Thomas J. Holt’s research while affiliated with Michigan State University and other places

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Publications (223)


Assessing the Correlates of Job Stress and Satisfaction Among Federal Law Enforcement Officers
  • Article

January 2025

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3 Reads

Public Personnel Management

Thomas S. Hyslip

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Thomas J. Holt

Research on the occupational responses of federal government employees has grown dramatically over the last 40 years. Though invaluable, few have explored these issues in federal law enforcement populations who operate within diverse working environments that differ from traditional state and local police agencies, and other civil servants. In addition, their working lives can be impacted by political factors beyond their control, such as government shutdowns. These concerns may drive their occupational experiences, leading to different correlates for job stress and satisfaction compared to other law enforcement officers. This study attempts to explore the relationship between federal agents’ and officers’ perceptions of their organization, personal background, and concerns regarding government shutdowns and their occupational experiences. Responses from 891 respondents serving in 72 federal law enforcement agencies across the whole of the US government were used to conduct two separate ordinary least squares regression models for occupational stress and satisfaction, respectively. The implications of this study for our understanding of the dynamics shaping the experiences of the federal workforce and policies to improve their working lives are explored in detail.


Assessing Cyberattacks in Response to Police Actions in Physical Space

November 2024

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7 Reads


An Assessment of the Harms Associated With Ideologically Motivated Cyberattacks

August 2024

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58 Reads

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2 Citations

Crime & Delinquency

Thomas J. Holt

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Steven Chermak

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[...]

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There has been a dramatic increase in research on terrorism and extremist activities over the last two decades. Despite this growth, the majority of studies focus on either the harm caused by ideologically-motivated violence in physical spaces, or the ways in which individuals radicalize and organize in online spaces. There is growing evidence that traditional extremist groups and terrorists engage in cyberattacks, such as computer hacking, in support of their ideological beliefs. Little is known about the degree to which ideologically-motivated cyberattacks cause harm to victims, and the correlates of harm depending on the nature of the attack. This study attempts to address this gap in the literature through a quantitative analysis of 425 victims of 246 cyberattacks captured in the open-source Extremist CyberCrime Database (ECCD). Using situational crime prevention, this analysis attempts to identify the significant factors associated with the loss of time, data, and financial harm experienced by victims of cyberattacks performed by ideological actors with and without state sponsorship. The findings demonstrate that the forms of attack reported, as well as the unique attack methods, such as zero-day vulnerabilities, are more likely to lead victims to report the loss of time to the victim, as well as sensitive data and financial losses. The target type is also associated with the loss of both time and sensitive data, however there is no relationship between targets and the financial losses reported from cyberattacks. Additionally, financial harm was more likely to result from non-state sponsored ideological actors, such as racial and ethnically motivated individuals and jihadists. This analysis demonstrates support for the application of situational crime prevention frameworks traditionally used for physical terrorism to virtual ideological attacks. Further, this study demonstrates the importance of assessing cyberattacks as a form of ideologically-motivated crime. Finally, the findings demonstrate the need for increased resources to improve the state of cybersecurity for individuals, businesses, and government agencies to reduce the risk of harm associated with cyberattacks performed by both nation-state sponsored and non-state ideological actors alike.



Exploring the Role of Self-Control Across Distinct Patterns of Cyber-Deviance in Emerging Adolescence

January 2024

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16 Reads

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3 Citations

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology

A disproportionally large number of adolescents engage in cyber-deviance. However, it is unclear if distinct patterns of adolescent cyber-deviance are evident, and if so, whether and to what extent low self-control is associated with different patterns of cyber-deviance. The current study addressed this research gap by examining the relationship between self-control and distinct latent classes of adolescent cyber-deviance net of potential confounders among a cross-sectional sample of 1793 South Australian adolescents. Four latent classes were identified, each characterized by varying probabilities of involvement in six types of cyber-deviance that were measured. The versatile class ( n = 413) had the lowest average level of self-control, followed by the harmful content users ( n = 439) and digital piracy ( n = 356) classes, with the abstainer class ( n = 585) characterized by the highest self-control. Analysis of covariance indicated that the abstainer group had significantly higher self-control than other classes of cyber-deviance. Although the versatile class had noticeably lower average self-control scores than the harmful content users and digital piracy groups, this difference was not significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. Collectively, these findings suggest that self-control appears to distinguish between those who do and do not engage in cyber-deviance but may not distinguish between distinct patterns of cyber-deviance net of other factors.


Minor‐focused sextortion by adult strangers: A crime script analysis of newspaper and court cases

July 2023

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130 Reads

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5 Citations

Criminology & Public Policy

Sextortion is a form of image‐based sexual abuse in which an offender threatens to distribute sexually explicit images, videos, or information to gain victim compliance. In some sextortion incidents involving minor children, offenders are adult strangers who coerce victims into self‐producing child sexually abusive materials (CSAM). Despite the growing concern regarding minor victims of sextortion, there is a lack of empirical investigation of adult offenders who exclusively target minor children for the production of CSAM and the steps and decisions these offenders take to commit sextortion. Utilizing a sample of 130 minor‐focused sextortion cases gathered from news media and court documents, the current study employed crime script analysis and inductive qualitative methodology to investigate how adult offenders commit sextortion. The results indicated that adult offenders specifically targeting minor children move through several crime scripts: preparation, entry, instrumental actions, crime commission, and exit. Policy Implications Minor‐focused sextortion perpetrated by adult offenders is executed in stages, each with accompanying preventive solutions. Investing in education that teaches youth to recognize grooming, develops safety practices online, and removes barriers to reporting should be a priority for schools and parents. Increased adoption of technology and policies that would allow social media platforms to detect CSAM, remove fraudulent accounts, and streamline reporting would also disrupt these crimes.


Developing and implementing social engineering-prevention policies: a qualitative study
  • Article
  • Publisher preview available

June 2023

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102 Reads

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2 Citations

Security Journal

Social engineering, or the use of deception to circumvent information security measures, has become a significant concern for organizations. Many organizations have implemented information security policies to mitigate the risks posed by social engineering attacks. This study uses a grounded theory-based approach to examine qualitative interviews with security auditors, IT security professionals, and social engineers (n = 54) to thematically catalog their insights on developing and supporting security policies. Results indicate that effective IT security policies are (1) properly communicated, (2) tested to find gaps in policy directives and their implementation, (3) buttressed by tools to facilitate good security decision-making among members, (4) written simply and concisely while being kept up-to-date, (5) supported through adequate staffing and expertise, (6) supported by organizational leadership, and (7) accompanied by an organizational structure which allows for policy to be overseen and implemented consistently.

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Overlap in engagement in offline- and cyberdeviance (n = 327)
Examining the Psychosocial and Behavioral Factors Associated with Adolescent Engagement in Multiple Types of Cyberdeviance: Results from an Australian Study

May 2023

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101 Reads

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4 Citations

Research has shown that psychosocial and behavioral factors are associated with engagement in a range of deviant behaviors across offline settings. To date, however, very little research has explored the impact of these factors in online contexts. This article addresses this gap by examining the psychosocial and behavioral factors associated with common types of adolescent cyberdeviance. This is accomplished through an empirical study of 327 adolescents enrolled in a high school located in a large Australian city. The study assesses various aspects of psychosocial and behavioral functioning using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (total difficulties, internalizing problems, externalizing problems, prosocial behavior), as well as numerous types of cyberdeviance relevant to young people, including cyberfraud, cyberhate, cyberviolence, sexting, digital piracy, hacking, and cyberbullying. A series of multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to demonstrate the association between psychosocial and behavioral difficulties and various types of cyberdeviance, independent of gender, school grade, socioeconomic status, and engagement in offline delinquency. Results indicate that total difficulties, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems were significantly associated with greater likelihood of engagement in most types of cyberdeviance examined in this study, whereas prosocial behavior was associated with a lower likelihood of engagement in digital piracy only. A discussion of the findings highlights the importance of understanding these factors in a digital context, as well as demonstrating the need to account for them when designing targeted interventions.


Descriptive Statistics of Study Sample (n = 54).
Major Themes Present in Study Interviews.
Falling for Social Engineering: A Qualitative Analysis of Social Engineering Policy Recommendations

April 2023

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51 Reads

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2 Citations

The current study examines recommendations for addressing organizational members who fall prey to social engineering as a matter of organizational policy through a qualitative analysis of interviews with organizational IT security administrators, IT security auditors, and social engineers. The results of this analysis indicate that participants had an aversion to punitive approaches to security failures. Instead, they tended to favor education as a more pragmatic and humane solution. Others argued that emphasis should be given to rewarding positive security behavior over punishing lapses. Few participants contended that there is a time and place for harsher sanctions but generally only for repeat offenders. Implications for security policy, deterrence theory, and reintegrative shaming theory are considered.


More than Money: Examining the Potential Exposure of Romance Fraud Victims to Identity Crime

March 2023

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97 Reads

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10 Citations

Global Crime

Romance fraud occurs when an offender uses the guise of a genuine relationship to defraud an individual for financial gain. Known statistics indicate that millions are lost each year to this form of fraud. However, the potential for romance fraud victims to also experience identity crime as a consequence of their interactions and communications with an offender has yet to be explored. This article begins to address this gap by examining the potential exposure for identity crime in the context of romance fraud using reports lodged with Scamwatch, an Australian online fraud reporting portal. The findings demonstrate few behavioural and demographic characteristics associated with the potential exposure of those targeted by romance fraud to identity crime. However, the article provides insights into how this analysis should inform prevention messaging and victim support services for those targeted by romance fraud.


Citations (64)


... Geographic issues tackled within this issue span the globe, including the United Kingdom (Allchorn et al., 2025), Nigeria (Corradi et al., 2025), Canada (Gacek et al., 2025;Huey et al., 2025), Australia (McSwiney et al., 2025), Germany (Koehler, 2025), Spain (Lobato et al., 2025), and the Czech Republic (Kocmanová & Marcol, 2025). Contributions also reflect a variety of innovative topics, such as intersections with cybercrime (Holt et al., 2025), big data analytics (Hemmila & Perliger, 2025), and integrating technology and simulations for enhancing counterterrorism efforts (Behlendorf & Wilson, 2025). Further, connecting with global attacks on gender and sexuality, several contributions engaged the intersection of gender and misogyny on extremism and mis-(dis-)information (Isom & Hubbard, 2025;Moskalenko et al., 2025). ...

Reference:

Innovations and Advancements in Criminological Approaches to Terrorism and Violent Extremism
An Assessment of the Harms Associated With Ideologically Motivated Cyberattacks
  • Citing Article
  • August 2024

Crime & Delinquency

... Only forum take-downs are sometimes able to secure both public and private forum communications (e.g. Afroz et al., 2013;Motoyama et al., 2011;Smirnova et al., 2024). Depending on its volume and structure, neglecting private communications in determining individuals' network centrality may lead key-player assignment, and law enforcement prioritisations resulting from this, to be misjudged. ...

Are Active Users the Most Central to Hacker Social Networks? A Comparative Analysis of Public and Private Online Network Structures Among Hackers
  • Citing Article
  • July 2024

... This means that during adolescence young people become increasingly involved in hacking, but this involvement decreases at the start of early adulthood. However, other studies using questionnaires for students and conducted in Japan and Australia found no significant relationship (Logos et al., 2022;Udris, 2016). Lastly, one study suggested that hackers are generally younger than cyberfraudsters (Hutchings, 2013). ...

South Australian Digital Youth Survey Research Report: Year 4 Results

... Notably, rates increase with age. In a study conducted in Australia, rates of cyber risk-taking were high and increased over a three-year period from 79.6% in 2018 to 89.5% in 2021 within the same cohort of teens [5]. It is imperative to not only understand the factors associated with cyberdeviance, but to design interventions to prevent harm arising from these behaviours in cyber contexts. ...

South Australian Digital Youth Survey Research Report: Year 3 Results

... The following are the titles of the reports of included studies as seen in Table 3: "Impacts of Low Self-control and Opportunity Structure on Cyberbullying Developmental Trajectories: Using a Latent Class Growth Analysis" (Cho and Glassner 2021); "Scrolling and the In-Between Spaces of Boredom: Marginalized Youths on the Periphery of Vienna" (Jovicic 2020); "Cyberbullying Victimization and Perpetration in South Korean Youth: Structural Equation Modeling and Latent Means Analysis" (Kim and Lee 2023); "Predictors for runaway behavior in adolescents in South Korea: national data from a comprehensive survey of adolescents" (Kim and Moon 2023); "Associations Between Parental Maltreatment and Online Behavior Among Young Adolescents" ; "Understanding deviance from the perspectives of youth labelled as children in conflict with law in Mumbai, India" (Korde and Raghavan 2023); "Smartphone Addiction Culminating into Youth Deviance: A Sociological Study" (Mohan and Mahanta 2022); "The digital divide in the US criminal justice system" (Ramirez 2022); "The Effects of Korean Parents' Smartphone Addiction on Korean Children's Smartphone Addiction: Moderating Effects of Children's Gender and Age" (Son et al. 2021); "Exploring the Role of Self-Control Across Distinct Patterns of Cyber-Deviance in Emerging Adolescence" (Whitten et al. 2024); "Exploring the Decisional Drivers of Deviance: A Qualitative Study of Institutionalized Adolescents in Malaysia" (Yoga Ratnam et al. 2022). A reason these publications did not return in the scoping review of "children, empowerment, smartphones" may have been that the focus of the 4 February 2024 limited Google Scholar search was not empowerment. ...

Exploring the Role of Self-Control Across Distinct Patterns of Cyber-Deviance in Emerging Adolescence
  • Citing Article
  • January 2024

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology

... Attacks of this nature are referred to as cyber-crimes. Out of these, cyber-harassment has most recently been observed to be on the rise (Moafa 2014;Holt et al. 2019;Kowalski et al. 2019;Reed et al. 2020). ...

Examining Perceptions of Online Harassment among Constables in England and Wales
  • Citing Article
  • February 2019

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime

... In various notable investigations into sextortion, multiple studies have examined the characteristics of both the offense and the offenders (Cross et al., 2023b;Draucker and Martsolf, 2010;Kopecký, 2017;O'Malley et al., 2023;O'Malley and Holt, 2022;Wolak et al., 2018;Wolak and Finkelhor, 2016). Wolak and Finkelhor (2016) categorized sextortion into two primary groups: the first involves one partner threatening to disseminate explicit images after intimate relationships involving shared sexual images, often as a means of manipulation or embarrassment. ...

Minor‐focused sextortion by adult strangers: A crime script analysis of newspaper and court cases
  • Citing Article
  • July 2023

Criminology & Public Policy

... A,study by Lu (2019) found that the,high costs and complexity associated,with blockchain,deployment can deter smaller,firms from adopting these, technologies, potentially leading to,increased market concentration,and reduced competition. Additionally, the,integration of fintech,solutions can raise cybersecurity,concerns, as highlighted by, Steinmetz et al. (2023), who noted that,increased digitalization in the,energy sector can make it more,vulnerable to cyberattacks. These,challenges can offset the benefits,of fintech adoption, making,it crucial to address,them through appropriate,policies and infrastructure,improvements. ...

Developing and implementing social engineering-prevention policies: a qualitative study

Security Journal

... Evidence has found that nearly seven out of ten (67.9%) young people have engaged in one or more types of risky online and offline behaviors (Brewer et al., 2023). For instance, a study involving 122 adolescents (aged 13-17) and 172 young adults (aged 18-24), which investigated their previous online risk-taking actions and their future intentions to engage in such behaviors, revealed that adolescents displayed a significantly higher propensity for intending to take risks online compared to young adults (White et al., 2015). ...

Examining the Psychosocial and Behavioral Factors Associated with Adolescent Engagement in Multiple Types of Cyberdeviance: Results from an Australian Study

... Studies also highlight the heightened risks of disclosing personal information in romance scams (Cross & Holt, 2021. Consistent findings across studies by Cross and Holt (2023), Cross and Lee (2022), and Cross and Holt (2021) show that personal disclosures by victims significantly increase their risk of financial exploitation and physical threats, with scammers exploiting shared information to exert control. Cross and Holt (2023) observed that victims who shared personal information faced increased vulnerability. ...

More than Money: Examining the Potential Exposure of Romance Fraud Victims to Identity Crime
  • Citing Article
  • March 2023

Global Crime