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Computer Technology And Its Impact On Computer Crime

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“Cyberwarfare is the use of computer technology to disrupt the activities of a state or organization, especially the deliberate attacking of information systems for strategic or military purposes” (Oxford Dictionary, 2016). While this definition may seem fitting on a global basis the idea of cybercrime can encompass any valuable information of an individual, company, government, or military entity. The term hacker came about in the early 80’s defining a coup of people where were proficient at manipulating computers. However, in 2016 the Oxford Dictionary defines hacker as “a person who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data”. In the early stages of cybercrime hackers spread programs called worms, computer viruses and trojan …show more content…

Users would click on the links, be rerouted to a web page that looked like their bank, but was actually a page developed by the hackers. Once the users entered their user ID and password, the hackers had all the information they needed to access the users accounts.
In the early 2000’s new criminal opportunities arose by attacking Web sites. Denial of Service (DoS) attacks took place by having large numbers of computers accessing a Web site at the same time. This provided cyber criminals with two things, global visibility, and financial opportunity. As technologies evolve and advance, so do the abilities of the hackers. Now, the goal is to stay one step ahead. It is not a matter of if a system can get hacked, but rather a question of when.
Specific functional business areas have common aspects of their software and hardware setup. For example, the banking industry uses financial software and specific hardware, such as Automated Teller Machines. The medical industry uses medical records software and specific hardware, such as ultrasound and X-ray machines. The energy industry, uses substations controlled by master servers. ““Every substation is controlled by the master, which is controlled by the operator,” says researcher Chris Sistrunk who, along with Adam Crain, found vulnerabilities in the products of more than 20 vendors. “If you have control of the master, you have control of the whole system, and you can turn on and off power at will. An intruder could exploit

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