Visiting Scholar from Italy Chooses Dayton to Further Research in Cybercrime

UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON-
SCHOOL OF LAW

"Two years ago Italian PhD student Ivan Salvadori heard UDSL Professor Susan Brenner speak about cybercrime, his topic of research, at an international conference. He was so impressed with Brenner – “one of the biggest experts in the world,” he says – that when an opportunity arose for him to study on scholarship at any university in the United States, he chose to do so at the University of Dayton School of Law.

Salvadori is a visiting scholar from the University of Verona and will be at UDSL for the months of January and February. His thesis is a comparative analysis of how Germany, Spain, Italy, and the U.S. have developed methods to combat cybercrime.

“The U.S. system is a model for European countries,” Salvadori said. “It is the first country in the world to create new offenses through state and federal legislation to fight cybercrime.” In Europe, he said that Germany and the Netherlands have developed the best offenses, but that cybercrime only began to be a topic of study about 15 years ago.

“Cybercrime is an international topic, so it’s not good that every country has different legislation,” Salvadori said. He said that an international organization like the Council of Europe, potentially could create a legal model for the world to use to fight cybercrime.

He added that the law is not the only solution, however. “Every day there are new attacks and the legal system is not always useful to punish these; you can’t change legislation every day. Technology and education must be used to improve the skill of Internet users,” he suggested, citing those who don’t use Antivirus software as an example where preventative steps could diminish cybercrime attacks.

Salvadori attends Professor Brenner’s capstone course in cybercrime, the course she teaches in criminal procedure and meets with her to discuss his research progress. He said the wealth of studies done in the U.S. on criminal profiling and available to him has also been useful to his research. “The library is fantastic.”

“It's been a pleasure to have Ivan with us,” said Brenner. “His knowledge about crime and new technologies brings a new perspective to the law school, one he is sharing with students and faculty alike.”

Salvadori holds a law degree and has taught and studied in Italy, Spain, and Germany".

source: University of Dayton-School of Law