Imagine someone breaking into your e-mail account and using your nickname list or address book to send rude, offensive, or even abusive messages to friends, family, or professors. As more of our personal information is digitized in this increasingly electronic society, there is a greater chance that someone can interfere with your school records, for example, or take money out of your computerized bank accounts. It is very important, therefore, to take password secrecy and other forms of computing security seriously. Johnson explains that the Web has indirectly facilitated these sorts of crimes. Johnson says many people break into university systems to use them as a jumping point to break into larger systems.
University systems are usually tar geted because they are so big and have so many users.
According to Johnson, many offenders do it just to show off or get attention. Other computer experts echo this sentiment, saying that many people do it to impress friends or get a reaction. The sooner ITS is made aware of the problem, the more likely the offender will be identified. Click here for instructions on how to get an IdentiKey.