Computer Crime (3095 words) Essay Example For Students

Computer Crime (3095 words) Essay Computer CrimeComputer Crime Its the weekend, you have nothing to do so you decide to play around on your computer. You turn it on and then start up, you start calling people with your modem, connecting to another world, with people just like you at a button press away. This is all fine but what happens when you start getting into other peoples computer files. Then it becomes a crime, but what is a computer crime really, obviously it involves the use of a computer but what are these crimes. Well they are: Hacking, Phreaking, ; Software Piracy. To begin I will start with Hacking, what is hacking. Hacking is basically using your computer to Hack your way into another. They use programs called scanners which randomly dials numbers any generating tones or carriers are recorded. These numbers are looked at by hackers and then used again, when the hacker calls up the number and gets on hes presented with a logon prompt, this is where the hacking really begins, the hacker tries to bypass this anyway he knows how to and tries to gain access to the system. Why do they do it, well lets go to a book and see Avid young computer hackers in their preteens and teens are frequently involved in computer crimes that take the form of trespassing, invasion of privacy, or vandalism. Quite often they are mearly out for a fun and games evening, and they get entangled in the illegal use of their machines without realizing the full import of what they are doing, I have a hard time believing that so lets see what a hacker has to say about what he does Just as they were enthraled with their pursuit of information, so are we. The thrill of the hack is not in breaking the law, its in the pursuit and capture of knowledge., as you can see the hacker doesnt go out to do destroy things although some do. Its in the pursuit of knowledge. Of course this is still against the law. But where did all of this start, MIT is where hacking started the people there would learn and explore computer systems all around the world. In the views of professional hacking is like drugs or any other addictive substance, its an addiction for the mind and once started its difficult to stop. This could be true, as hackers know what they are doing is wrong and they know odds are they will be caught. But as I mentioned some hackers are just above average criminals, using there skills to break in banks and other places where they can get money, or where they can destroy information. What a hacker does at a bank is take a few cents or even a few fractions of a cents from many different accounts this may seem like nothing but when all compiled can be alot. A stick up robber averages about $8,000 each job, and he has to put his life and personal freedom on the line to do it while the computer hacker in the comfort of his own living room averages $500,000 a job. As for people destroying information, this is for taking some one down, destruction of data could end a business which for some is very attractive. It can cost a company thousands of dollars to restore the damage done. Now that you have an understanding of what a hacker is, it time to move on to someone closely associates with a hacker. This is a Phreak, but what is that. For the answer we turn to the what is known as the Official Phreakers Manual Phreak 1. The action of using mischievous and mostly illegal ways in order to not pay for some sort of telecommunications bill, order, transfer, or other service. It often involves usage of highly illegal boxes and machines in order to defeat the security that is set up to avoid this sort of happening. v. 2. A person who uses the above methods of destruction and chaos in order to make a better life for all. A true phreaker will not go against his fellows or narc on people who have ragged on him or do anything termed to be dishonourable to phreaks. n. 3. A certain code or dialup useful in the action of being a phreak. (Example: I hacked a new metro phreak last night.) The latter 2 ideas of what a phreak is, is rather weird. A Phreak like the hacker likes to explore and experiment, however his choice of exploring is not other computer but the phone system as a whole. Phreaks explore the phone system finding many different ways to do things, most often make free calls. Why do they do this, A hacker and phreaker will have need to use telephone systems much more than an average individual, therefore, methods which can be used to avoid toll charges are in order. . A phreak has two basic ways of making free calls, he can call up codes or PBXs on his phone and then enter a code and make his call or he can use Electronic Toll Fraud Devices. Codes are rather easy to get the phreak will scan for them, but unlike a hacker will only save the tone(s) number instead of the carrier(s). Then he will attempt to hack the code to use it, these codes range from numbers 0 9 and can be any length, although most are not more than 10. Electronic Toll Fraud Devices are known as Boxes in the underground. Most are the size of a pack of smokes, or than can be smaller or bigger. I will not go too deep. They are electronic devices than do various things, such as make outgoing calls free, make incoming calls free, simulate coins dropping in a phone, etc. People who Phreak are caught alot these days thanks to the new technology. Software Piracy is the most common computer crime, it is the illegal coping of software. People wouldnt think of shoplifting software from a retail store, but dont think twice about going home and making several illegal copies of the same software. Sexual Harassment 101 Essay (Yang, 1998) The macro viruses are big problems; they infect very popular programs such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. This type of virus can effect daily work much easier than any other virus. (Miastkowski, 1998) Almost any package does a nice job of finding and eradicating most viruses, including macro viruses. The key is to keep the products library of signaturesbinary code that helps identify virusescurrent. (Yegulalp, 1997) That is one area where these packages differ most. Some of the major brands of antivirus software include Norton AntiVirus 4.0, PC-cillin 3.0, Dr. Solomons Anti-Virus 7.0, McAfee VirusScan 3.0, and IBM AntiVirus 3.0. 1. (Miastkowski, 1998) All the programs share some common attributes; for starters each program indeed hunts down and eradicates the bugs introduced into a system. (Cope, 1998) By far, the best at detecting and destroying viruses is Norton AntiVirus 4.0; it offers superior protection. This particular software uses a virus-detection technology called Bloodhound. It sniffs out viruses that may have been mutated beyond their original forms. (Yegulalp, 1997) TouchStones PC-cillin 3.0 follows closely behind Norton AntiVirus 4.0; it provides sufficient protection, and updates are available over the internet. (Miastkowski, 1998) Each program scans or boot-sector and memory-resident viruses automatically when turns on the computer. They also include a Windows 95 antivirus shield that blocks contamination from infected floppy disks and warns the user when a tainted file is being run. In addition, they let users perform manual scans of any drive from within Windows 95, and also check.. .files downloaded from the Internet. (Cope, 1998) Norton AntiVirus 4.0 generously incorporates its Windows NT, DOS, Windows 3. x and Windows 95 editions into one package. PC-cillin also runs under NT, although TouchStone ships the NT edition as a separate product. (Yegulalp, 1997) Another advantage to the Norton AntiVirus software is the installation process; it is not difficult, and several options are provided for the user. Norton AntiVirus can load live protection and allow the user to create a rescue disk set. The rescue disk set backs up the system, allowing the user to boot and recover from a virus attack. (Hackers, 1997) The PC-cillin software is very protective also. Upon installation, PC-cillin immediately makes sure its own files are clean, since an infected antivirus program is powerless to prevent further infection. (Yegulalp, 1997) This program also offers a backup system and scan of the system before Windows 95 loads. (Yang, 1998) The latest version of PC-cillin informs the user as it is scanning an internet connection. It offers much tighter functionality than before. Earlier PC-cillin users will definitely want to upgrade. (Yegulalp, 1997) On the surface, it looks as if the odds are against personal computer users. Despite increased use of antivirus software, viruses continue to spread at an unnerving rate. (McDonald, 1997) Clearly, anti-virus software is one of the smartest buys a computer owner can make. There are nearly 10,000 known computer viruses threatening the worlds personal computers, with effects ranging from relatively harmless to ferociously destructive. (Cope, 1998) These troublemakers can spread to personal computers easily from an infected floppy disk, as well as from files downloaded onto the hard drive from an e- mail attachment and the Internet. (McDonald, 1997) Despite the great reviews of these antivirus programs, many computer researchers maintain a sense of skepticism towards complete protection. Regardless of how sophisticated antivirus technology may become, computer viruses will forever remain in an uneasy coexistence with us and our computers. (Chess, 1997) Unless there are updates to virus scanners every few minutes, no one is completely safe from a destructive virus. New viruses are popping up so fast that virus scanner vendors cannot hope to keep up with them. Even with the best of tools and policies, bulletproof security is probably unattainable. High costs, changing networks and software versions, incomplete security tools, and the growing pool of ingenious and dedicated hackers prohibit this. (Hackers, 1997) The numbers of people who can create new viruses have also increased. (Yang, 1998) , a group of hackers quickly cracked a much-vaunted. ..code using relatively simple brute force techniques. (Hackers, 1997) This breach of security was only five weeks after the data security invited the attack in the hope of proving its codes resistant to such attacks. Over several years, people have been perfecting the care of personal computers. However, over that same amount of time, others have been hard at work to develop new ways to cause a system to crash. Some problems with a personal computer cannot be stopped, but preventative action can take place for viruses. Every computer user should be equipped with an antivirus program; there is no way of predicting whether or not a simple file contains a tremendous virus. The user must leave such a decision to the computer itself; only it can detect and destroy the virus. By purchasing a simple antivirus package, each computer user can hamper viruses from entering and destroying his personal computer. After taking all of the costs into consideration, it is much more expensive to rebuild a computer after destruction than it is to purchase an effective antivirus software package. BibliographyWorks Cited Chess, David, Jeffrey Kephart, Gregory Sorkin, and Steve White. Fighting Computer Viruses: Biological Metaphors Offer Insight into Many Aspects of Computer Viruses and Can Inspire Defenses Against Them. Scientific American Nov. 1997: 134-138. Computer. The World Book Encyclopedia. 1997. Cope, Jim. A Buyers Guide To Virus Protection: Get the Lowdown on Six Win 95 Programs that Keep Digital Bugs from Invading your PC and Destroying your Files. NetGuide Mar. 1998: 143-146 Hackers, Terrorists, and Spies: You know theyre coming at you. Can you stop them? Software Magazine Oct. 1997: 76. McDonald, Glenn. Viruses: An Anatomy of Mass Hysteria. PCWorld Sept. 1997: 123-125 Miastkowski, Stan. Virus Killers 1998: This Year, Macro Viruses are Running Rampant. Which Antivirus Program is Your Best Defense? PC World Mar. 1998: 114-116. Yang, W. D. Be Aware of Viruses and Use Protection. Computer Times 18 February 1998: 85-89. Yegulalp, Serdar. Head to Head: Antivirus Software Virus Protection Superheroes. Windows Magazin Technology