In this essay I plan to discuss computer crime and hackers, how to protect your computer, and what security measures have been taking place to prevent computer crime. I will look closely at the following questions: what is computer crime, what is hacking, t

Child pornography has become a growing problem not only in the US but in other countries as well. Virtually anyone can access the extremely offensive material, even though it is illegal in the US. Pedophiles not only distribute graphic material of child pornography, but also solicit many children to engage in real life situations. The Internet is a way to create a new identity, where age, sex, location, and other characteristics can be changed. Many children are lured by the pedophiles through chatting and e-mail under different identities in order to gain the child's trust and then later use them in for the disgusting graphic material.

When the term "hacker" comes up in conversation it conjures up many different meanings. There are several hackers that do not even consider themselves hackers. Generally the term hacker means a person who spends a lot time working on programs and codes for fixes to their own existing programs. Society has now adopted the term as a type of criminal activity, where a person unlawfully accesses information or services or cause a disturbance to society. Some of these hackers use this information to create unnecessary problems for companies and government agencies. "True hackers," as they like to call themselves, claim to not engage in activities that cause harm to others (www.tuxedo.org). According to this site, hackers have decided to call those individuals that participate in such activities that cause some kind of damage to others as "crackers." For the hacker illiterate individual, hackers and crackers are commonly combined as one type of offender.

Almost anything can now be done on a computer through the Internet, such as banking, buying and selling of goods, and trading of stocks. The main targets of hacking are big corporations and the government, because hackers would reap the most benefits through these organizations, yet everyone who has a computer is a target to hackers. As more and more households are buying computers, there will of course be an increase in computer crime. Even though computer crime has the potential to increase over the next few years, many people are worried about cyber terrorism. During the Gulf War in 1991, an Israeli broke into the Pentagon and read confidential information on the Patriot missile, which was to be used against Iraq (Deangelis, 2000). Since it is possible for hackers to access this kind of information, it is frightening to fathom what may happen in the future if no security measures are taken by such organizations.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Wall Street, Jonathan Lebed, Shawn Fanning, Overall Internet, Computer Crime, Measures Hacking, , Motivates Hacker/Cracker, Crime Computer, Discussion Computer, computer crime, government agencies, access information, security measures, child pornography, computer internet, cause damage, crime computer, fraudulent crimes, deangelis 2000, companies government agencies, computer crime computer, hackers access information, corporations government agencies, data software hardware,
Approximate Word count = 2886
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)