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Below is an essay on the topic, "COMPUTER SECURITY",
for your reference only.
Running
Head: COMPUTER SECURITY
Computer
Security
[Author's
Name]
[Institution's Name]
Computer Security
In
the contemporary world of computers, computer fraud and computer
crime are very widespread issues facing every computer user.
This ranges from system administrators to personal computer
users who do work in the office or at home. Computers without
any means of security are open to to attacks from viruses,
worms, and illegal computer hackers. So, if the proper steps
are not taken, safe computing may become a thing of the past.
Many security measures are being implemented to protect against
illegalities.
One
of the computer applications that are becoming more widely
used and, therefore, more widely mistreated, is the use of
electronic mail or email. At present, illegal hackers can
read email going through a server fairly easily. Email consists
not only personal transactions, but business and financial
transactions as well. There are not many encryption procedures
out for email yet. As Gates describes, "email encryption
will become a regular addition to email just as a hard disk
drive has become a regular addition to a computer" (Gates,
97-98).
Internet
also poses problems to users. This problem faces the home
user more than the business user. When a person logs onto
the Internet, he or she may download a file corrupted with
a virus. When he or she executes that program, the virus is
unconfined into the system. When a person uses the World Wide
Web (WWW), he or she is downloading files into his or her
Internet browser without even knowing it. At whatever time
a web page is visited, an image of that page is downloaded
and stored in the cache of the browser. This image is used
for faster retrieval of that specific web page. In place of
having to constantly download a page, the browser automatically
go back to the cache to open the image of that page. Most
people do not know about this, but this is an example of how
to get a virus in a machine without even knowing about it.
Whenever
a person accesses the Internet, he or she is not only accessing
the host computer, but many computers that connect the host
and the user. When a person transmits credit card information,
it goes over many computers before it reaches its destination.
So an illegal hacker can set up one of the connecting computers
to copy the credit card information as it passes through the
computer. This is how credit card fraud is committed with
the help of the Internet.
So, computer crimes need to be prevented and halted through
increased computer network security measures as well as tougher
laws and enforcement of those laws in cyberspace. Crimes in
cyberspace are becoming more and more popular for several
reasons. The first being that computers have become more and
more accessible; therefore have just become another tool in
the munitions store to criminals. An additional reason that
computer crimes are becoming more and more common is that
they sometimes are very profitable. The average computer crime
nets a total more than many times that of the average bank
robbery.
So, the low punishment rate sets an example that computer
crimes are easy to carry out, and are punished very lightly.
This evoke a downward twist; leading to more and more computer
crimes.
Basically,
individual hackers are often male teenagers. They comprise
the majority of the computer criminals, although they do pose
a major threat to society's computer uses.
Computer
criminals have a variety of reasons for doing what they do.
The main reason for which computer crimes are being committed
on the large scale is that they are simply money making. This
is seen by many skilled computer operators as an opportunity
to make some quick profit. People that would not commit any
other type of crime generally only commit cyber crimes. This
shows that the chances of getting caught and punished are
perceived as very low, a view that must be changed.
Some
hackers feel that it is their social responsibly to keep the
cyberspace a free domain, without authorities. Sharing information,
and eliminating the concept of property in cyberspace accomplish
this. For this reason, they feel that it is proper to take
information and share it. In their minds, they have committed
no crime, but from the victim's eyes, they deserve to be punished.
Other
hackers think that it is a challenge to read other's files
and see how far they can enter into a system. It is pure enjoyment
for these hackers to explore a new computer network. It becomes
a challenge to gain access to strange, new networks. They
often argue that they are only curious and cause no harm by
merely exploring, but that is not always the case.
Also, these hackers try to maintain free services. Some of
these free services include Internet access, and long distance
telephone access. While most hackers claim inquisitiveness
and a desire for profit as motives for cracking computer systems,
a few "dark-side hackers" seem to intentionally
harm others. For these individuals, computers are convenient
tools of malice.
Generally
system administrators normally have three major weapons against
computer crime. The first protection against computer crime
is system security. This is a many layers system against attacks.
When data comes into a system, it is scanned for viruses and
safety. Whenever it passes one of these security layers, it
is scanned again. The second protection against viruses and
corruption is computer law. This defines what is illegal in
the computer world. The third protection is the teaching of
computer ethics. This will hopefully defer people from becoming
illegal hackers in the first place (Bitter, 433). There are
other ways companies can protect against computer scam than
in the computer and system itself. One way to curtail computer
scam is in the interview process and training procedures before
employment. If it is made clear to the new employee that honesty
is valued in the company, the employee might think twice about
committing a crime against the company. Background checks
and fingerprinting are also good ways to protect against computer
scam.
Computer
crime prevention has become a major issue in the computer
world. The lack of knowledge of these crimes and how they
are committed is a factor as to why computer crime is so widespread.
What must be realized is that the "weakest link in any
system is the human" (Hafner and Markoff, 61). With the
knowledge and application of the pre-emptive methods, computer
crime may actually become an issue of the past.
References
Bitter, Gary G., ed. (1992). The Macmillan Encyclopedia of
Computers. Macmillan Publishing Company: New York, 433
Gates, William. (1995). The Road Ahead. New York: Penguin
Books,
Hafner, Katie & John Markoff. (1991) Cyberpunk. New York:
Simon and Schuster, Pg 61
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