018_ethical_issues_in_comp_security.txt

---ETHICAL ISSUES IN COMPUTER SECURITY---

--Hacking and Computer Crime--

A large part of computer security is concerned with the protection of computer resources and data against unauthorized, intentional break-ins or 
disruptions. Such actions are often called hacking. Hacking, is the use of computer skills to gain unauthorized access to computer resources. 
Hackers are highly skilled computer users that use their talents to gain such access, and often form communities or networks with other hackers to 
share knowledge and data. 

The positive impact of hacking, they argue, is that it frees data to the benefit of all, and improves systems and software by exposing security holes. 
The reconsideration are part of what has been called the hacker ethic or hacker code of ethics, which is a set of (usually implicit) principles that 
guide the activity of many hackers. 

Both hacking and cracking tend to be unlawful, and may therefore be classified as a form of computer crime, or cybercrime, as it has also been called. 
There are many varieties of computer crime, and not all of them compromise computer security. There are two major types of cybercrime that compromise 
computer security: 
cybertrespass, which is defined as the use of information technology to gain unauthorized access to computer systems or password-protected websites, and
cybervandalism, which is the use of information technology to unleash programs that disrupt the operations of computer networks or corrupt data.


Another type of cybercrime that sometimes includes breaches of computer security, cyberpiracy.  
Cyberpiracy, also called software piracy, is the use of information technology to reproduce copies of proprietary software or information or 
to distribute such data across a computer network.

--Cyberterrorism and Information Warfare--
A recent concern in computer and national security has been the possibility of cyberterrorism, which is defined by Herman Tavani as the execution 
of “politically motivated hacking operations intended to cause grave harm, that is, resulting in either loss of life or severe economic loss, or both”.