Computer Crime And Ethics Essay Research Paper

Computer Crime And Ethics Essay, Research Paper

New times bring new crimes. It’s a story as old as humanity and as new as the Internet. First comes cars, then car thieves follow. Telephones are followed by telephone fraud. Now we’ve got computers . . .. To make home, school, and office life easier, society relies on computers. As a result of this dependency, computer use grows everyday. Along with the growing use of computers comes widespread computer crime. With the Internet becoming increasingly popular, more and more people are becoming computer literate, and networks are becoming more readily accessible. The rise in computer crime can easily be blamed upon the increasing number of users. The Internet is widely deemed as a new community and “wild” electric frontier. Either way you look at it, the Internet offers cover for con artists, ground for grifters, and plenty of places where larceny can lurk. It provides the same opportunities for crime that the real world offers.

Internet crimes, however, carry their own intricacies and innovations. These online crimes take advantage of the very same technologies that make the Internet possible. The most common crimes committed on the Internet are the same basic variations of the four main time-tested, real-world crimes: Forgery (of E-mail), assault (on your Web site, E-mail box, or computer system), fraud (cyberscams), and robbery (theft of valuable information).

Various types of people commit computer crimes. The two most familiar being hackers and crackers. A hacker is a person who enjoys exploring the details of a programmable system and how to stretch their capabilities; one who programs enthusiastically, even obsessively. A cracker is one who breaks security on a system. Although hackers and crackers both break into computer systems, their motives are different. Hackers seem to break into computer systems for the intellectual challenge. Crackers are considered malicious with the intention of harming or causing damage to a computer system. The motivations behind crackers’ actions are either profits, revenge, or a mixture of the two. Other computer criminals include terrorists, company competitors, and aggravated employees. Aggravated employees are a company’s worst nightmare since they have easy access to the company’s system, and are usually fired or leave on bad terms. Competitors will often do whatever is necessary to get an edge on their industry leaders by riffling through their competitors’ trash, bugging phone lines, and now breaking into their competitors’ networks in an attempt to gather inside information. Terrorists are becoming more computer literate because they realize the amount of information regarding the government defense are stored and found on computers. Terrorists are also targeting technology and utility companies because they realize the damage caused would be wide spread and devastating.

There are six common types of computer attacks:

. Military/Intelligence Attacks

. Business Attacks

. Financial Attacks

. Terrorist Attacks

. Grudge Attacks

. Reasonless Attacks

Computer criminals have broken into the military’s system many times and learned such valuable information as military exercises, satellite repositioning systems, FBI/CIA investigations, etc. Our national security is at jeopardy simply because the military’s system is susceptible to computer crime just as is any network system. The U. S. Air Force once hired a hacker to try to break into their systems. The hacker was successful at the break-in and reported it to military officials. Two weeks later, he was asked to try to break into the system again. This time it only took fifteen seconds to get back into the system. The government needs to find a way to protect their information, themselves, and us more securely.

Attacks on businesses are rapidly becoming more widespread. 54% of U. S. companies reported losses related to computer crimes. Most of these crimes committed were intentional. This raises the issue of competitors’ attempts to gain information on their closest competitor. For example, Boeing Aircraft accused Airbus of bugging Boeing employees’ hotel rooms and airline seats and tapping the telephone lines in order to get information.

Financial Attacks are most often committed by people inside or close to the company. Obviously, people most familiar with a company’s system and operations can commit a crime and easily cover their trails. An MCI assistant was arrested for selling thousands of credit card numbers obtained over telecommunication lines. The total cost of the incident was $50 million. When these criminals are placed in prison, more financial attacks can occur. Prisoners at Metro Jails (Tennessee) were able to illegally access long distance telephone accounts in order to sell calls to other prisoners.

The motivation behind terrorist attacks is simple: why knock out electricity in only one city when you can do the same for an entire state. Computer facilities and technology companies are a terrorist’s choice attacks since the damage can be more widespread and devastating.

Grudge attacks are committed for one reason only, revenge. Former employees often commit grudge attacks as the result of a recent firing or demotion.

Reasonless attacks are committed just “for fun”. The motivation of these a