Information technology ethics - Essay Example

On the other hand the biggest pessimistic use of a computer is for crime purposes. As people make use of the computers they typically think that their activities are confidential and also their personal information is protected. For instance, web sites of business nature often gather details from many visitors; later on many web sites sell these personal details against the desires of the visitors (Turban, Rainer and Potter; NCSI-Net). This is a kind of computer crime. There are many other kinds of a crime which are performed using a computer however most of the computer crimes are covered under the term ‘phishing’.

In their book, (Laudon and Laudon 147) define “computer crime as the unlawful activities by making use of a computer or against a computer system. The Internet's user-friendliness and convenience have fashioned modern ways for computer crime, well-known forms of which is phishing.” Additionally, the computer crimes appear in a wide variety of ways and also cause a number of serious problems for different people. For instance, nowadays online frauds or frauds using the Internet are modern form of the online criminal activities in which an authorized person (normally acknowledged as a hacker) hacks some useful data and information and later on use it to conduct illegal and criminal tasks, such as cash related scandals.

In this scenario, the basic intentions of criminals are to earn money, tease other or play games with others. In fact, the Internet is open for everyone which gives the opportunities to criminal people, to steal, new ways to steal them, and new techniques to harm others (Laudon and Laudon 147). As discussed above, there are many kinds of a computer crime and criminals do it intentionally. For instance, sometimes a dissatisfied employee or terminated worker can be dangerous to an organization.

In this scenario, these people want to damage business with their extensive criminal activities (Parker; Turban, Rainer and Potter). Therefore, employers should properly scrutinize the background of persons being connected with critical computer related tasks. Some people falsify resume to get jobs. Also, the company should hire trustworthy personnel to minimize crimes related to computers. In addition, Hacker and Cracker are most widely used terms in computer crimes. In this scenario, Hacker is an external person who can break through a computer system, typically with no illegal intention.

On the other hand, a Cracker is a nasty hacker, who may perhaps produce a stern crisis for the organization (Parker; Turban, Rainer and Potter). Moreover, Phishing is an emerging problem regarding online data security and information safety. There are a number of cases of identity theft and online frauds using Phishing and other hacking techniques. At the present, Phishing is normally carried out through E-mail or the instant messaging. In many cases its basic purpose is to direct online traffic to a particular website whose appearance or interface are approximately similar to the actual one.

Even though server cannot differentiate between false and original web site so a hacker successfully passes through these security walls. Normally, Phishing techniques are aimed at making fool to the internet users, and making use of the attractive usability of present web expertise. In this scenario,