Computer Crime :: essays research papers

Computer CrimeAdvances in telecommunications and in electronic figurer technology have brought us to theinformation revolution. The rapid advancement of the telephone, cable,satellite and computer networks, combined with the help of technologicalbreak dones in computer processing speed, and information storage, has lead usto the current revolution, and also the newest style of crime, "computer crime".The following information will provide you with evidence that without reasonabledoubt, computer crime is on the increase in the following argonas hackers,hardware theft, software piracy and the information highway. This informationis gat hered from expert sources such as researchers, journalists, and othersinvolved in the field.Computer crimes are frequently heard a lot about in the news. When you ask someonewhy he/she robbed banks, they world replied, "Because thats where the moneyis." Todays criminals have learned where the money is. alternatively of settlingfor a f ew thousand dollars in a bank robbery, those with enough computerknowledge can walk away from a computer crime with many millions. The NationalComputer Crimes Squad estimates that between 85 and 97 percent of computercrimes are not even detected. Fewer than 10 percent of all computer crimes arereported this is mainly because organizations fear that their employees, clients,and stockholders will lose faith in them if they admit that their computers havebeen attacked. And few of the crimes that are reported are ever solved.Hacking was once a term that was used to describe someone with a great deal ofknowledge with computers. Since then the interpretation has seriously changed. Inevery neighborhood there are criminals, so you could say that hackers are thecriminals of the computers around us. There has been a great increase in thenumber of computer break-ins since the Internet became popular.How serious is hacking? In 1989, the Computer Emergency Response Team, aorganization that moni tors computer security issues in North the States said thatthey had 132 cases involving computer break-ins. In 1994 alone they had some2,341 cases, thats almost an 1800% increase in just 5 years. An example is 31year old computer expert Kevin Mitnick that was arrested by the FBI for stealingmore then $1 million worth in data and about 20,000 credit card numbers throughthe Internet. In Vancouver, the RCMP have arrested a teenager with breakinginto a university computer network. There have been many cases of computerhacking, another one took place here in Toronto, when Adam Shiffman was chargedwith nine counts of fraudulent use of computers and eleven counts of mischief todata, this all carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail.