All Souls/Criminology Anniversary Alumni Series: The Com: Deconstructing an Evolving Online Criminal Ecosystem

Abstract: 

Clearnet and darknet spaces have played a critical role in the emergence of fluid and regenerative criminal ecosystems. These ecosystems consist of loosely affiliated yet interconnected networks that share technologies and infrastructure, enabling actors to pool resources, blend tactics, and maintain resilience, making them highly adaptive and difficult to disrupt. An example of such an ecosystem is ‘The Com’ – a collective of hackers, extortion networks, nihilistic violent extremists, and groups that facilitate real-world violence. This presentation critically examines the structural and social dynamics and characteristics of ‘The Com,’ tracing its origins, structure, and membership, and how it continuously refines and diversifies its tactics, tools, targets, and methods of operation. As these online criminal ecosystems continue to evolve rapidly, sustained, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research is essential to address emerging threats and to understand pathways to involvement in crime.

Bio: Dr. Marie-Helen (Maria) Maras is a tenured Full Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology and the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, and the Director of the Center for Cybercrime Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. She holds a DPhil in Law and an MPhil and MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the evolution of transnational crime and the impact of digital technology, particularly emerging technologies. She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and books, most recently Real Criminology with Oxford University Press. Dr. Maras has secured more than seven million dollars in funding to support cutting-edge research on the darknet and emerging technologies; research on AI applications in criminal justice; the development of a state-of-the-art cybercrime investigation and digital forensics research facility; training and technical assistance for U.S. federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial criminal justice agencies; and international counter-cybercrime training and needs assessments. She has served as Chair of the Policy Committee of the American Society of Criminology’s Division of Cybercrime; as a member of the Panel on Cybercrime Classification and Measurement of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; and as a Mercator Fellow at the Friedrich–Alexander University of Erlangen–Nuremberg in Germany. In addition to her academic work, Dr. Maras has served as a consultant and contributed extensively to international capacity-building efforts for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE); the International Development Law Organization (IDLO); and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Before her academic career, she served in the U.S. Navy as a Navy Law Enforcement Specialist and Command Investigator.