ABout Computer Crime
By Ahmed Ijaz(ija) Artificial intelligence, laptops, PCs, vaxclusters, local area networks, cobol, bits, bytes, viruses, and worms.   Most people recognize these words as computer terms.   As computers have become a vital part of the American way of life, computer terminology has crept into the vernacular.   There is no doubt that computers touchevery aspect of our lives.   Well over 80 percent of daily financial transactions nationwide take place via electronic funds transfers.   However, many computer systems are highly vulnerable to criminal attack.   In fact, computer- related crime costs American companies as much as $5 billion per year.

 

 

When Bill Gates described computer crime, he likened computer networks toneighborhoods and small communities. He said cities and towns are tied together by streets, roads, highways, and interstates.   Likewise, communities of computers are linked through local, regional, and national networks. Rather than transport food and equipment like highways do, computer networks move ideas and information.

 

 

Unfortunately, just as American communities are threatened with drugs and violent crime, the Nation's computer networks are threatened as well.   They are threatened by thieves robbing banks electronically; they are threatened by vandals spreading computerviruses; and they are even threatened by spies breaking into U.S. military systems.

 

White-collar crimes in general--and computer crime in particular--are often difficult to detect and even more difficult to prosecute because many times they leave no witnesses to question and no physical evidence to analyze. And, because computer technology is such a rapidly evolving field, law enforcement has not yet developed a clear-cut definition of computer crime.   Nevertheless, two manifestations of computer crime are

obvious:   The first is crime in which the computer is the vehicle or tool of the criminal, and second, crime in which the computer and the information stored in it are the targets of the criminal.

 


GSO
Written on Saturday, 03 October 2009 16:07 by GSO

Viewed 406 times so far.
Like this? Tweet it to your followers!

Rate this article

Latest articles from GSO

Latest 'tweets' from GovernmentSecurity

blog comments powered by Disqus

 

Our Sponsors

Shoutcast Streams | Internet Radio HOSTINGLitespeed Web HostingIRC | IRCd | Internet Relay Chat HostingEarn Recurring Income

Member Login