Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

Website Defacement And Routine Activities: Considering The Importance Of Hackers’ Valuations Of Potential Targets, C. Jordan Howell, George W. Burruss, David Maimon, Shradha Sahani

EBCS Articles

Although a relatively simple form of hacking, website defacement can have severe consequences both for the websites that are attacked and the reputation of their owners. However, criminological research has yet to fully explore the causes and correlates of website defacement. We consider whether variables derived from routine activity theory can be applied to understanding website defacement. Specifically, using a sample of websites that were targeted by hackers in 2017 across the world, we examine the relationship between a country’s structural characteristics and the frequency of website defacement reported for the country. We find that website defacements are less likely …