Caught in a tangled Web

Finding personal info online is easier than you might think.
By Karma Christine Salvato
Staff Writer 

DELETED. Imagine for a moment your driver’s license, your credit cards, your bank accounts and your identity erased from existence.

Frightening thought, isn’t it?

Unfortunately, with the advancement of technology and the invention of the Internet, it has become quite easy for personal facts about each of us to end up in the wrong hands. Everyone’s personal information is encoded somewhere on a complex network of information. The Internet, which can be a very useful tool, has become a high-tech nightmare.

Think about it. You can order food, clothes, books, music and many other products — all via the Internet. You can even retrieve records from the other side of the world. With the click of a button you can get whatever you want, whenever you want, and all without ever having to speak to another individual.

But, as ideal as that may sound to some, it is unwise to ignore the dangers involved with such a powerful entity.

A good hacker can log onto remote computers and alter any information they choose, including: top secret government information, flight plans, medical, criminal and school records, credit card data or even someone’s identity.

The right to privacy regarding Internet activity is a serious issue facing society.

According to a recent Washington Post article, “Hackers broke into a University of Texas database and stole the names, Social Security numbers and e-mail addresses of more than 55,000 students, former students and employees, officials said.”

Like Pepperdine University, the Texas school used Social Security numbers for virtually every type of transaction.

Many other colleges and universities don’t require the use of a Social Security number except for specified forms. Instead, they assign another number to be used as identification.

Another article from the Nov. 26, 2002, issue of the Washington Post discussed 30,000 people who were also victims of identity theft.

“It’s an expanding crime, and it’s one that really bugs consumers,” Marty Abrams, executive director of the Center for Information Policy Leadership, said in the article. “It’s also one that law enforcement is still trying to get its arms around.”

The case demonstrates how identity theft has grown from a petty crime to a major national problem, according to Abrams.

Incidents of computer crime are reported on an almost daily basis. The 2000 Computer Security Institute/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey indicated that computer crime and other information security breaches are still on the rise, and the cost is increasing.

The Department of Justice categorizes computer crime in three ways: (1) The computer as a target — attacking the computers of others (spreading viruses is an example); (2) The computer as a weapon — using a computer to commit “traditional crime” that we see in the physical world (such as fraud or illegal gambling); and (3) the computer as an accessory — using a computer as a “fancy filing cabinet” to store illegal or stolen information.

Cyber crime can result in loss of life, dignity, time and employment.

In the years and months leading up to Jan. 1, 2000, it became abundantly clear to the federal government how much the nation relied on information technology systems and the vulnerabilities facing those systems. Experts warned that the dreaded “Y2K Bug” would cause networks and critical systems all around the world to collapse. But governmental efforts to protect important information systems date back several decades.

Around 1977, the General Accounting Office recommended limiting the number of federal employees who could use a computer as a way to prevent network security breaches.

In 1983, Rep. Dan Glickman (D-Kan.) called for hearings to examine computer hackers, after seven teenagers known collectively as the “414s,” broke into several government computers, including a non- classified computer at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Also this same year, Deputy Assistant FBI Director Floyd Clarke told a House subcommittee that a computer can be used much like “a gun, a knife or a forger’s pen,” and urged new laws against hacking.

President Ronald Reagan signed the Computer Security Act of 1987 in an attempt to protect federal agencies’ computer databases.

In May of 1998, President Bill Clinton ordered the government to work with businesses to secure the nation’s vital information networks, nearly 90 percent of which are owned and operated privately. Clinton appointed Richard Clarke as national coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism. He also called for a national cyberspace protection plan, which was released in 2000.

President George W. Bush established the President’s Critical Infrastructure Advisory Board in October 2001. The CIAB is a group charged with developing a national cybersecurity strategy. The board began soliciting advice from the private sector on ways to increase the nation’s computer security position.

In November 2002, Bush signed the “Cybersecurity Research and Development Act,” which called for $900 million over five years for security research and education. Also during this year, Bush signed legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security, a department that absorbs 22 federal agencies, including five cybersecurity offices and programs. The law expands the ability of authorities to obtain information from telephone and Internet service providers. The legislation also increases fines and jail terms for a range of computer crimes, and calls for life in prison for hackers whose online antics result in the serious bodily injury or death of another.

“Cyber-security and electronic infrastructure are such a pervasive foundation of everything in our country that we need to raise the focus of that in the legislation,” Tim Hackman, director of public affairs for International Business Machines Corp. government programs, said in the July 4, 2002, issue of The Washington Post.

Figuring out how to secure cyberspace is more critical now than ever before, given the dependence of government and the economy on computer networks, the article said.

“The way business is transacted, government operates, and national defense is conducted have changed,” Bush wrote in his letter to the American people preceding the National Strategy To Secure Cyberspace.

“These activities now rely on an interdependent network of information technology infrastructures called cyberspace. The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace provides a framework for protecting this infrastructure that is essential to our economy, security and way of life.”

This National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace is part of an overall effort to protect the nation, the strategy states. “It is a call for national awareness and action by individuals and institutions throughout the United States, to increase the level of cybersecurity nationwide and to implement continuous processes for identifying and remedying cyber vulnerabilities.”

Securing your personal computer plays a crucial role in protecting our nation’s Internet infrastructure. Another crucial role is to participate in responsible cyber social behavior. Relatively new terms like, “cybercitizenship,” “cyberethics,” and “netiquette” refer to this behavior. As more and more children go online and gain an understanding of the Internet, cyberethics becomes an imperative lesson. 

It is important to understand the vulnerability of computers, respect the privacy of others, and take the necessary precautions to protect yourself from any possible invasions.

Sunday is Cyber Security Day, according to www.staysafeonline.info, so set some time aside to update your anti-virus software and scan your computer for viruses — before your identity becomes the next identity to be deleted.

April 03, 2003