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+  Date   : 24. April 2000                                                  +
+  Title  : About computer crime                                            +
+  Author : Ahmed Ijaz(ija)                                                 +
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Artificial intelligence, laptops, PCs, vaxclusters, local area networks,
cobol, bits, bytes, viruses, and worms.  Most people recognize these words
as computer terms.  As computers
have become a vital part of the American way of life, computer terminology
has crept into the vernacular.  There is no doubt that computers touch
every aspect of our lives.  Well over 80
percent of daily financial transactions nationwide take place via
electronic funds transfers.  However, many computer systems are highly
vulnerable to criminal attack.  In fact, computer-
related crime costs American companies as much as $5 billion per year.

When Bill Gates described computer crime, he likened computer networks to
neighborhoods and small communities. He said cities and towns are tied
together by streets, roads, highways, and interstates.  Likewise,
communities of computers are linked through local, regional, and national
networks. Rather than transport food and equipment like highways do,
computer networks move ideas and information.

Unfortunately, just as American communities are threatened with drugs and
violent crime, the Nation's computer networks are threatened as well.  They
are threatened by thieves robbing
banks electronically; they are threatened by vandals spreading computer
viruses; and they are even threatened by spies breaking into U.S. military
systems.

White-collar crimes in general--and computer crime in particular--are often
difficult to detect and even more difficult to prosecute because many times
they leave no witnesses to question and no physical evidence to analyze.
And, because computer technology is such a rapidly evolving field, law
enforcement has not yet developed a clear-cut definition of
computer crime.  Nevertheless, two manifestations of computer crime are
obvious:  The first is crime in which the computer is the vehicle or tool
of the criminal, and second, crime in which
the computer and the information stored in it are the targets of the criminal.