Threats to Computer Security

Computer security can be divided into three categories:

Computer criminals

Computer crime

Other hazards

Computer criminals include the following groups of people.

Employees

Outside users

Hackers and crackers

Organized crime

Terrorists

Employees are the largest category of computer criminals. Criminal activates include stealing equipment, information, software, and time. Most of the time the crime is done by disgruntled employees.

Outside users often have access to computers -- these include suppliers and clients. The information they access may be given or sold to competitors.

We have all heard stories or seen movies about computer hackers. Hackers access computer information just for the fun of it. However, a computer cracker will do it for profit.

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