STRIKE: A Structured Taxonomy of Cybercrime for Risk, Impact, Knowledge, and Evolution

2026-05-15

AI Summary

This study addresses the limitations of existing cybercrime classification schemes in capturing the growing complexity and dynamism of contemporary threats. The work proposes the first multidimensional unified classification framework that integrates risk, impact, knowledge, and evolutionary dimensions, encompassing attack vectors, adversarial tactics, societal consequences, and detection-mitigation strategies. It systematically covers both emerging threats—such as ransomware, deepfakes, and supply chain attacks—and traditional cyber offenses. By synthesizing threat intelligence, reviewing state-of-the-art detection methodologies, and designing adaptive response workflows, the framework enables dynamic accommodation of novel attack patterns. It provides researchers, cybersecurity practitioners, and policymakers with a structured analytical tool to support comparative threat assessment and the development of adaptive defense architectures.

Abstract

Cybercrime has grown exponentially in both scale and sophistication, posing significant threats. As attack methods evolve rapidly, traditional classification schemes often fail to capture the complexity and diversity of modern threats. To address this gap, we introduce STRIKE,a Structured Taxonomy for Risk, Impact, Knowledge, and Emerging Threats, which provides a unified, multi-dimensional framework for categorizing cybercrimes. STRIKE spans both conventional and emerging domains, including ransomware, phishing, network intrusion, child sexual abuse material (CSAM), cryptojacking, deepfakes, and supply chain attacks. It organizes threats using criteria such as attack vectors, adversarial tactics, societal impact, detection techniques, and mitigation strategies. Alongside the taxonomy, we review recent advances in detection methodologies and present a response workflow to assist practitioners under active threat conditions. This work offers researchers, security professionals, and policymakers a practical foundation for threat analysis, comparative evaluation, and adaptive cyber defense.

Problem

• cybercrime
• taxonomy
• threat classification
• emerging threats
• structured framework

Innovation

• structured taxonomy
• cybercrime classification
• multi-dimensional framework
• emerging threats
• adaptive cyber defense