Computer Ethics and Legal Issues Flashcards
What is computer Crime?
It is an unlawful act whereby the computer is either a tool or target or both. It involves computers and networks.
Who are computer criminals?
Computer criminals can be:
Authorised Employees
Unauthorised employees
Outside users- hackers and crackers
An organisations competitors
Others
Why is it important to understand computer crime?
It is important for computing professionals to understand cyber-terrorism for their benefit, and society as a whole
What is theft of hardware?
Stealing computer equipment such as stealing from stores or taking parts out of computers which you do not own
What is theft of software?
The unauthorised use, duplication or distribution of software such as programs or media which contain the software. Think of piracy.
What is hacking?
Any action which results in unauthorised interference with a computer, computer systems or network by writing or using programs to break into a computer.
What are is hacking used for?
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
What is spamming?
This is the sending of large quantities of unsolicited emails to recipients. This may be used for marketing or disrupting and disabling networks.
What is sniffing?
Electronic eavesdropping on electronic data transmissions ie emails of data or credit card details
What is DOS attack?
Denial of Service attack is an attack designed to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users.
What is identity theft?
The fraudulent acquisition and use of a person’s private identifying information. The most common form of this is used for financial gain
What are the types of identity theft?
Phishing and Skimming
What is Phishing?
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.
What is an example of phising?
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.
What is skimming?
The illegal copying of information from the magnetic strip of a credit or automated teller machine using an electronic device used as a skimmer.
What are the types of computer crime?
Identity theft: Phising/skimming
Sniffing
Spamming
DOS attack
Hacking
How have countries responded to computer crime using legislation?
Computer Misuse Act (1990)
Computer Misuse Amendment Bill (2002)
What is the computer Misuse act (1990)
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
What is privacy?
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
How has the UK countered the breach of privacy?
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.
What is the data protection Act (2018)?
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
What is intellectual property?
Intangible property created by an individual or organisation. It is called intellectual property because it is the product of human imagination creativity and inventiveness.
What types of Intellectual Property Protection exist?
The two main types are copyright and patents
What does copyright cover?
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.
