Computer and Internet Crimes Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards based on Course Material No. 7: Computer and Internet Crimes.

Computer Crimes

Offenses classified into two main types: crimes aided by computers and crimes directly aimed at computers themselves.

Physical Security

The practice of keeping a computer safe by monitoring it or keeping it in a secure location, similar to locking a house.

Viruses

Harmful programs, often spread by email, that can damage files or slow down system performance.

Antivirus Software

Software that acts like medicine to protect computer systems against harmful viral infections.

Malicious Logic

Web commands designed intentionally to harm a computer on purpose, causing crashes or slow performance.

Hacking

The act of finding and using weaknesses in computer systems to gain unauthorized access.

Internal Misuse

System problems or data loss occurring when someone with authorized access accidentally or deliberately deletes or alters files.

Spoofing

An attack method where an adversary tricks a system by pretending to be a trusted program or sign-in page to steal access.

Morris Worm (1988)

The first large-scale internet worm that infected about 10% of connected machines and caused $100\,\text{million}$ dollars in damages by endlessly replicating itself.

Citibank & Vladimir Levin (1994)

A major computer crime where Vladimir Levin hacked Citibank's cash management system to transfer client funds illegally.

Melissa Virus (1999)

A Word macro virus spread through email that infected over a million computers and crashed email servers.

Love Letter Worm (2000)

The ILOVEYOU virus from the Philippines that spread via email attachments, overwriting files with copies of itself.

Code Red Worm (2001)

A worm that exploited Microsoft IIS servers rapidly, spreading within hours but disappearing when infected machines were turned off.

Slammer Worm (2003)

A worm that spread extremely fast through Microsoft SQL servers, doubling its infection count every 8 seconds.

Shamoon (2012)

A destructive virus that wiped files and disabled many Windows computers on targeted networks.

Worms

Standalone malicious programs that replicate on their own to spread across networks or mobile devices via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Script Kiddies

Unskilled intruders who use pre-made software tools to gain unauthorized access to computer systems.

Elite Hackers

Advanced hackers who discover and create new exploits to breach computer defenses.

Insiders

People within an organization who misuse their authorized access to delete files, commit fraud, or bypass security.

Computer Security

A branch of security engineering focused on ensuring that users and programs can only perform approved actions such as accessing, modifying, or deleting data.

Network Security

Protection measures designed to safeguard networks and their services from unauthorized access, damage, or leaks while ensuring operational functionality.

Confidentiality

The security principle that requires information to stay hidden from unauthorized individuals.

Integrity

The security principle that ensures only authorized users can modify or change information.

Availability

The security principle ensuring hardware, software, and data are accessible to users whenever needed.

Authentication

The security measure that verifies whether a person or entity is truly who they claim to be.

Non-repudiation

The principle ensuring that messages can be verified as sent and received and that the sender's identity can be confirmed.

Host Security

A security approach that protects each individual computer or device on its own.

Least Privilege

The security principle of granting users or programs only the minimum permissions necessary to complete their assigned tasks.

Layered Security

The practice of using multiple overlapping security controls (such as firewalls, routers, and encryption) to avoid single points of failure.

Diversity of Defense

Designing security layers using distinct defensive techniques so that breaching one layer does not allow an attack to easily breach the next.

Discretionary Access Control (DAC)

An access control method where permissions are based on user identity or group, allowing authorized users to grant access to others.

Mandatory Access Control (MAC)

An access control system where access is governed by fixed security labels on users and files, controlled strictly by the system.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

An access control method that assigns system permissions to users based on their specific organizational role or job function.

Information Ethics

A branch of business ethics focused on information systems and the agreement among IT professionals to adhere to moral standards of right and wrong.

Act-Consequence Separation

An ethical barrier in electronic crimes where offenders feel detached or rationalize wrongdoing because they do not see direct physical harm.

Individual Power

An attribute of information systems where a single individual can carry out significant computer crimes independently without needing accomplices.

Privacy

The right of individuals to protect personal information—such as medical, financial, and educational records—from unauthorized access.

Audit Trail

A record generated by tracking controls that documents how a transaction was handled from initial input through processing and output.

Fair Credit Reporting Act (1970)

A computer crime law regulating how credit-reporting bureaus collect, store, and use credit information.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (1998)

A law protecting children's online data by limiting how websites collect and use personal details from minors.

Firewall

An internet security system combining hardware and software to monitor and block unauthorized access between an internal network and external entities.

Computer Time Theft

The unauthorized use of company systems by employees for personal tasks such as playing games, running side businesses, or non-work internet browsing.

Cracker

A criminal hacker who illegally breaks into systems for personal gain, harm, or the thrill of beating system security.

Application Viruses

Viruses that attach to executable programs like word processors and execute when the infected program is launched.

System Virus

A virus that infects operating system files and activates immediately when the computer is booted.

Logic Bomb

A hidden virus programmed to activate and cause damage upon reaching a specific date, time, or system trigger.

Macro Virus

A virus written in an application's macro language that infects data documents such as text files, spreadsheets, or databases.