner in an attacked computer system. Criminology, 52(1), 33–59.
54.
MaimonD.LouderbackE. R. (2019). “Cyber-dependent crimes: An interdisciplinary review”. Annual Review of Criminology, 2, 191–216.
55.
MaimonD.WilsonT.RenW.BerenblumT. (2015). On the relevance of spatial and temporal dimensions in assessing computer susceptibility to system trespassing incidents. British Journal of Criminology, 55(3), 615–634.
56.
MaynardJ. L. (2014). Rethinking the role of ideology in mass atrocities. Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(5), 821–841.
57.
McCauleyC.MoskalenkoS. (2014). Toward a profile of lone wolf terrorists: What moves an individual from radical opinion to radical action. Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(1), 69–85.
58.
McNealG. S. (2008). Cyber embargo: Countering the Internet jihad. Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law, 39, 789.
NewmanG.ClarkeR. V. (2003). Superhighway robbery: Crime prevention and e- commerce. Willan Publishing.
63.
ParkinW. S.FreilichJ. D. (2015). Routine activities and right-wing extremists: An empirical comparison of the victims of ideologically-and non-ideologically-motivated homicides committed by American far-rightists. Terrorism and Political Violence, 27(1), 182–203.
64.
ParkinW. S.KleinB.GruenewaldJ.FreilichJ. D.ChermakS. M. (2017, February). Threats of violent Islamist and far-right extremism: What does the research say?The Conversation[Online].
65.
PencinaM. J.D’AgostinoR. B.SrD’AgostinoR. B.JrVasanR. S. (2008). Evaluating the added predictive ability of a new marker: From area under the ROC curve to reclassification and beyond. Statistics in Medicine, 27(2), 157–172.
66.
PiazzaJ. A. (2009). Is Islamist terrorism more dangerous? An empirical study of group ideology, organization, and goal structure. Terrorism and Political Violence, 21(1), 62–88.
67.
PuzzancheraC.ChamberlinG.KangW. (2017). Office of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention, easy access to the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Reports: 1980-2014; 2016. https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstabb/ezashr/
RossmoD. K.HarriesK. (2011). The geospatial structure of terrorist cells. Justice Quarterly, 28(2), 221–248.
70.
SmithB. L.DamphousseK. R. (1996). Punishing political offenders: The effect of political motive on federal sentencing decisions. Criminology, 34(3), 289–322.
71.
SteinmetzK. F. (2016). Hacked: A radical approach to hacker culture and crime. NYU Press.
72.
TaylorP. A. (1999). Hackers: Crime in the digital sublime. Psychology Press.
73.
TuranovicJ. J.PrattT. C. (2014). “Can’t stop, won’t stop”: Self-control, risky lifestyles, and repeat victimization. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 30(1), 29–56.
74.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2008). Brief documentary history of the department of homeland security, 2001–2008. https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=37027
