During the first decades of the previous century, especially in Germany, criminologists gave much attention to the manner in which professional criminals committed their crimes, but also to how they shielded their criminal activities against discovery by the police and the judicial authorities. This type of research particularly flourished in Germany, due to the fact that at that time, police officers, public prosecutors and examining magistrates played an important role in German criminology. They not only had a functional interest in thorough analyses of the modi operandi of the various categories of professional criminals, but also had access to the data required to conduct such analyses. Distinguished names in this context are Hans Grosz, author of the famous Handbuch für Untersuchungsrichter/Handbook for Investigating Judges (1893), and Erich Wulffen, author of Psychologie des Verbrechers/Psychology of the Criminal (1908).
Unfortunately, most of their criminology was lost during the Third Reich. Moreover, contrary to the forms of criminology practiced by Cesare Lombroso (bio-anthropology) and Gabriel Tarde (criminal sociology), their work had hardly any following in the United States in the 1920s and ’30s. One of the few studies that can be mentioned in this context is undoubtedly the compelling analysis Edwin Sutherland, a renowned American criminologist, made of the practices and societies of professional thieves: The Professional Thief (1937).
The above historic facts play an important role in the reason why I was very happy to accept Erik van de Sandt’s invitation to write a foreword for this book edition of his doctoral thesis: Deviant Security: The Technical Computer Security Practices of Cyber Criminals. In this study, he, like his famous predecessors, conducted a thorough analysis of the way in which criminals – no longer in the physical, but in the digital world – not only systematically use the internet to commit various types of crime, but also to defensively and offensively shield their criminal behavior against interference by law enforcement agencies. This makes his study an important innovative contribution to criminology in the digital era, and a noteworthy connection between old-fashioned (German) criminology and modern criminology. Incidentally, it is hardly surprising that this study was written by Erik van de Sandt. Like the old German criminologists, he has practical experience with the subject. As a member of the Netherlands Police’s National High Tech Crime Unit, he is directly involved in the combat of cyber criminals’ activities.
The importance and the quality of his study are also apparent from the fact that it is much more than a treatise on technical computer security practices
In addition, it is to the author’s credit that he gives due consideration to the ethical aspects of his research, with regard to the privacy of both the perpetrators of cyber crime and their victims. In this respect too, his study is fully in synch with its time.
Prof. em. dr. dr. h. c. Cyrille Fijnaut, Erasmus University Rotterdam, ku Leuven, and Tilburg University