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Software piracy-the illegal copying of computer software.
Laws relevent to computer crime
- The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1989
- The Computer Misuse Act 1990
- The Data Protection Act 1998
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1989
Under this act it is an offence to:
- Copy Software
- Run pirated software
- Tranmit software over a telecommnunications line, thereby creating a copy
Licencing
A software licence is needed when you buy software. This gives the permission to use the software on your computer. When you buy software, you are buying the licence to use it subject to the conditions imposed by the manufacturer.
The different types of licensing agreements are public domain, shareware and demonstration software.
The Computer Misuse Act 1990
This act covers three main crimes:
- Hacking
- Planting of viruses
- Computer Fraud
Section 1
A person is guilty of an offence if:
- he/she causes a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access to any program or data held in any computer
- the access he/she intends to secure is unauthorised
- he/she knows at the time that it is unauthorise
The maximum sentence for the offence under this section of the Act is six months imprisonment
Section 2
A person guilty of an offence under section 2 of the Act if he/she commits an offence under section 1 of the Act with the intent of commiting a further offence such as blackmail theft. They will be guilty if they get someone else to do this further offence.
The maximum sentence for the offence under this section of the Act is 5 years imprisonment
Section 3
A person is guilty of an offence under the section of the Act if he/she commits any act which causes an unauthorised modification of the contents of any computer, and at the time that he/she knows that the modification is unauthorised and he/she has the requisite intent.
The requisite intent is intent to cause a modification and by so doing:
- To impair the operation of any computer
- To prevent or hinder access to any program or data
- To impair the operation of any program or reliability of any data
The maximum sentence for the offence under this section of the Act is 5 years imprisonment
Activity: Doyle page 59
Note: The Data Protection Act is covered in a separate section
Malpractice
Task: Suggest some acts of malpractice that may not be illegal
- Testing the security of company files, by hacking into them, with the authorisation of the company
- If you find information that is stored about you, which is wrong, then you can change it, so it is correct
Task: Suggest some ways in which computers can help solve crime
- Computers prove invaluable in the detection and prevention of crime
- Detection is about collecting huge amounts of information until a key piece of evidence emergese.
- Databases of fingerprints, stolen vehicles and criminal records are all essential tools in todays’s fight against crime.
- Data matchining excerises with possible suspects can narrow the search field.
- Analysis of tax returns against the average profits for a particular type of business in a particular area can highlight possible tax fraud.
Protecting ICT Systems
(Heathcote Chapter 11)
Threats to ICT systems include all of the above crimes and also others. Threats can be both internal and external.
Internal:
- Hardware failure
- Faulty procedures e.g. incorrect input into a system
- Natural disasters
- Employees losing data (disks/laptops)
- Dishonest/fraudulant employees
External:
- Hackers
- Viruses downloaded from the internet
Measures to protect ICT systems from illegal access
Task:
Suggest as many measures or procedures as you can for protecting ICT systems from illegal access
- Physical restrictions to the building and/or computer departments. The comnputer department can be protected from access by a locked door which can only be opened by authorised personnel. By wearing ID badges and signing in whilst on the premises, you know which people are in the building, and who are the employees.
- When using a computer terminal, employees are normally required to sign on with a user –id and password.
- Access to various data files on the computer can be restricted to those people who need it, identified by their user ID.
- Special software can be installed which will maintain an ‘audit trail’ of who has logged on, from which terminal and for how long.
- Data can be encrypted before being transmitted, which means it cannot be read without decoding it first. Strong encrption means the code is virtually impossible to crack.
Extension task:
1. Research into the different types of backup procedures that can be adopted
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Online backup-This is when each transaction is written to three sepate disks, more or less simultaneously. Two of the disks will be at the main computer centre, so that in the event of one disk drive failing, the data is safe on the other drive until the problem is fixed.
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Periodic Backups-This is making daily backups of all data files. Data is transferred, sometimes overnight, to a backup tape or disk and the backup copy is stored in a fireproof safe. An example of a company that provides backup, is America’s biggest backup provide, @Backup
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Backing up laptop data-The NetStore Group provides a backup service called PCRefresh, which for a monthly fee backs up any changed files on a laptop automatically every day.
2. What are the different types of configuration options that are typically available with anti virus software
Issues surrounding the Internet
Some problems can be:
- Employees making inappropriate use of email
- Pupils being exposed to inappropriate materials
Suggest some of the measures or procedures that can be adopted to ensure to some extent that the internet is used appropriately. These can include businesses and schools.
Organisations and business, schools and colleges set up their own-wide internet. This provides the same facilities as the internet like browsing software and e-mailing facilinties. Firewalls are used to control security and control the access to the internet. This is used in schools to stop pupils downloading unsuitable material.
