Security News > 2021 > April > Average convicted British computer criminal is young, male, not highly skilled, researcher finds
An academic researcher has analysed more than 100 Computer Misuse Act cases to paint a picture of the sort of computer-enabled criminals who not only plagued Great Britain's digital doings in the 21st Century but were also caught by the plod.
The average Computer Misuse Act convict is likely to be a semi- or low-skilled individual, mostly working alone and more likely than not to have no knowledge of his or her victim, James Crawford of Royal Holloway, University of London, found.
In a "Technical report" analysing a decade of publicly reported cases, Crawford looked at the apparent skillsets of crooks snared by the authorities under the Computer Misuse Act before examining their motivations and demographics.
A large number of his paper's citations linked to The Register's reporting of CMA cases over the years.
The median criminal computer abuser is "Young and male, with mental health and development disorders over-represented in their number," the researcher concluded.
Statistics compiled by The Register in the summer of 2019 showed that between 2008 and 2018 a total of 422 people were charged with CMA offences, of which 343 were found guilty.