Computer Ethics and Legal Issues

Question 1

What is computer Crime?

Answer 1

It is an unlawful act whereby the computer is either a tool or target or both. It involves computers and networks.

Question 2

Who are computer criminals?

Answer 2

Computer criminals can be:
Authorised Employees
Unauthorised employees
Outside users- hackers and crackers
An organisations competitors
Others

Question 3

Why is it important to understand computer crime?

Answer 3

It is important for computing professionals to understand cyber-terrorism for their benefit, and society as a whole

Question 4

What is theft of hardware?

Answer 4

Stealing computer equipment such as stealing from stores or taking parts out of computers which you do not own

Question 5

What is theft of software?

Answer 5

The unauthorised use, duplication or distribution of software such as programs or media which contain the software. Think of piracy.

Question 6

What is hacking?

Answer 6

Any action which results in unauthorised interference with a computer, computer systems or network by writing or using programs to break into a computer.

Question 7

What are is hacking used for?

Answer 7

Stealing financial information.
stealing personal information
Damage or modifying data
Launch computer attacks
Gain access to other computers
Transmit a virus or run malicious softwatr

Question 8

What is spamming?

Answer 8

This is the sending of large quantities of unsolicited emails to recipients. This may be used for marketing or disrupting and disabling networks.

Question 9

What is sniffing?

Answer 9

Electronic eavesdropping on electronic data transmissions ie emails of data or credit card details

Question 10

What is DOS attack?

Answer 10

Denial of Service attack is an attack designed to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users.

Question 11

What is identity theft?

Answer 11

The fraudulent acquisition and use of a person’s private identifying information. The most common form of this is used for financial gain

Question 12

What are the types of identity theft?

Answer 12

Phishing and Skimming

Question 13

What is Phishing?

Answer 13

A technique used to ‘fish’ for information that would not normally be disclosed to others i.e. Bank account details, credit card details, National Insurance Number, Passport number and Social security number.

Question 14

What is an example of phising?

Answer 14

Emails which lead you to a site asking you to confirm or update some of your personal details. The site usually looks identical to the real company website which is used to trick you.

Question 15

What is skimming?

Answer 15

The illegal copying of information from the magnetic strip of a credit or automated teller machine using an electronic device used as a skimmer.

Question 16

What are the types of computer crime?

Answer 16

Identity theft: Phising/skimming
Sniffing
Spamming
DOS attack
Hacking

Question 17

How have countries responded to computer crime using legislation?

Answer 17

Computer Misuse Act (1990)
Computer Misuse Amendment Bill (2002)

Question 18

What is the computer Misuse act (1990)

Answer 18

Made it illegal to (attempt to) make unauthorised access or changes to computer material
Act defines three specific offences:
Sect 1: Unauthorised access to computer material is the basic offence of hacking
Sect 2: Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences (comes in when the hacking leads to another offence (e.g. theft))
Sect 3: Unauthorised modification of computer material (covers the use viruses, worms; also phishing and Denial service of attack

Question 19

What is privacy?

Answer 19

The ability of an individual or group to stop data or information about themselves from becoming known to people other than those whom they choose to give access

Question 20

How has the UK countered the breach of privacy?

Answer 20

Data Protection Act (1994, 1998) and the Data Protection Act 2018 which is the UK’s implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which came into force on 25 May 2018.
These new data protection regulations replace the previous Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and set guidelines for the processing and collection of personal information.

Question 21

What is the data protection Act (2018)?

Answer 21

Under, The Data Protection Act 2018, you have the right to find out what information the government and other organisations store about you. These include the right to:
be informed about how your data is being used
access personal data
have incorrect data updated
have data erased
stop or restrict the processing of your data
data portability (allowing you to get and reuse your data for different services)
object to how your data is processed in certain circumstances
You also have rights when an organisation is using your personal data for:
automated decision-making processes (without human involvement)
profiling, for example to predict your behaviour or interests

Question 22

What is intellectual property?

Answer 22

Intangible property created by an individual or organisation. It is called intellectual property because it is the product of human imagination creativity and inventiveness.

Question 23

What types of Intellectual Property Protection exist?

Answer 23

The two main types are copyright and patents

Question 24

What does copyright cover?

Answer 24

Comes into effect automatically - protects the expression or manifestation of an idea (not the idea itself)
Covers traditional documents like books, music articles, movies/TV
Also covers computer software, databases, designs and multimedia
Authors may license others to produce copies, often in return for royalties
Whilst software is automatically copyright, this does not prevent others from writing their own code to implement the same ideas (reverse engineering – developing a new device from a set of devices, objects…). So, copyright does not protect ideas, but only the expression of ideas.

Question 25

What is a patent.

Answer 25

It is a more powerful way of protecting intellectual property. A patent protects your invention and lets you take legal action against anyone who makes, uses, or sells your invention without your permission

Question 26

What does Patent cover?

Answer 26

Protects the idea behind an invention
The ideas should be original and not obvious
A new, useful and inventive step
Sometimes we want people to use our inventions so as to make them better
Patents are published, thus benefiting public knowledge

Question 27

What is computer ethics?

Answer 27

Computer ethics concerns how computers, systems, and technology are used by principles of right conduct and morals. It is doing the right thing according to societies standards.

Question 28

What are some ethical issues in companies?

Answer 28

Organisations collecting huge data of employees and clients and then using this data to gain competitive advantage or by selling it/

Question 29

What is ethics at brunel?

Answer 29

“Any research that involves human participation, the collection or study of their data, organs and/or tissue, and that is carried out on Brunel University premises and/or by Brunel University staff or Brunel University students under the supervision of Brunel University staff requires ethical approval.” (Brunel University research ethics committee, 2005, p. 3).
Particularly relevant for your final year project
Need to conform to BCS code
Also advise following guidelines from British Psychological Society (BPS, 2004). Specifically regarding:
Consent
Withdrawal
Confidentiality

Question 30

What is your right to consent in research?

Answer 30

Whenever possible, the investigator should inform all participants of the objectives of the investigation. The investigator should inform the participants of all aspects of the research or intervention that might reasonably be expected to influence willingness to participate. The investigator should, normally, explain all other aspects of the research or intervention about which the participants enquire…’

Question 31

What is your right to withdrawal in research?

Answer 31

‘At the onset of the investigation investigators should make plain to participants their right to withdraw from the research at any time, irrespective of whether or not payment or other inducement has been offered…’
‘In the light of experience of the investigation, or as a result of debriefing, the participant has the right to withdraw retrospectively any consent given, and to require that their own data, including recordings, be destroyed…’

Question 32

What is right to confidentiality in research?

Answer 32

‘Subject to the requirements of legislation, including the Data Protection Act, information obtained about a participant during an investigation is confidential unless otherwise agreed in advance…Participants…have a right to expect that information they provide will be treated confidentially and, if published, will not be identifiable as theirs…’

Question 33

How can you secure yourself from being a victim of cyber crime?

Answer 33

Install anti-virus software
Install updates
Choose strong passwords and don’t share
Encrypt sensitive data
Make regular data back-ups
Wipe all data before disposal/resale

Question 34

Summary of keyfacts

Answer 34

DP applies to all electronic data and all organisations must comply
Intellectual property is intangible property produced by an individual or organisation
Copyright protects the manifestation of an idea, but not the idea itself and is automatic
Patents protect novel ideas/inventions but must be applied for
Breaching the license terms of software or data is copyright infringement, even if it was supplied without charge