It is questionable whether the cyber-enabled actions of Wikileaks is a crime at all, many see this is journalism bringing light to the wrongful actions of government. However due to the alleged cyber-harm caused by the actions of Julian Assange the US government had grounds to arrest and charge Assange and his co-conspirators.

Assange is widely known as a hacker and although this is not false information, he is more accurately identified as a cypherpunk. Cypherpunk theory emerged from the cypherpunk movement and is a set of ideologies that envisions modern technologies being used to achieve personal freedom, political change and activism. Assange’s actions and ideologies certainly conform to this theory, through the leaking of sensitive government information holding those with power responsible for their actions through digital means.

This also leans heavily on neutralisation theory creating justifications for criminal actions relieving feelings of guilt and victimisation. Those using neutralisation to justify illicit behaviour will employ techniques such as denial of injury, appeal to higher loyalties and condemnation of the condemners. As seen in many interviews and social media posts Assange has openly praised his own behaviour under the justification of the public have a right to know the behind-the-scenes operations of government appealing to the people. He also openly condemned government actions whether during war in various other correspondence published through Wikileaks, believing his actions were negligible in comparison to those he was exposing.

Julian Assange has since been released from prison after agreeing to a deal pleading guilty to charge under the US Espionage Act, some believe this is a miscarriage of justice contradicts the constitutional protections under the freedom of press.

Police interviews with known associates of Bissonnette uncovered his extreme right ideologies and that he had denigrate Muslims openly. Sharing beliefs that were anti-immigration stating that immigrants “change neighbourhoods” and “increased unemployment”. During imprisonment Bissonnette told social workers that he “wanted glory” and lamented “not killing more people”.  

In the weeks leading up to the attack, Bissonnette spent large amounts of time on right wing American Twitter feeds, researching conspiracy theories and Neo Nazi leaders. This is a clear example of lone wolf terrorism.

Lone wolf terrorist is a person who carries out acts of violence or terrorism autonomously, without coordination or support from organised terrorist groups. Often their motivations stem from personal grievance, extremist ideologies, a yearning for notoriety as seen in the case of Bissonnette.

Social learning theory suggests that individuals learn ideologies and behaviours through interaction with others. Access to online platforms Such as social media, online forums and extremist content can expose individuals to online extremism shaping their beliefs and ultimately their actions. This can result in echo chambers where extremist views are often reinforced through hate speech, conspiracy theories and inciting violence often against religious and ethnic groups. Bissonnette spent much of his free time engaged with this extremist online rhetoric before carrying out the attack on the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre.

Routine activities theory suggest crime occurs when there are motivated offenders, suitable targets and a lack of capable guardians. When considering online radicalisation, the internet provides platforms that allow individuals to access extremist ideologies and communicate with like-minded individuals whilst still maintaining a sense of anonymity. This reduces feelings of personal accountability, which is eases Individuals into embracing illegal ideas and in this case embrace violence without fear of social repercussions. This reduces the sense of guardianship and allows a perpetrator to target certain ethnic or religious groups creating suitable target.

Police and government have not been able to successfully monitor and prevent lone wolf terrorist attacks due to many of them planning single attacks and having issues differentiating the extremists who have intent to those expressing radical beliefs without acting upon them.

This cyber-enabled crime consists of venders and users accessing the website through the anonymous Tor network. Through this drug dealing network users could find various venders to purchase illegal substances such us heroin and fentanyl worldwide as well as other services including targeted hacking and malware.

Criminologists have developed multiple theories to explain the success of these dark web servers and the challenges faced by law enforcement agencies when combating distribution network like AlphaBay.

The first to consider is routine activities theory (RAT) which suggests that crime will occur if three elements are satisfied: a motivated offender, a suitable target and an absence of adequate guardianship. When considering the dark web the individuals buying and selling drugs are the motivated offenders, the suitable target are those individuals willing to participate in illegal trade and absence of guardianship refusers to the vastness of the dark web and the lack of resources available to agencies policing these markets.

Another relevant theory is control theory that suggests individuals with weak social bonds commit more crime. In an age where the western world is more disconnected then ever due the advancement of technology a loss of social bonds is incredibly prevalent. This creates a need to escape, drugs allow individuals to disconnect from reality and cope with depression attributed to loneliness.

A combination of a lack of social controls removing accountability and the high demand of illegal substances leading to large potential profits that results in a large number of individuals seeking online drug markets.

Even with the illicit nature of dark web drug networks benefits can be seen in a study conducted by the Spanish NGR from 2014 to 2015 showing more than 90% of the samples where the drugs that they were advertised as being. There are however still risks to purchasing drugs online and arguments have been made that the lack of interface creates an absence of accountability leading to an opportunity to sell more harmful drugs than what was advertised.

The high demand for online drug markets with the large potential for profits and inadequacy of law enforcement agencies When dealing with cyber-crime will result in a long continuation of this issue.

Once the discovery was made Grundy went to the police with around 600 screenshots and a spreadsheet linking her and the other victims to Hayler. The police suspended the case after 5 months in July 2022 with Grundy receiving inappropriate comments from police such as ‘oh well, you look cute in this one’ referring to the deepfake images and victim blaming with statements like ‘you must have wronged him in some way’. Only after spending $20,000 of Grundy's own money for private a privet investigator and lawyer was the evidence obtained that led to the arrest of Hayler. Andrew Hayler was convicted of 28 counts of using a carriage service to cause offence and was sent to jail with a non-parole period of five-and-a-half years.

The cyber-dependant crime Deepfakes are a form of synthetic media generated by AI typically images videos or audio this creates a realistic however false representation people doing or saying things that never actually occurred. This is not limited to pornographic material and could be used to create false evidence in wide variety of legal or political cases.

Victims of deepfakes such as in the case of Grundy, can lead to social isolation or damage personal relationship, it even could result in the loss of employment. These effects are long term and can exist after the deepfake has been finally debunked. Being a publicly displayed as a victim falls under a category of labelling theory. Victim labelling theory comes with a wide array of unintended consequences to the survivors of deepfake leaving them stigmatised disempowered.

Unfortunately, deepfake material is incredibly hard to police due to the vastness of the Internet, limited resources of police and the reactionary approach employed by both law enforcement agencies and website moderators. Reactionary approaches result in the damage being done Before the deepfake is removed from online and penalties given to the perpetrator.

Dating scams can be conducted by anyone worldwide and involve using dating apps such as tinder or social media platforms to convince, often vulnerable people such as the elderly to give money for various reasons. Praying on individuals’ loneliness and desire for love and connection.

Raymond McDonald Was a serial perpetrator of romance and dating schemes using dating websites leaving victims feeling traumatised and out of pocket. McDonald will often present himself as a distinguished military officer on secret missions to excuse his sudden disappearances and as an excuse to not meet in person however, he would often still meet face-to-face with his victims. It is uncertain at this stage how much money he coerced out of victims the police believe there could be hundreds of victims who have yet to report.

Romance scams are a cyber-enable crime enhanced by the advancements of technology meaning defrauders can meet a wider audience from they own home locally wells finding targets internationally. Criminologists believe that routine activity theory governs the actions of perpetrators all these scams.

The theory works on the basis of three key factors when identifying crime victimisation, a motivated criminal, an appropriate target and the target has no adequate care or defences from such crime. The perpetrator is motivated by the low risk, high reward of financial gain Playing on emotions and vulnerabilities to meet their ends. Due to the isolation caused by the advancement of technology there is a larger number than ever of lonely people desiring romance creating many targets for romance scams.

The perpetrators have anonymity and distance between themselves and the victims using fake profiles, photos, names and even back stories that are fabricated or stolen.

Due to the impossibility of police monitoring online dating apps And the vastness of this romance dating scam issue law enforcement agencies and governments worldwide have implemented education and awareness strategies in an attempt to reduce the impacts of this fraudulent cyber-crime.