Anita Gaston
Professor: Nick George
CIS 170
October 19, 2014
Since the early 1960’s and 70’s computer crime was documented but was not a major concern as it is now. The crimes were listed as a non-threat or pranks that were performed by students that were curious and bright. At that time access to computer networks were not as easy and widespread. Cyber terrorism is becoming precedent now than 30 years ago. The FBI, Homeland Security, CIA, etc. is beginning to take serious measures to handle computer security threats. Systems along with its designs are more complex now than years ago when the internet sent electronic communication long-distant for the first time. People have become more knowledgeable and savvy on how to breach security systems. Since September 11, 2001, the United States Government along with the agencies spent billions of dollars training its personnel for intrusions. Due to different type’s system threats, they are placed in four categories: 1. the computer as a target. 2. The computer as an instrument of the crime. 3. The computer as an incidental to a crime. 4. Crimes associated with the prevalence of computers. The computer as a target is when hackers target the server and causes harm to businesses or operations. Altering and denying data targets the computer that attacks useful information that is processed or stored in the computer. An example, the conflict between Estonia and Russia. Russia was furious because a war monument was removed from a memorial garden in Estonia, the Russian citizens hacked into the financial systems of the Estonian Government. Due to the severity of the crime the Estonian Government temporarily host files on the United States servers to conduct its business without threats. A criminal act that is committed using a computer is computers used as an instrument of a crime. The most popular crime committed with a computer is money laundering. In 2001 the U.S. Department of Treasury reported in National Money Laundering Strategy, “criminals target foreign jurisdictions with liberal bank secrecy laws and weak anti-money laundering regulatory regimes as they transfer illicit funds through domestic and international financial institutions often with the speed and ease of faceless Internet transactions.” The computers as incidental to a crime, the instrument of the crime is not the computer; the crime is facilitated using the computer. An example of this criminal activity is