COMPUTER CRIME

any crime that is committed by means of the special knowledge or expert use of computer technology. Computer crime became a serious problem with the proliferation of such technology in the late 20th century. Since the first reported case of computer abuse in 1958, computers have been involved in most types of crimes, including theft, burglary, larceny, fraud, embezzlement, extortion, sabotage, espionage, kidnapping, and murder. Computer systems themselves can be the targets of attack, as when a computer virus (q.v.) is surreptitiously introduced into a system to alter or destroy data. Breaking into private computer systems to destroy, steal, or alter information became easier once modems (devices that allow computers to communicate over telephone lines) were introduced in the 1960s. Technically expert computer hobbyists who use personal computers and modems to break into and tamper with computer systems are known as hackers. Most serious computer crimes, however, are committed in the banking and financial-service industries, where money, credit, and other financial assets are recorded in electronic databases and are transmitted as signals over telephone lines. Persons with access to such systems may falsify or manipulate these records for their own purposes by, for example, illegally transferring money balances to their own accounts.