NCJ Number
138833
Date Published
1991
Length
368 pages
Annotation
Using the stories of three recent cases of major computer crime committed by computer "hackers," this volume details the attitudes, motivations, and techniques of these offenders, as well as the broader social consequences of computer networks.
Abstract
Kevin Mitnick was able to use the telephone to enter many computer networks and the highly secret research group of one of the leading computer manufacturers. Pengo was a youth from West Berlin, Germany, who offered his hacking services and those of his friends to the government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Robert Morris received extensive media coverage as the student who wrote a flawed computer program that disrupted an important nationwide computer network and made the public aware of the existence of computer viruses. Based on document reviews and interviews with several hundred people, the text details the offenders' personal backgrounds, the crimes, their detection, and the response of the criminal justice systems. Index and chapter notes and source lists (Publisher summary modified)