Fundamental Principles of Computer Ethics and computer crime
The fundamental principles of computer ethics formulated by the Computer Ethics Institute (CEI) as the “ten commandments” of computer ethics are:
- Thou shall not use a computer to harm other people.
- Thou shall not interfere with other people’s computer work.
- Thou shall not snoop around in other people’s files.
- Thou shall not use a computer to steal.
- Thou shall not use a computer to bear false witness.
- Thou shall not copy or use proprietary software for which you have not paid.
- Thou shall not use other people’s computer resources without authorization or proper compensation.
Importance: Protects users, data, and systems from harm.
A computer crime is any illegal act that involves the computer either as the target of the crime or as a tool used in committing the crime. The following are some common computer crimes:
- Software piracy: this is the illegal copying, distribution or use of computer software, it is the most widely practiced type of computer crime.
- Cyber terrorism: it is the use of internet or network to destroy or damage computers for political reasons. This refers to an act of terrorism that is conducted on the internet by means of computer resources.
- Scamming: this is a fraudulent business activity that is conducted on the internet.
- Masquerading: this occurs when an unauthorized person uses someone else’s identity to access a computer.
- Harassment: this is the process of sending threatening email messages to people on networks or bulletin board systems.
- Hacking: this is the unauthorized accessing of a computer or network; the individual who does this is referred to as a hacker.
- Spamming: this is the act of sending unwanted bulk e-mail messages for commercial purposes.
- Cracking: this is the unauthorized or illegal accessing of a computer or network with the intention of destroying data, stealing information, or other malicious action. The individual who does this is referred to as a cracker.
- Data diddling: it is the process of modifying data before or after they are entered into the computer system.
- Denial of service (DoS) attacks: this is a malicious attempt to make a computer resource (usually an internet service) unavailable to its intended users.
- Plagiarism: the act to catch someone else’s work and present it as its own.
Computer Security Measures
- Encryption is a process of converting readable data into unreadable characters to prevent unauthorized access.
- Backing up data is the process to recopy those data in order to keep it and to find it again in case of problem or loss.
- A firewall is a system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls are implemented in either hardware or software form, or a combination of both. They prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet.
