The Role of Responsibilised Non-Policing Agencies (RNPAs) in Facilitating Italian and Scottish Cybercrime Reporting

Cybercrime responsibilisation denotes a state’s delegation of responsibility for navigating the aftermath of cybercrimes onto victims and private and third sector organisations: Responsibilised Non-Policing Agencies (RNPAs). We explored the current role of RNPAs to elicit their views on how reporting incidence can be improved. We also compared the experiences of RNPAs in countries with different implementations of responsibilisation: Scotland (state cyber responsibilizes but provides some assistance) and Italy (state cyber responsibilizes and provides no assistance). We augmented the interview findings by surveying cybercrime victims to gain additional insights. The RNPAs in both countries believed that awareness-raising would improve reporting of incidence. This seems naïve, especially when known reporting barriers are not simultaneously addressed and dismantled. We conclude by highlighting the need for a more holistic approach to improve reporting incidence.