Computer crime - Definition and Overview

Computer crime or e-crime is crime in which a computer plays an essential part.

Exactly what is illegal varies greatly from territory to territory. Consequently, the growth of international data communications and in particular the Internet has made these crimes both more common and more difficult to police.

Examples of computer crime are:

• Fraud achieved by the manipulation of computer records.
• Spamming where this is outlawed completely or where regulations controlling it are violated.
• Deliberate circumvention of computer security systems.
• Unauthorised access to or modification of
  • programs (see hacking).
  • data.
• Industrial espionage by means of access to or theft of computer materials.
• Identity theft where this is accomplished by use of fraudulent computer transactions.
• Writing or spreading computer viruses or worms.
• Salami slicing is the practice of stealing money repeatedly in extremely small quantities

External links

• Australian Computer Abuse Research Bureau (http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/crimestoppers/detail.cfm?ObjectID=29&Section=education) (ACARB) introduction to computer abuse concepts

• Computer Crime Research Center (http://www.crime-research.org) - Daily news about computer crime, internet fraud and cyber terrorism

• http://www.cybercrime.gov - U.S. Department of Justice cybercrime web site

Example Usage of Computer