Exploring the social implications of buying and selling cyber security

Governments, businesses, private citizens and even organised crime are increasingly investing in cyber security, with the cyber security industry growing in size and relevance. This paper demonstrates that markets for the buying and selling of cyber security should be subject to many of the same cri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Crime, law, and social change law, and social change, 2023, Vol.79 (1), p.83-100
Main Authors: Harkin, Diarmaid, Molnar, Adam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Commodification
Commodities
Criminal justice
Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Cybersecurity
Democracy
Internet
Law and Criminolgy
Markets
Organized crime
Political Science
Private sector
Security
Security programs
Security services
Side effects
Social impact
Social justice
Social Sciences
Society
Sovereignty
Trends
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Summary:Governments, businesses, private citizens and even organised crime are increasingly investing in cyber security, with the cyber security industry growing in size and relevance. This paper demonstrates that markets for the buying and selling of cyber security should be subject to many of the same critical inquiries typically targeted at the private security industry. Using a number of illustrative examples of emerging trends in the commodification of cyber security it will be highlighted how these markets create significant social impacts and present similar dilemmas of democracy, justice, sovereignty, and deleterious side-effects for wider society. Key conceptual differences between cyber security commodities and ‘conventional’ security commodities will also be considered before arguing for an inter-disciplinary research agenda into the considerable social implications of the buying and selling of cyber security commodities.
ISSN:0925-4994
1573-0751
DOI:10.1007/s10611-022-10037-y