Hackers and Forms of Electronic Trespassing *Works Cited Not Included In the late 1970s, hackers were people who enjoyed learning the details of computer systems. Today, hackers (or crackers) refer to people who break into computer systems. Some malicious hackers use Trojan horses, logic bombs, and other means to infiltrate computer systems. Breaking into other computer systems is called electronic trespassing. This paper will speak of : On-line Outlaws: Computer Crime Computer Security: Reducing Risks Security, Privacy, and Freedom: The Delicate Balance Security and Reliability Safe Computing Computers are used to break laws as well as uphold them. Computer crime involves: Theft by Computer Software Piracy and Intellectual Property Laws Software Sabotage Hacking and Electronic Trespassing According to the FBI, the average computer crime is worth $600,000. More than 40 percent of corporate, university, and government sites report at least one break-in per year. The typical computer criminal is a trusted employee with no criminal record. Hacker Kevin Mitnick is alleged to have broken into several major organizations' computer systems, including those of Sun Microsystems, Motorola, and the Pentagon. Mr Mitnick was ARRESTED on February 15,1995, after an FBI computer expert Tsutomu Shimomura tracked him down. Mitnick, the first hacker ever to have appeared on an FBI wanted poster. With 25 counts of alleged federal computer and wire fraud violations still pending against him, the criminal prosecution of Kevin Mitnick is approaching its most crucial hour. In June of 1999, Kevin was sentenced for certain admitted violations of his supervised release and for possession of unauthorized access cod... ... middle of paper ... ...es that are too good to be true Senders who tells you to ignore virus warnings Subject lines or file names that are risqué or otherwise enticing Macros no matter the source. Use POP3 email client (e.g., Eudora, Pegasus, Zmail) Fewer features mean fewer opportunities for virus programmers Use MS Works, Star Office, or Word Perfect in lieu of MS Word. Less popular programs have fewer viruses. Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 97 (and 2000) have built-in macro virus protection:. Write protect the global template normal.dot. Only Word documents or templates can carry viruses: text files and RTF files cannot. However, one can simply rename a *.doc file with the *.rtf extension to fool some anti-virus programs. Set your anti-virus scanner to check all file types—at least add *.rtf and *.txt. Bottom line, Use Anti-Virus Software Keep your software up to date.
Hacking has two primary definitions; the first refers to the enthusiastic and skilful use of computers to solve problems (Techterms, 2013); the second, to “gain unauthorized access to data in a system or computer” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2013). In the context of this essay the second definition is more appropriate and will be the meaning inferred throughout. This definition also more closely aligns with legal terminology used in the UK when describing the hacking of computers. The Computer Misuse Act (1990) introduced three criminal offenses:
Computer Crime In The 1990's We're being ushered into the digital frontier. It's a cyberland with incredible promise and untold dangers. Are we prepared? It's a battle between modern-day computer cops and digital hackers.
In this book Sterling discusses three cyberspace subcultures known as the hacker underworld, the realm of the cyber cops, and the idealistic culture for the cyber civil libertarians. At the beginning of the story Sterling starts out with discussing the birth of cyberspace and how it came about. The Hacker Crackdown informs the readers of the issues surrounding computer crime and the people on all sides of those problems. Sterling gives a brief summary of what cyberspace meant back then and how it impacted society, and he investigates the past, present and future of computer crimes. For instance he explains how the invention of the telephone led to a world that people were scared of because the telephone was something that was able to let people talk to one another without actually being in the same area. People thought that it was so strange and so different because they didn’t understand all of the information behind it. Back then people thought of the telephone as a tool that allowed others to talk to them in a way that was so personal yet impersonal. Sterling then goes on to explain how “phone phreaks” played such an important part in relating the telephones to computer crimes and how they were so closely related back then.
Other ways of “Staying Safe” are by: avoiding misuse of images, using encryption, using copy lists with
Computers are main technological features that allow criminals to step into unsuspecting victims lives. With a simple piggy-backing program hackers are able to track every keystroke made by the victim. One such program is called spyware, not to be confused with adware, which is often referred to interchangeably with spyware, but is potentially harmless (Louis 15). Spyware, hidden within downloaded software, implants itself deep within a computer’s hard drive, allowing it to track every move made by the user (Louis 16).
Hacking has been around since the birth of computers. When the term hacking was first used, its meaning was not that of how we think of it today. At the origins of computing, a hacker was considered to be just a "creative programmer (Baase, 2003)." Early forms of computer games as well as the beginnings of operating systems were discovered and created by these original hackers. These hackers plunged into systems as a way of an intellectual challenge and to aspire to gain knowledge (Baase, 2003). Kevin Mitnick believes he falls into this realm of hackers. Hackers in today's era are now looked upon as criminals who invade the privacy rights of individuals and have the ability to deliver worms/viruses. The differences are that hackers today have full intentions of delivering terrible viruses and worms. Mitnick was one of the most infamous hackers during the 1980's. He molded his hacking style around the stupidity of humans and his quest for intellectual knowledge. The ways in which he wiggled his way into computer systems extenuates many of the issues surrounding computer security and privacy.
In Computer security terminology Hacker is a person or group of persons, who exploit, modify and identify weakness in a computer system or network. Hacker may be motivates of reasons such as profit, protest and challenge. based on attitude, belief, and goals hacker groups are categories such as
Computer crime is defined as, “Criminal activity directly related to the use of computers, specifically illegal trespass into the computer system or database of another, manipulation or theft of stored or on-line data, or sabotage of equipment and data.”(1). This includes both crimes using computers and crimes against computers.
There are different types of computer crimes that many people become victims of every day. Computer crime is any crime that involves a computer and a network. The computer may have been used in the commission of a crime, or it may be the target ("Computer Crime: Chapter 2: What Are the Crimes? ", n.d.) - " Crimes such as data diddling, pump and dump, social engineering and spoofing are computer crimes. Even though these crimes are difficult due to privacy issues, the new technology has made investigations and prosecutions well organized and effective.
The term “hacker” has been in use since the early 1980’s due to mass media usage to describe computer criminals. The use of this term is vastly used by the general population and most are not aware that there are different meanings to the word. People within the computing community especially within the programming subculture emphasize the use of the term “crackers” for computer security intruders (cyber criminals). Early hackers rarely used their skills for financial gain as a motivation for their criminal behavior in that time cybercrime was infantile and largely seen as a practical joke or game by those who committed it. Bob Thomas created the first credited computer worm n...
The Art of exploring various security breaches is termed as Hacking.Computer Hackers have been around for so many years. Since the Internet became widely used in the World, We have started to hear more and more about hacking. Only a few Hackers, such as Kevin Mitnick, are well known.In a world of Black and White, it’s easy to describe the typical Hacker. A general outline of a typical Hacker is an Antisocial, Pimple-faced Teenage boy. But the Digital world has many types of Hackers.Hackers are human like the rest of us and are, therefore, unique individuals, so an exact profile is hard to outline.The best broad description of Hackers is that all Hackers aren’t equal. Each Hacker has Motives, Methods and Skills. But some general characteristics can help you understand them. Not all Hackers are Antisocial, PimplefacedTeenagers. Regardless, Hackers are curious about Knowing new things, Brave to take steps and they areoften very Sharp Minded..
Millions of people around the world use computers and the internet every day. We all use it in school, work even at home, computers have made us life easier, it has brought so many benefits to the society but it has also brought some problems and cybercrimes is one of them. “The times have really changed,” said Greg Garcia, the department’s assistant secretary for cyber security and communications. “We’re seeing now phishing, farming, botnets … war dialing and domain server spoofing. And we’re seeing coordinated cyber-attacks against nation states.” (Fowler 5) Cybercrime is one of the most prevalent and most popular rising crimes being committed today. This is criminal activity done using computers and the Internet. There are millions victims around the world everyday who face these problems. Most people become victims of these at one time or another, but there are ways to avoid or deal with cybercrime by protecting yourself appropriately. I also was one of those victims who faced a similar problem. This unfortunate truth forces me to understand that computers and the Internet have made our lives easier in many ways. However, it is unfortunate that people also use these technologies to take advantage of others through identity theft, hacking attempts, and malicious use of software.
The Internet is a connection of computers across the world through a network. Its origin dates back to the 1960s when the U.S Military used it for research, but it became more available to the public from the late 1980s. The World Wide Web was created in 1989 and browsers began appearing in the early 1990s. Over the last 24 years, the Internet has enabled people to shop, play, do research, communicate and conduct business online. It has also become cheaper and faster in performing different tasks. As much as the Internet has done immeasurable good to society, it has also dominated people’s lives and brought with it an array of cybercrimes. According to Nicholas Carr in his book The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way we Think, Read and Remember (Carr, 2010). He debates on whether the Internet has done more harm than good. People use the Internet daily to exchange accurate information and constantly personal data such as credit cards, passwords and Social Security numbers are travelling through the network from one computer to another. With security measures put in place on the Internet, personal information remains confidential. But unfortunately, criminals have adapted to innovations in technology, and today, more people are increasingly becoming victims of cybercrime. The Internet has had profound effects on the public, both positive and negative. In this paper we will examine how access to personal information has led to an increase in online and offline crimes. The essay will particularly focus on ecommerce and hacking.
These types of crimes have become a matter of importance for the consumers as well the business firms because it involves large eviction of the amount in terms of money. In these types of crimes, computer and Internet are the primary factor (Spinello, 2000). A high percentage of population is using computers in the Australia, United States as well as other developed nations. These people are much more connected with the world by the use of internet. They are using the computer for fun, business, e-commerce, e-marketing, etc.; thus, it has become an essential part of life and daily routine (Wall, 2008).
Computer crime or Cyber Crime is defined as any type of crime that involves or regards a computer or computer network. Cyber Crime mainly means that the computer may be used as a tool in the commission of the crime or the computer may be the main target of the criminal’s crime. The rapid growth of technology and gadgets as well as the further de...