Computer Security and Security Colin Brown Essay

Submitted By cbrown221
Words: 1464
Pages: 6

Computer Security
Colin Brown and Tarah Robinson
CSC 200-02
Professor Adams
March 30, 2014

Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………………………………..1
Cover Page 1
Research Paper 2-5
Work cited page 5-6

Having computer security, also known as logical security, is a good way to protect a person’s computer’s hardware, software, and data. There are various ways to protect a person’s computer. One of the most common ways is to not to share passwords to anyone. When doing passwords, it shouldn’t be anything personal where anyone can guess like your mother’s name, the name of your dog, etc. Another way to protect one’s computer, not to leave your computer logged in unattended. The best thing to do is to log out or lock it. That way it would prevent someone from accessing someone’s personal data. One way to protect data on one’s computer is to encrypt it. There is computer software that a person could use to scan a computer for anything that would harm it. The person could have the computer regularly scanned so that any sort of threats could be found and be disposed of. Hackers cost governments, corporations, and even normal people billions of dollars per year. You might ask, sure, there are those out there for profit, but what about the college student who was just doing it for fun? Profit or fun, it’s still theft. In some cases theft of money, in others, theft of information. Just because a person uses a computer should not impact the severity of their punishment. A murderer's punishment is not affected by which weapon he chooses to employ, so why a thief’s punishment should be affected? Usually, information is stolen for the express purpose of making money, either directly, or through the sale of the information obtained, or by blackmail. In today's fast-paced computerized world, knowledge is indeed power. Through the miracle of the Internet, information can be shared and accessed around the globe, instantaneously. At any given time, millions of people's credit card numbers, social security numbers, and other private data are flying through phone lines near your house. The downside to this technological marvel that we all use, whether we know it or not, is that thieves, disgruntled network administrators, and other unsavory characters can make an easy living off of the Internet, maybe even stealing from you. How? It's all in a day's work for them. One Russian hacker spent a few years bleeding money from the Citibank Corporation here in the states from his cozy little house in Russia. His labor was rewarded with $10.4 million dollars in several bank accounts around the world. Unfortunately for him, his labor was also rewarded with arrest. (Caryl, par. 2) However, even though he committed the crime many years ago, he is still in Russia, awaiting extradition. Because of the slow response of the bureaucracy, Russia has bred many hackers. (Caryl, par. 7) Russian hackers do not tamper with systems in Russia, because the Police take swift and vicious revenge for such actions. But other countries systems are another matter, because of the promise of great gain and potentially little risk of being caught. (Caryl, par. 8)Even though the theft of money is a growing problem, there are other things for hackers to steal. For instance, hospitals have very elaborate network security setups. Why? Many hackers attempt to gain access to people's personal medical files in order to blackmail them, or to avenge some injustice by spreading the person's health problems around. (Scheir, par. 17) Other possibilities might go as far as to include looking up a patient's current location, in order for gang members to finish off the survivor of a drive-by shooting or other attempted murder. (Scheir, par. 10) It is for these reasons that medical facilities computer security procedures are second only to the government's. There are even more forms of hacking to go into. One type, called phreaking, is often a side-effect of a computer hacker's work.