Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Essay

The Internet has vastly expanded the opportunities for identity theft. A particularly prevalent form of cyber theft is known as phishing. This occurs when cybercriminals use spam, e-mail, or other messages to trick people into submitting personal information. As phishing has become more sophisticated, criminals have developed ways to gain access to such data merely by having the user click on the link. Phishers often pool stolen information and sell it on the black market via online forums. Max Ray Vision ran one such site, CardMarkets.com. When Vision was arrested in 2007, computers in his home contained some 1.8 million stolen credit card and bank account numbers. This information allowed Vision and his associates to make more than $86 million in fraudulent purchases.

The United States government changed the face of computer and internet use when it signed the USA Patriot Act on October 26, 2001. This act was created in the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York City on September 11 that same year. Many people believe that this act is a good thing and will help in defense against any future attacks. What most people do not know, however, is the effect of this act on the more general public. This includes individual people, public libraries, colleges and universities, and even trucking or hauling companies.

The Patriot Act of 2001 has in many ways changed the way that acts of terrorism and other crimes related to terrorism are handled within the Federal system. The Patriot Act in many ways unites under one law code a few different important clauses relating to tools available to federal law enforcement and also to the new more pressed penalties for terrorist acts. The entire act within itself provides law enforcement a new set of measures and procedures to combating terrorist on the financial field as well as the domestic home front. The most basic of tools that many law enforcement agencies have took advantage of were with the passing of the Patriot Act of 2001 becoming newly available to that of federal investigatory

In 1984, the CFAA began as a criminal statute to protect classified information in government computer systems. The statute, initially, was restricted to “federal interest computers,” which included only computers of governmental and financial institutions. Throughout the years, Congress progressively expanded its reach, both in terms of who may file suit and what computers are protected. In 1994, Congress added, for the first time, a private right of action to allow “[a]ny person who suffers damage or loss by reason of a violation of [the statute]” to “maintain a civil action against the violator to obtain compensatory damages and injunctive relief or other equitable relief.” Further amendments in 1996 extended the range of the CFAA from “federal interest computers” to “protected computers” used in interstate commerce.

One of the first post-9/11 legislative measures addressing information security of the government assets was the E-Government Act of 2002 and specifically one of its provisions, the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002. Some of the notable purposes of this Act were to “provide a comprehensive framework

Cyber-crime affects all areas and types of offenses; investigations can be conducted as part of a homicide or an individual(s) sharing child pornography. For

According to the Assistant Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Thomas T. Kubic addressed members of the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection in 2001 on behalf of the entire Bureau and stated the effort to reduce crime has been a high priority (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2001). In Kubic’s testimony, he mentioned many valid points such as: cyber-crimes are virtual crimes which made them hard to prosecute and they also cause a great amount of damage. Research shows that internet users in the U.S. reached approximately 65 million in 1998 and over 100 million in 1999 and it is expected to exceed 200 million this year (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2001). Cyber-crime is known to be nebulous therefore it if difficult to address if there has been a crime committed and what

When looking at a cyber crime it is a crime that is committed over the web, and in order to commit these crimes the criminals uses a their smart phone, tablet, or their computer. Criminals today will use social media with false accounts to get the attention of users to get to their personal information, social media could be; email, or sites like Facebook and Instagram.

In the recent years the world has experienced a paradigm in digital security. With current events such as Edward Snowden’s NSA Leaks and the FBI vs Apple case, the nation seems to be becoming more aware the the injustices done against the American public and violations against our most basic rights, security and privacy.

The idea of internet crime regulation has been around for quite awhile, yet no one has taken this subject seriously. Cybercrime is a major problem in the US which needs to be brought to an end, immediately. There are many questions raised when cybercrime regulation is brought up. These questions include the status quo, problems with the status quo, why now is the most opportune time for change, the alternatives, drawbacks, benefits, funding issues, who will regulate the internet, and the punishments for these crimes.

Spurred by the massive hacking attacks on companies and offices such as Anthem, Sony, and the Office of Personnel Management, the Senate decided to take action. On October 27, Senate passed the CISA or Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act. This act is “designed to [stop] corporate data breaches by allowing companies to share cybersecurity threat date with Department of Homeland Security [and then] pass it on other agencies. . . who in theory use it to defend the target company and others facing similar attacks” (Greenberg). CISA addresses the issue of attempting to stop hacks on major companies by giving the information of customers to Homeland Security, who then gives that information to an agency such as NSA or the FBI to investigate. Now, what’s wrong with this? Greenberg states that privacy advocates and civil liberties groups view CISA as an easy way for companies to monitor clients and share their client’s information with the government agencies without permission. Greenberg continues on to say that security companies dislike this because they

Since the widespread use of computers, computer crime has caused an increase in computer investigations during the twenty first century. Some reasons for investigation include: identity theft, such as stolen social security and credit card numbers, to find evidence of a cheating spouse, to investigate hackers on a computer system, to find evidence of child pornography, and much more.

Since the widespread use of computers, computer crime has caused an increase in computer investigations during the twenty first century. Some reasons for investigation include: identity theft, such as stolen social security and credit card numbers, to find evidence of a cheating spouse, to investigate hackers on a computer system, to find evidence of child pornography, and much more.

Computer crimes are criminal activities, which involve the use of information technology to gain an illegal or an unauthorized access to a computer system with intent of damaging, deleting or altering computer data. Computer crimes also include the activities such as electronic frauds, misuse of devices, identity theft and data as well as system interference. Computer crimes involve activities of software theft, whereas the privacy of the users is hampered. These criminal activities involve the breach of human and information privacy, as also the theft and illegal alteration of system critical information. The different types of computer crimes have caused the introduction and use of newer and more effective security measures.

Computer crime refers to any violation of the law in which a computer is the target or means of criminal activity (Mooney, Knox, & Schacht, 2014, p.113). Computer crime is also known as cybercrime. Cybercrime continues to have far reaching effects because it affects individuals, companies, and organizations and is increasingly a problem in the globalized world we live in. This is because we rely so much on cell-phones, computers, and us many social network sites. Cybercrime is considered a social problem because it negatively affects a large group of people in our society. In 2014, there were 1.5 million cyber attacks worldwide (“IBM Cyber Security Intelligence Index,” 2015, pg.13). One type of computer crime is identity theft. Identity theft is the use of someone else’s personal information to obtain credit or other economic rewards (Mooney, et al, 2014, pg.113). Identity theft first became a crime in 1998, when Congress passed the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act