Computer crimes

Like most other technological advances, the computer is a tool which can be used for good or ill. You can save time with computers, write better spelled and better typed papers. You can balance budgets, from the personal to the professional; input and store and process and output all kinds of information; and send it around the world as fast as telephone lines and satellites.

But, at the same time, our computers can be misused. For example, someone with a distinctly different sense of humour infects software with a virus that causes fish to swim across the spreadsheet. Another someone changes all information in the financial aid office, and yet another uses the company computer to do a little freelance. We can use our computers to spy, to lie and cheat. To steal. To do harm. These are no jokes. These are crimes.

Electronic trespass is illegal. Peekers who gain access to a co-worker’s personal file or to a checking account records are trespassing, just as if they were physically in the bank. Business and industry have much to lose through electronic trespass. Information about new products, stock transfers, plans to acquire another company are worth millions of dollars to the company or its competitors. Electronic funds transfers take money from one account and move it to another. Banks are authorized to do so by legitimate customers. But bank employees can do it without authorization. The transfer of a million dollars will be quickly noted, but the transfer of one tenth of a cent from every customer’s monthly interest will not – and those fractional cents can quickly add up to many dollars.

Data encryption – using a code - is one way to stop electronic thieves. Encryption is the transformation of data into a form that is as close to impossible as possible to read without the appropriate knowledge. Its purpose is to ensure privacy by keeping information hidden from anyone for whom it is not intended, even those who have access to the encrypted data. Decryption is the reverse to encryption; it is the transformation of encrypted data back into an intelligible form. More recent advances offer codes based on the product of two large prime numbers and on the use of quantum theory. They are still considered unbreakable.

EXERCISE EXERCISE 2

Answer questions about the text:

1. Which operations can you do on your computer?

2. What harm can one get from the computer?

3. Can you explain in your own words what is electronic trespass?

4. How can companies lose millions dollars through electronic trespass?

5. How are illegal electronic funds transfers run?

6. What do we call a computer crime?

7. Are there any ways to stop unauthorized actions?

8. What is data encryption/ description?

9. Which codes are considered unbreakable nowadays?

10. Do you know any other protective devices or programmes?

11. Do you think Internet is a positive thing?

EXERCISE EXERCISE 3

The following sentences will sound more naturally if they begin with “It”. Transform each according to the model:

EXAMPLE:

0. Even to establish in which country he was sitting was impossible.

It was impossible even to establish in which country he was sitting.

1) How easy it is to hack into government computers is unbelievable.

It …

2) To try and find out where he was based was futile.

It …

3) That an outside person knows the password to our system seems likely.

It …

4) For us to find out who it was is absolutely vital.

It …

5) When you give me back that flash card doesn’t really matter.

It …

6) That the new encryption code has been developed was reported in Internet news.

It …

EXERCISE EXERCISE 4

Work in pairs. Make up sentences beginning with the expressions below. Ask questions to get more information. Speak about computers.

EXAMPLE:

A: It is vital that young people have the opportunity to learn to use computers at school.

B: Why do you feel that?

A: Because computers are essential in every area of work.

1. It’s vital that …

2. It’s surprising how few/many …

3. It’s exciting when …

4. It’s definitely worth …

5. It’s often said that …

6. I find it quite difficult to …

7. I find it very interesting to …

I find it embarrassing to…

EXERCISE EXERCISE 5

Read and translate the text with the dictionary