A Cybercrime Taxonomy: Case of the Jamaican Jurisdiction

Cybercrimes over the years have become both increasingly numerous and sophisticated. This paper presents a taxonomy for cybercrimes that can be used for the analysis and categorization of such crimes, as well as providing consistency in language when describing cybercrimes. This taxonomy is designed to be useful to information bodies such as the Jamaican Cybercrime Unit, who have to handle and categorize an ever increasing number of cybercrimes on a daily basis. Additionally, cybercrime investigators could use the taxonomy to communicate more effectively as the taxonomy would provide a common classification scheme. The proposed taxonomy uses the concept of characteristics structure. That is, the taxonomy classifies properties about that which is being classified and not by the object itself. The taxonomy consists of characteristics which provide a holistic taxonomy in order to deal with inherent problems in the cybercrime field.