The Governance of Cybercrime: An Ecological Approach.

This article focuses on applying an ecological framework to understand and address the complexity of cybercrime, now the most prevalent form of crime in Canada and other developed societies. It conceptualizes cybercrime as an ecosystem comprising three interacting communities—industry, criminal, and security—whose relationships involve competition, predation, and cooperation, producing emergent effects that shape the digital environment. The security community is expanded beyond traditional law enforcement to include diverse public, private, and civil society actors, each wielding regulatory capacities through laws, markets, norms, and technological architecture. The article illustrates this approach with three innovative anti-cybercrime configurations involving Internet Service Providers combating botnets, the NoMoreRansom initiative aiding ransomware victims, and diversion programs redirecting youth hackers toward cybersecurity careers. It argues that interdisciplinary collaboration and systemic, polycentric governance informed by ecological concepts are essential for developing effective policies and interventions in the evolving cybercrime landscape.