The Cybercrime Research Lab - Macquarie University (CRL@mq) was established in February 2007 by Macquarie University and National Australia Bank to conduct research into cybercrime and methods for the prevention and mitigation of cybercrime. The group will also create a refereed cybercrime journal to publish research of the group and other researchers in this area. CRL@mq’s research will focus on:

(a) Phishing and other financially motivated cybercrime attacks upon financial institutions
(b) Cybercrime where the system or network is a tool of criminal activity (e.g., spamming)
(c) Cybercrime where a system is the target of criminal activity (e.g., unauthorized access)
(d) Traditional crimes facilitated using computers and networks (e.g., child porn, fraud)

Research areas specific research areas to be investigated will include:

• Disposition and nature of cybercrime groups
• Botnet behaviour and prevention
• Emergence of “Crimeware”
• Customer behaviour with phishing emails
• Spamming tools and countermeasures
• Mapping the phishing networks and support structure
• Economics of phishing and the phishing marketplace
• Preventative measures against phishing for ISPs and regulatory agencies
• Automated phishing email detection and classification