Computer Legislation Assignment

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Jason Agar-Hutton

20th October 2002

Computer Legislation Assignment

Computer Misuse Act 1990

The Computer Misuse Act 1990 states that it is illegal to obtain unauthorised access to any computer or to modify its contents.

Three criminal offences are defined in the act, namely:

Unauthorised access to computer material,

Unauthorised modification of computer material; and

Unauthorised access with intent to commit, or facilitate commission, of further offences.

Hacking


A hacker is a computer enthusiast who tries to break into a secure computer system.

The process of doing this is called 'hacking'.

However, a big misunderstanding in the world is that most 'hackers' usually work for big companies, such as IBM, Microsoft and Apple, or even governmental organizations such as the Pentagon or the FBI to improve computer security.

People who break into secure systems with intent of doing harm to its owners, users or any other third party group are known as 'crackers'. These individuals often partake in petty computer-related crimes, such as vandalism or tagging. However, sometimes crackers may be skilled enough to shut down network servers, implant viruses into computer networks or even change financial, governmental and security databases such as bank accounts.

Viruses

A computer virus is simply defined as a self-replicating automated program. However, as well as doing this, most viruses carry a payload which makes them either display annoying messages or graphics on the screen or destroy your files (programs and data). Several thousands of viruses are detected and prevented by most secure machines which have anti-virus software installed (such as AVG, Norton etc). However some viruses do manage to evade virus protection software and infect systems. Some viruses are so harmful that they can damage sensitive programs which a business may need in order to carry out operations. Sometimes, they are also very expensive to recover from. “Recent figures from the National Computing Centre suggest that the cost of an average virus attack on a business is around £4,000!

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Source – Understanding Information & Communication Technology for AS Level (Stephen Doyle)

There are a number of ways in order to prevent, or minimize your chances of your computer catching a virus:

  • Install the latest virus checking software.
  • Do not place any dick in the machine without scanning it first.
  • Scan all software and files that have been downloaded off the Internet.
  • Most viruses have the facility to remain in the computer’s memory while the power is on, so it is unwise to insert your disk ...

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