Computer Crime

Intro Computers and the Internet are tools. Crimes committed with computers are harder to detect. Computer vandalism can bring business operations to a halt. –2005 FBI Computer Crime Survey

2005 FBI Computer Crime Survey (Source: Survey of over 2,000 organizations across four U.S. states. 64 percent suffered a financial loss. National cost estimate. Average lost of $62.2 billion per year.

Hacking What is Hacking? Three phases of hacking: –Phase 1: (1960s and 1970s) When hacking was a positive term. –Phase 2: (1970s to the 1990s) When hacking took on its more negative meanings. –Phase 3: (mid-1990s) The Web Era.

Phase 1: The early years A hacker was a creative programmer who wrote clever code. The first operating system and games were written by hackers. The term hacking was a positive term.

Phase 2: Hacking takes on a more negative meaning The word “hacking” took on its most common meaning today. Early computer crimes were launched against business and government computers. Adult criminals began using computers to commit their crimes.

Phase 3: The Web Era The increased use of the internet for school, work, business transactions, and recreation made it attractive to criminals with basic computer skills. Examples of crimes ranging from pranks to serious disruptions. –Hackers modified or defaced Web pages. –Hackers obtain information that can threaten other people’s financial assets. –The Melissa virus. –The “ILOVEYOU” virus. –Denial-of-service attacks.

Hactivism Hactivism is the use of hacking to promote a political cause. Evaluating political hacking. Some people believe hactivism denies others their freedom of speech and violates property rights.

The Law Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA, 1986) It is a crime to access, alter, damage, or destroy information on a computer without authorization. Computers protected under this law include: –Government computers. –Financial systems. –Medical systems. –Interstate commerce. –Any computer on the internet.

The Law (cont’d) USA Patriot Act (USAPA, 2001) Amends the CFAA. Allows for recovery of losses due to responding to a hacker attack, assessing damages, and restoring systems. Increased penalties for hacking government computers. The government to monitor online activity without court order.

Catching the Hackers How are Hackers caught? Computer-forensics tools –Undercover agents. –Archives of online message boards. –Honey pots. Computer forensics agencies include: –Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). –National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC). Penalties Appropriate to the Crime.

Security Security weaknesses can be found in the computer systems used by: –Businesses –Government –Personal computers Why is security weak? Improving Security. Criminalize Virus Writing and Hacker Tools?

Online Scams Auctions Selling and buying goods online has become popular. Problems: –Sellers don’t send goods. –Sellers send inferior goods. –Price is driving up by shill bidding. –Illegal goods sold Solutions: –Read seller “reviews”. –Use third party escrow. –Credit-card required.

EVIL! –Credit Card Fraud Losses estimated in the several billions of dollars per year. –Several types of credit card fraud Stolen by clerks or through the trash Northwest Airlines stole credit cards on there way to their owners Stolen over the web –Trade offs are made by credit card issuers between security and customer convenience

You’re Not You; I Am Identity Theft: Where a criminal assumes the identity of the victim and runs large credit-card charges or cashes bad checks, is becoming a bigger problem. Identities have become nothing but a series of numbers. Reversing identity theft is a tough job.

Identity Theft, A Crime? In 1998, Congress made it a federal crime to knowingly use another person’s identification with the intent to commit a felony. –Government bodies finally decided to help. ATM Fraud –A group of people created their own ATM to trick customers.

Defending Against Fraud There’s a leap-frogging of security techniques and techniques used by thieves. Several changes have been made for security. –ATMs have been redesigned. –Cash withdrawal limit. –Credit card activation.

Getting Back At Employers Embezzlement is the “fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom it has been entrusted.” “Trusted” employees steal from their employers. Mo’ technology, mo’ problems. Lack of violence doesn’t make embezzlement seem like a big crime.

Defending Against Employees Several ways to defend against large frauds. –Rotate responsibilities –Provide sign-ons and passwords. Economic Espionage –Attack of businesses by competitors

Swindling the Customer Blaise Pascal invented calculating machine in 1640s. –Not trusted by many people. Suspicious that it would be rigged to give incorrect results. Are you being taken advantage of right now?? Computers don’t steal – people do.

Digital Forgery Is that real?

The Problem Widely available technology allows crooks to make fakes with relative ease. –Checks –Currency –Passports Group of people made off with $750,000 from one counterfeit check.

Defenses Anti-fraud techniques such as watermarks have been employed in the past. U.S. government redesigned currency to make it harder for counterfeiters to forge. Responsibility is now on businesses whose checks are copied. More incentive for better security.

It’s Photoshopped It’s so easy for digital images to be modified nowadays, and therefore this raises more ethical and social issues, that may not be related to crime. Not a new issue; it has been around before all current technology existed.

Crime Fighting vs. Privacy ROUND 1 vs.

Scanning For Scams Fraud investigators at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) surf the web looking for potentially illegal scams. In 2000, SEC announced they will use automated software to search chat rooms for suspicious activity.

Biometrics Biometrics are biological characteristics that are unique to each individual. –Finger prints –Voice patterns –Face and hand geometry –Retina scans –DNA Biometric applications provide convenience.

Search and Seizure of Computers Seizures of computers present new problems for law enforcement. –Hard drives may contain more than just the illegal date. Business records, other peoples’ files, etc. –Serious threat to freedom of speech and privacy –It’s not easy to seize “part of a computer.”

Cybercrime Treaty The U.S. and European governments participated in drafting the Council of Europe’s Treaty on Cybercrime. –Attempt to assist law-enforcement and foster international cooperation in fighting copyright violations, child pornography and other online crime. –This treaty generated much controversy and opposition from civil liberties organizations, ISPs and online businesses.

Discussion Should hackers who do not intend to do damage or harm be punished differently than those with criminal intentions? Court decisions have been made that allowed AOL and eBay to ban spam and information-collecting software from their sites. Should they have the right to ban government surveillance software too? Should the government need a search warrant, before running its automated surveillance software on a site? How far can someone modify an image before it becomes illegal? Is it ok if it’s just for artistic purposes?