Where Australia ranks on cybercrime threats

A study of key cybercrime hubs has ranked Australia number 34 on the list of countries with the highest levels of criminality just ahead of Italy and just behind Mexico.

Russia tops the list, followed by Ukraine, China, United States and Nigeria for cybercrime activity including scams, phishing attempts, identity theft, attacks and extortion.

The study, co-authored by UNSW Canberra researcher Dr Miranda Bruce, found these offences had "a strong local dimension".

"It's geographical, it's physical. The country that you're in is probably going to influence the type of cybercrime that you do," she said.

Different countries specialise in different kinds of cybercrime, Dr Bruce said.

"For example, offenders in Russia and Ukraine are engaged in highly technical forms of cybercrime, whereas the cybercrime produced in Nigeria is typically less technical," she said.

"Each country that appears in the Index has its own distinct profile of cybercriminal activity."

The World Cybercrime Index, developed as a joint partnership between the University of Oxford and UNSW, created a map of global cybercrime hotspots by surveying 92 expert investigators and intelligence officers from around the world.

The Index indicates which countries are considered a significant source of cybercrime by investigators.

It also assesses the technical skill and professionalism of the offenders who operate there and the affects of cybercrimes that come out of that country.

"It allows us to have a better understanding of where crime is happening so that we can direct our efforts to the right place," Dr Bruce said.

"If we can understand where they're coming from that will help us better understand cybercrime generally and also support countries to fight it."

The global ranking system was designed to determine where funding is needed and to offer support to under-resourced countries in combatting local offenders.

"The study will enable the public and private sectors to focus their resources on key cybercrime hubs and spend less time and funds on cybercrime countermeasures in countries where the problem is not as significant," Dr Bruce said.

Despite cliches the majority of perpetrators of these crimes were not hoodie-wearing hackers in dark basements, the researcher said.

"This kind of profit driven cybercrime is actually really boring for most people who do it," she said.

Offenders in some scams would "go to offices every day, wear a tie, sit down at their computer and scam people all day and then go home and live a very normal life".

"The reason that they can stay hidden is because it doesn't look like they're doing anything wrong and because they're doing all the things that businesses do."

The study doesn't examine cyber warfare or state-driven cybercrime but focuses on profit-driven schemes including money laundering and financial scams.

Dr Bruce said the research will be available to download as open access, allowing other researchers to analyse the data.

The research team plans to expand the study by looking at the factors that prop up local cybercrime economies including education levels, income, equality, corruption, internet speed, cost and access.