Computer Security

14 Pages 3410 Words

What the early hackers did was duplicate the particularly distinguishable tones that the phone companies used in their early switching devices enabling them to fool the system into thinking that the customer has paid. A person who used any number of devices available for manipulating switch systems in order to explore or exploit is called a phone phreak (Schmalleger, 1999, p. 479).
Who are the perpetrators?
Computer crime, like any other criminal activity, is a product of opportunity, desire, and ability. Anyone who owns a computer or has access to a computer has the opportunity to misuse its systems to engage in criminal activity. According to Kovacich (1989) researchers found that the average age of most computer crime defendants is between the ages of 21 and 23. The second highest age groups of computer crime defendants are between 18 and 20 (p. 25). Maxfield (1989) suggested that hackers could be classified into the following groups based on their psychological characteristics: pioneers, scamps, explorers, game players, vandals, and...