Computer Crime (1508 words) Essay Example For Students

Computer Crime (1508 words) Essay Computer CrimeIts the weekend, you have nothing to do so you decide to ?lay around on your computer. You turn it on and then start up, youstart calling people with your modem, connecting to another world,with people just like you at a button press away. This is all finebut what happens when you start getting into other peoples computerfiles. 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. Theyuse programs called scanners which randomly dials numbers anygenerating tones or carriers are recorded. These numbers are lookedat 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 thehacking really begins, the hacker tries to bypass this anyway he knows how t o 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 theirpreteens and teens are frequently involved in computer crimes thattake 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 realizingthe 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 Justas 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 goout to do destroy things although some do. Its in the pursuit ofknowledge. Of course this is still against the law. But where did all of this start, MIT is where hacking started the people there wouldlearn and explore computer systems all around the world. In the vi ews of professional hacking is like drugs or any other addictivesubstance, 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 Imentioned some hackers are just above average criminals, using thereskills 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 istake a few cents or even a few fractions of a cents from manydifferent accounts this may seem like nothing but when all compiledcan 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 fortaking some one down, destruction of data could end a business whichfor 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 timeto move on to someone closely associates with a hacker. This is aPhreak, 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 inorder to not pay for some sort of telecommunications bill, order, transfer, or other service. It often involves usage ofhighly illegal boxes and machines in order to defeat thesecurity that is set up to avoid this sort of happening.v. 2. A person who uses the above methods of destruction andchaos in order to make a better life for all. A true phreakerwill 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 aphreak. (Example: I hacked a new metro phreak last night.)The latter 2 ideas of what a phreak is, is rather weird. A Phre aklike 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 dothings, most often make free calls. Why do they do this, A hackerand 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 freecalls, he can call up codes or PBXs on his phone and then enter a codeand make his call or he can use Electronic Toll Fraud Devices. Codesare rather easy to get the phreak will scan for them, but unlike a hackerwill only save the tone(s) number instead of the carrier(s). Then he willattempt to hack the code to use it, these codes range from numbers 0 9and can be any length, although most are not more than 10. ElectronicToll Fraud Devices are known as Boxes in the underground. Most are thesize of a pack of smokes , or than can be smaller or bigger. I will notgo too deep. They are electronic devices than do various things, suchas make outgoing calls free, make incoming calls free, simulate coinsdropping in a phone, etc. People who Phreak are caught alot thesedays thanks to the new technology.Software Piracy is the most common computer crime, it is theillegal coping of software. People wouldnt think of shopliftingsoftware from a retail store, but dont think twice about going homeand making several illegal copies of the same software. and this is true because I myself am guilty of this. The major problem is notpeople going out and buying the software then making copies for everyone, its the Bulletin Boards that cater to pirating software,that really cause the problem. On anyone one of these boards one can find an upwards of 300 1000+ of pirated software open for anyone to take. This is a problem and nothing can really be done about it. Few arrests are made in this area of computer crime.I will now devote a brief section to the above mentioned BBS , most are legal and do nothing wrong. However there are many more that do accept pirated software, pornographic pictures, animations , andtexts. As well as a trading area for phone codes, other BBS, CreditCard numbers, etc. This is where a majority of Hackers and Phreakscome, as well as those who continue to pirate software come to meetand share stories. In this is a new world, where you can do anything, there are groups that get, crack, and courier software all over theworld some of them are called:INC: International Network Of Crackers, THG: The Humble Guys, TDT: The Dream Team. As well a number of other groups have followed suit such as Phalcon/SKISM (Smart Kids Into Sick Methods), NuKE, and YAM(Youngsters Against McAfee) these are virus groups who write and courier their work anywhere they can, they just send it somewhere,where anyone can take it and use it in any manner they wish, such asgetting even with someone. All of t hese activities are illegal butnothing can be done, the people running these boards know what theyare doing. As it stands right now, the BBS world is in two partsPirating and the Underground, which consists ofHackers/Phreaks/Anarchists/Carders(Credit Card Fraud)/Virusprogrammers. All have different boards and offer a variety ofinformation on virtually any subject.Well from all of this reading you just did you should have afairly good idea of what computer crime is. I didnt mention it inthe sections but the police, phone companies are arresting andstopping alot of things every day. With the new technology today itis easier to catch these criminals then it was before. With the exception of the BBS the police have made some major blows busting a few BBS, arresting hackers and phreaks. All of which were very looked up to for knowledge in their areas of specialty. If I had more time I could go into these arrests but I must finish by saying that these are real crimes and the sentences are getting harsher, with alot of theolder people getting out the newer people are getting arrested andbeing made examples of. 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