Exploring challenges in cybercrime investigation and plausible solution

Abstract

The rapid advancement of internet technology has led to an increase in cybercrimes. In a typical scenario, online criminals manipulate loopholes within internet applications to commit crimes. There is also an ever-changing tactic employed by online criminals to avoid being detected or captured. Investigating Officers (IOs) of Malaysia Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) also faced issues in cybercrime investigation such as unable to identify the culprit’s due to anonymity, encryption, cross-border jurisdiction, quality of digital forensic and quality of witness. With this being said, this research aims to explore and understand these challenges at a deeper level within the cybercrime investigation sector. To achieve this research objective, this study employed a mixed method of qualitatively and quantitatively based on the research problems and gaps of research. The researcher has conducted a face-to-face interview with IOs and the manager at the Investigation Department of MCMC using semi-structured questionnaires. The potential contribution that can be made by this study is that it provides us with detailed knowledge of problems within cybercrime investigation. Understanding this aspect at a more conceptual level may clarify steps or the standard of procedures (SOPs) required to provide a plausible solution. As the intervention towards the quality of investigation has led the researcher to publish the handbook of cybercrime investigation namely “Kesalahan Media Sosial: Manual Siasatan dan Pendakwaan” in Cycle 1 and conducting the knowledge sharing session (technical training) for IOs to maximize the organisation knowledge-related effectiveness and achieve the research objective. This strategy could increase organizational performance and successfully shows significant impact towards IOs work efficiency. The potential managerial implication of this study is that - it enhances the quality of investigation procedures and ensures the output of tasks performed by IOs are in-line with the organizational stated Key Performance Index (KPI).