About the project
This interdisciplinary project investigates when cybersecurity and cybercrime markets fail, adapt or transform in response to disruption. It examines trust, governance and enforcement across legitimate, grey and illicit markets using causal inference, network analysis and behavioural methods.
Cybercrime and cybersecurity markets operate under unusual conditions: participants face uncertainty, asymmetric information, weak enforcement and incomplete contracting. Yet markets may adapt to these constraints, developing their own mechanisms for building trust, governing misconduct and facilitating exchange. This project asks when these markets fail, when they adapt, and how they respond to disruption.
The project will examine legitimate, grey, underground and illicit markets associated with cybersecurity and cybercrime. It will investigate the informal institutions that emerge, including reputation systems, escrow services, guarantees, seller verification and private dispute resolution, and ask when these mechanisms successfully mitigate market frictions and when failures persist.
A particular focus may be on how cybercrime markets respond to external shocks, including law-enforcement interventions, platform takedowns, regulatory changes and technological developments. These settings provide opportunities to study whether activity declines, relocates or substitutes elsewhere, how market structure changes, and whether new mechanisms for trust and governance emerge.
The project may also examine individual behaviour within these markets and institutional environments, including reporting decisions, deterrence, trust, victimisation, and the use of formal versus informal enforcement mechanisms.
The precise empirical questions will be developed according to your interests and available data. Potential methods include analysis of online market and platform data, causal inference and natural experiments, network analysis, and behavioural or vignette experiments.
This interdisciplinary project sits at the intersection of cybersecurity, economics and behavioural research. It would particularly suit you if you are interested in cybercrime and with experience in quantitative empirical research. Relevant backgrounds may include computer science, cybersecurity, economics, criminology, psychology or quantitative social science.
The School of Electronics and Computer Science is committed to promoting equality, diversity inclusivity as demonstrated by our Athena SWAN award. We welcome all applicants regardless of their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or age, and will give full consideration to applicants seeking flexible working patterns and those who have taken a career break. The University has a generous maternity policy, onsite childcare facilities, and offers a range of benefits to help ensure employees’ well-being and work-life balance. The University of Southampton is committed to sustainability and has been awarded the Platinum EcoAward.
