Computer crime involves:  Theft by computer (including identity theft and phis hing)  Software piracy and intellectual property misuse  Software sabotage (malw are- including worms, viruses, Trojan horses, e tc.)  Hacking and electronic trespassing. The computer crime dossier  Computer crime: any crime accomplished through knowledge or use of computer technology  Businesses and government institutions lose billions of dollars every year to computer criminals  The majority of crimes is committed by company insiders  Typically covered up or not reported to authorities to avoid embarrassment  According to a 2001 survey of over 500 companies and government agencies:  85% detected computer security breaches in the preceding 12 months  Financial losses due to security breaches topped $377 million  70% reported that Internet connections were frequent points of attack  Only 31% said that internal systems were frequent points of attack. Theft by computer  Theft is the most common form of computer crime. Computers are used to steal  Money  Goods  Information  Computer resources  One common type of computer theft today is the actual theft of computers, such as notebook and PDAs  Notebook and PDAs are expensive  Data stored on a computer can be more valuable Denial o f Service ( DOS)  Attacks bombard servers and Web sites with so much bogus traffic that they are effectively shut down networks, denying service to legitimate customers and clients. Computer security  Protecting computer systems and the information they contain against unwanted access, damage, modification, or destruction  Two inherent characteristics  A computer does exactly what it is programmed to do, including reveal sensitive information  Can be reprogrammed  Any computer can do only with it is programmed to do  Cannot protect itself from malfunctions or deliberate attacks  Physical access restrictions  Identify people attempting to access computer equipment  Usually using a number of tools and techniques. Depending on the security system, you might be granted access to a computer based on:  Something you have  A key, an ID card with a photo, or a smart card containing digitally encoded identification in a built-in memory chip  Something you know  A password, an ID number, a lock combination, or a piece of personal history, such as your mother’s maiden name  Something you do  Your signature or your typing speed and error patterns  Something about you  A voice print, fingerprint, retinal scan, facial feature scan, or other measurement of individual body characteristics; these measurements are collectively called biometrics. Passwords  The most common tool for restricting access to a computer system  Effective passwords are:  Not real words  Not names  Changed frequently  Kept secret  A combination of letters and numbers  Firewalls, encryption, and audits  Firewalls  A locked gate that opens only for information packets that can pass one or more security inspections  Can be used for both corporations and individuals. Firewalls, encryption, and audits  Encryption  Encrypts a message by applying a secret numeric al code, called an encryption key  The message is sent as an indecipherable garble of characters  After it is received, it will be reconstructed with a matching key  Audit-control software  Monitor and record computer transactions as they happen so auditor can trace and identify suspicious computer activity after the fact  To avoid the case that electromagnetic signals emanating from the computer hardware is “heard” so that some sensitive information is read.  Backups and other precautions  A power surge or failure can wipe out well protected data  Uninterruptible power supply (UPS)  Can protect computers from data loss during power failures  Surge protectors  Do not help during power failure  Can shield electronic equipment from power spikes  Backup  Disasters cannot be avoided completely, so we