There are three main categories of computer crimes. First, the computer can be used as a storage or communication device. In this instance, the computer is not required for the crime itself, but is used in some way in a criminal activity. An example is financial records kept on a drug dealer's computer. Second, the computer can be used as a tool of crime. In this case, the computer is used to commit traditional offenses, such as creating counterfeit money or official documents, or newer computer crime offenses, such as the distribution of child pornogra-phy and illegal Internet gambling. Finally, a computer can be used to commit attacks on informa-tion, including theft of information, theft of services, and damage to computer systems. This type of computer crime involves the widespread problem of viruses and other forms of siege at-tacks. The "cyber vandal’s" purpose is to attack or prevent the normal operation of a digi-tal system.

Who commits these high-tech crimes? Virtually anyone is capable of high-tech crime, but most high-tech offenders, especially computer hackers, fit a unique profile. These individuals are usually 14-to-19 year old white males from mid-dle-class backgrounds. They often possess superior levels of intelligence (IQ over 120), but on a social level they tend to be withdrawn and to associate mainly with peers who share their fascination for electronic gadgets and computer-related activities.

Computer Network Break-Ins

1. There are two types of computer network break-ins. The first is commonly known as "hacking." It is not practiced for criminal gain, and can therefore be considered more mischievous than malicious. Nevertheless, network intrusions have been made illegal by the U.S. federal gov-ernment. A hacker's reward is being able to tell peers that he or she has managed to break into a network, demonstrating superior computing ability, especially the ability to bypass security meas-ures. Hackers, for the most part, seek entry into a computer system and "snoop around," often leaving no sign of entry. It can be likened to an individual's stealthily gaining entry into another per-son's house, going through a few personal belongings, and carefully leaving without taking any-thing.
2. The second type of break-in is the one done for illegal purposes. A criminal might break into a large credit card company to steal card numbers, or into a network to steal data or sensitive information. Other criminal acts include computer vandalism, whereby individuals break into a sys-tem, alter its operating structure, delete important files, change passwords, or plant viruses that can destroy operating systems, software programs, and data.

Industrial Espionage

3. In an age where information can create power, it should not be surprising that competing industries are very curious to know what the others are doing. "Cyber spies" can be hired to break into a competitor's computer system and gather secret information, often leaving no trace of the intrusion. Once again, these spies have such powerful technology at their disposal that they are able to target computers and information that may be thousands of miles away, making detection even more difficult.

Software Piracy

4. It is estimated by the U.S. Software Publisher's Association that approximately $7.5 billion worth of American software is illegally copied and distributed annually worldwide. Software piracy ranges from friends sharing and occasionally copying software, to international fraudulent schemes whereby software is replicated and passed on as the original product, sometimes at a lower price. Recent research indicates that employees contribute significantly to the presence of illegal software in the workplace, either by bringing software from home (40 percent), downloading unauthorized copies from the Internet (24 percent), or sharing programs with other employees (24 percent). The duplication process is relatively simple, and once mastered, any software can be pirated and copies sold worldwide. Software developers are constantly trying to stay ahead of the pirates by attempting to render their software resistant to such duplication. The advent of the compact disk and digital video disk unfortunately makes casual software piracy relatively easy.

Pornography Online

5. The Internet provides a forum for the display of information. Some individuals, however, see this venue as a means to distribute or seek illegal information such as child pornography. Finding and downloading such material from the Internet is a simple task, even for amateur com-puter users. While law enforcement agencies occasionally intercept child pornography and those who engage in its dissemination over the airwaves, most offenders are never caught. Also, such material can be strategically hidden or altered to appear to be something else. "Morphing" is a practice that involves using computers to digitally alter pictures. Using such a method, an individual can superimpose two images, or cut and paste parts of one image onto another. This technique has become a tool for child pornographers to evade prosecution. They simply attach the head of an adult to a child's body, and claim the image indeed portrays an adult.
6. Many cases of online pedophilia have been reported as well. (Pedophilia refers to sexual desire felt by an assault for children, or to the crime of sex with a child.) A former employee of Infoseek, Patrick Naughton was a successful computer guru, who in 1990 helped develop the popular Java programming language at Sun Microsystems. However, his career ended in October 1999 when Naughton faced charges of online pedophilia after he arranged to meet a 13-year-old girl with whom he initiated contact in an online chat room. On arrival at a Santa Monica pier for a rendezvous with his online buddy, Naughton was met by FBI agents. The "13-year-old girl" turned out to be a male FBI agent.
7. Pornography is finding itself online in other ways as well. In fact, Web pages are being "page-jacked." A recent scheme involved two hackers who cloned legitimate Web pages, including sites such as Audi and Paine Webber. When computer users attempted to reach the legitimate sites, they were page-jacked to pornographic websites. When attempting to escape the porno-graphic sites by clicking on the "Back" or "Home" buttons on their browsers, users were then "mouse-trapped" and sent to additional pornographic websites.
8. Going after such offenders becomes difficult if different countries are involved in the illegal act. Let us suppose an individual in country A posts pornographic material on the Internet, and in country A, such material is legal. If the same material is retrieved in country B (although the source is country A), where the material is considered illegal, who is to blame, and where has the crime occurred? Jurisdictional questions about information found on the Internet remain largely unre-solved. They will surely become more complex with the increasing traffic of illicit information and images.

Mail Bombings

9. Computers can be used to steal money and information. They can also be used for more aggressive purposes. Like the bully told to rough up the new kid in the school yard, computers can be instructed to attack other machines. A common method is that of mail bombings. Mail bombs are the products of computer programs that instruct a computer to literally bombard another computer with information, often irrelevant electronic mail (e-mail). Mail bombs are capable of shutting down computers, and even entire networks, if the amount of information is too large for the receiving computer to digest.

Password Sniffers

10. Entry into a computer system often requires a password or some other form of user identifi-cation to protect the information it contains. Password sniffers are programs that carefully record the names and passwords of network users as they log in.
11. With such confidential information, unauthorized users are able to gain unlawful access to the computer and the information it contains. Passwords can also be sold to other users for illegal purposes.

Credit Card

12. Computers and the Internet are used more and more to conduct business. It has become commonplace to order merchandise, make payments, and conduct personal banking online. This use of credit cards is very appealing to people involved in credit card fraud. Computers can facili-tate credit card fraud in two ways. First, a conventionally stolen credit card can be used to order merchandise online and, because no time is wasted going from store to store, a perpetrator can maximize his or her gain before the card is inactivated. Detection is also reduced since there is no physical contact with sales staff who might alert authorities should they suspect fraud. Second, credit card numbers can be stolen from the Internet as customers are making legitimate purchases. Programs similar to those that are designed to steal passwords from unsuspecting users are often used for this purpose. Another way of stealing credit card numbers is for offenders to access com-puters located in credit bureaus or financial institutions.
13. Currently, no one really knows the actual cost of computer crime. Estimates, however, sug-gest that the costs range from $500 million to $5 billion per year. Computer crime is underdetected and underreported. Furthermore, computer crime is not considered a major priority for many police departments. Greater attention and resources are focused on violent-crime reduction efforts and, more recently, on community policing.
14. Combating computer crime is not a priority for several reasons: it is difficult to police the Internet, and the necessary resources are not available to adequately handle this type of crime. There is no public outcry against computer crime, since the public is more interested in violent crime. Finally, many police officers feel that they did not choose their profession to police computer crime, but rather to help people and arrest the criminals. Despite these problems, training programs on combating computer crime are being designed and implemented in some police departments.

The Criminal Justice Problem

15. High-tech crimes pose a special problem to law enforcement agencies for two reasons. First, these crimes are not easily detected since the offenders can quietly commit them from any computer terminal, usually in the comfort of their own homes. Second, while a few organizations have mobilized to attack high-tech crime, most law enforcement agencies are not equipped to deal with the phenomenon: "Technology changes at an astounding rate while law enforcement tech-niques, which traditionally are reactionary, do not.” It is clear that the police forces of the future need to address this problem by concentrating on detection, and by arming themselves with the technological tools necessary to deal with it. By necessity, computer and/or Internet classes should soon find their way into police academies.

Source: Freda Adler, Gerhard Mueller, and William Laufer. Criminology and the Criminal Justice System, 4th ed. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2001, pp. 352-55.

Comprehension Questions

Directions: Questions 1-5 are objective questions that are based on the information in the selection. Answer them by clicking on the correct answer. You may refer to the selection as you answer the questions.

1		Breaking into a competitor's computer system to gather secret information is referred to as
			A)	industrial espionage.
			B)	software piracy.
			C)	mail bombings.
			D)	password sniffing.
2		Employees contribute significantly to the problem of illegal software in the workplace, and this is due mostly to
			A)	pirating replicated copies.
			B)	sharing programs with other employees.
			C)	downloading unauthorized copies from the Internet.
			D)	bringing software from home.
3		Police academies may soon start including computer and/or Internet classes because
			A)	many police officers feel that they did not choose their profession to police computer crime.
			B)	the police of the future must learn to use technology to detect and deal with high-tech crimes.
			C)	combating computer crime is not a priority.
			D)	greater attention and resources should be focused on violent-crime reduction.
4		It is difficult to go after online pornography offenders if
			A)	pedophilia is an element of it.
			B)	web page users are "page-jacked" to pornographic websites.
			C)	some individuals see this venue as a means to distribute or seek child pornography.
			D)	different countries are involved and jurisdictional questions arise.
5		In mail bombings,
			A)	the name and passwords of network users are illegally recorded as they log in.
			B)	credit card numbers are stolen from the Internet as customers make legitimate pur-chases.
			C)	computers or networks are shut down by bombarding them with irrelevant information.
			D)	"morphing" is used to alter pictures digitally.

Vocabulary Questions

Directions: Questions 6-10 give you the opportunity to use context clues to deduce the meaning of certain words from the selection. The first sentence for each item comes from the se-lection and contains a vocabulary word, which appears in italics. The second sentence is not from the selection, but it uses the vocabulary word in the same sense as in the first sentence, and it contains additional context clues. Answer each question by clicking on the answer choice that makes sense in both sentences.

6		"Hacking can be likened to an individual's stealthily gaining entry into another person's house, going through a few personal belongings, and carefully leaving without taking anything." I was furious when I discovered my younger sister hiding in the closet, stealthily reading my diary. stealthily
			A)	rudely
			B)	sneakily; secretly
			C)	cheerfully; happily
			D)	quickly; hurriedly
7		"Industrial Espionage In an age where information can create power, it should not be surprising that competing industries are very curious to know what the others are doing. 'Cyber spies' can be hired to break into a competitor's computer system and gather secret information, often leaving no trace of the intrusion." The government convicted the foreign agent of espionage and sent him to prison for stealing classified documents and selling them to the enemy. espionage
			A)	the use of spying to gather secret information
			B)	defeating an enemy by sheer force
			C)	limiting access to computer data
			D)	destroying records and other data
8		"Once again, these spies have such powerful technology at their disposal that they are able to target computers and information that may be thousands of miles away, making detection even more difficult." Sensitive X-ray and screening equipment at airports now makes the detection of il-legal items faster and more accurate. detection
			A)	discovering the existence of something
			B)	illegally trapping someone
			C)	tricking someone into doing something
			D)	finding something by chance
9		"Software piracy ranges from friends sharing and occasionally copying software, to inter-national fraudulent schemes whereby software is replicated and passed on as the original prod-uct, sometimes at a lower price." The piracy of music by college students who downloaded music through Napster and other file-sharing programs has resulted in charges being filed against some of those students. piracy
			A)	switching or changing copyrighted material into a new format
			B)	improving or upgrading copyrighted software by improving its technology
			C)	taking and using copyrighted material without the legal right to do so
			D)	temporarily lending copyrighted materials to other people
10		"Second, while a few organizations have mobilized to attack high-tech crime, most law enforcement agencies are not equipped to deal with the phenomenon: 'Technology changes at an astounding rate while law enforcement techniques, which traditionally are reactionary, do not.'" Major U.S. cities have mobilized their police department, fire department, disaster management agencies, medical facilities, and even their local National Guard to deal with possible terrorist attacks. mobilized
			A)	organized people or resources in the least expensive manner possible
			B)	organized people or resources in order to deal with weather-related disasters
			C)	organized people or resources to be ready to take action
			D)	organized people or resources in preparation for war

Applied Reading Skills Questions

Directions: Questions 11-15 test your ability to apply certain reading skills. Answer each question by clicking on the correct answer. You may refer to the selection as you answer the ques-tions.

11		The main idea of paragraph 14 is expressed by which of the following statements?
			A)	High-tech crimes pose a special problem to law enforcement agencies for two reasons, and ultimately the police will have to be trained to deal with them.
			B)	High-tech crimes are not easily detected since the offenders can quietly commit them from any computer terminal, usually in the comfort of their own homes.
			C)	While a few organizations have mobilized to attack high-tech crime, most law enforce-ment agencies are not equipped to deal with the phenomenon.
			D)	By necessity, computer and/or Internet classes should soon find their way into police academies.
12		The difference between hacking and other types of computer network break-ins is that hacking is
			A)	is not done for criminal gain.
			B)	illegal because it bypasses security measures.
			C)	done in order to vandalize other computers.
			D)	done to steal credit card numbers and other sensitive information.
13		The authors' primary overall purpose is to
			A)	explain how computer network break-ins are committed.
			B)	prove that current police academy training is inadequate.
			C)	describe seven categories of computer crimes.
			D)	contrast software piracy with credit card fraud.
14		The authors include which of the following types of support?
			A)	research findings
			B)	information from a professional organization
			C)	the case of an online pedophile
			D)	all of the above
15		Which of the following patterns is used to organize information in the first two paragraphs of the selection about two types of computer break-ins?
			A)	list
			B)	problem-solution
			C)	sequence
			D)	comparison-contrast