World Cybercrime Index: Russia ranks top; India at 10th place, specialises in 'scams'

Russia, Ukraine, and China have topped the World Cybercrime Index, which features the globe’s major cybercrime hotspots by ranking the most significant sources of cybercrime. Prepared by researchers from the Department of Sociology at the University of Oxford, the report 'Mapping the global geography of cybercrime with the World Cybercrime Index' shows Russia ranking number one overall, with Russian cybercriminals considered to be the most professional and technically skilled in the world, with their crimes having the most impact.

Russia's WCI (World Cybercrime Index) score was recorded as the highest at 58.39, followed by Ukraine at 36.44 and China at 27.86. India's WCI score was recorded at 6.13 and was ranked 10th in the list of 15 countries.

The US, Nigeria, Romania, North Korea, the UK, Brazil, India, Iran, Belarus, Ghana, South Africa and Moldova have been found in the list of 15 countries in the World Cybercrime Index.

The results indicate that a relatively small number of countries house the greatest cybercriminal threats. The report finds that India somewhat specialises in scams but is otherwise a balanced hub. Both Romania and the USA specialise in both “technical and non-technical crimes”. “Each country has a distinct profile, indicating a unique local dimension".

Some interesting details emerged from the index. First, a small number of countries hold consistently high ranks for cybercrime. Six countries – China, Russia, Ukraine, the US, Romania, and Nigeria – appear in the top 10 of every WCI type index, including the WCI overall index.

Aside from Romania, all appear in the top three at least once in different categories. "While appearing in a different order, the first 10 countries in the technical products/services and attacks and extortion indices are the same. Second, despite this small list of countries regularly appearing as cybercrime hubs, the survey results capture a broad geographical diversity. All five geopolitical regions are represented across each type. Overall, 97 distinct countries were nominated by at least one expert."

The cybercrimes index has been broken into different categories including technical products or services; attacks and extortion; data/identity theft; scams; and cashing out or money laundering.

The key findings show cybercrime is not universally distributed, says the report, adding that certain countries are cybercrime hubs, while many others are not seriously associated with cyber criminality. Also, countries that are “cybercrime hubs” specialise in particular types of cybercrime.

“Despite a small number of countries being leading producers of cybercrime, there is meaningful variation between them both across categories and about scores for impact, professionalism and technical skill.”

Moreover, the results show a longer list of cybercrime-producing countries than are usually included in publications on the geography of cybercrime.

As the survey captures leading producers of cybercrime, rather than just any country where cybercrime is present, the report says that even if a small number of countries are of serious concern, and close to 100 are of little concern at all, the remaining half are of at least moderate concern.