Reluctance to Prosecute. A factor that contributes to computer crime is many organizations’ reluctance to prosecute the criminals. According to the CSI study, this situation is improving, In 1996, only 17 percent of the firms that experlenced an illegal intrusion reported it to a law enforcement agency. In 2002, 75 percent of such crimes were reported. Of the 25 percent that did not report the intrusions, fear of negative publicity was the most common cited justification for their silence.
Many computer criminals are repeat offenders. Performing background checks on prospective employees can significantly reduce an organization’s hiring risk and avoid criminal acts. In the past, employee backgrounding was difficult to achieve because former employers, fearing legal action, were reluctant to disclose negative information to prospective employers. A no comment policy prevailed.
The relatively new legal doctrine of negligent hiring liability is changing this. This doctrine effectively requires employers to check into an employee’s background. Increasingly, courts are holding employers responsible for criminal acts that employees, both on and off the job, perpetrated if a background check could have prevented crimes. Many states have passed laws that protect a former employer from legal action when providing work-related performance information about a former employee when (1) the inquiry comes from a prospective employer, (2) the information is based on credible facts, and (3) the information is given without malice.
Internet Risks
This section looks at three of the more significant business risks associated with Internet commerce. These are IP spoofing. Denial of service attacks, and equipment failure.
IP Spoofing
IP spoofing is a form of masquerading to gain unauthorized access to a Web server and/or to perpetrate an unlawful act without revealing one’s identity. To accomplish this, a perpetrator modifies the IP address of the originating computer to disguise his or her identity, A criminal may use IP spoofing to make a message packet (see Appendix) appear to be coming from a trusted or authorized source and thus slip through control systems design to accept transmissions from certain (trusted) host computers and block out others. This technique could be used to crack into corporate networks to perpetrate frauds, conduct acts of espionage, or destroy data. For example, a hacker may spoof a manufacturing firm with a false sales order that appears to come from a legitimate customer. If the spoof goes undetected, the manufacturer will incur the costs of producing and delivering a product that was never ordered.