Hacking Exposed

Introduction

With Helen’s (2009) definition of computer crime as a criminal offense, which is primarily committed with computer being the major tool, hacking without doubt falls under such crimes. On the other hand, he defines computer hacking as a practice in which the criminal modifies the computer hardware and software to enable him carryout an act that was never provided for the system. Franklin (2006) noted that such individuals have developed various hacking devices, which they create intentionally, in order to allow them defraud users of various sites. This crime is mostly rampant among the teens. This paper will examine the case of one of such crimes that was widely recorded.

The paper presents the case between Nemeth Attila who was a citizen of Hungary and the Marriot computers corporation. Nemeth was accused of having conducted numerous hacking related activities on the site of the Marriot Corporation. In this case, it is Attila Nemeth who was the criminal, while Marriot Computer Corporation was the victim. Cottin (2010) in expounding on the crime noted that Nemeth had found access into the corporation’s site and carried out a number of hacking activities. He elaborated that Nemeth had utilized various internet-serving devises, which enabled him to download malicious codes on various Marriot Corporation’s computers’ IP segments. Having gotten his way into the IP segments of the Corporation, he got a way of venturing into all the corporation’s servers. This he did by simply intercepting the corporation’s web traffic (Cottin, 2010).

Cottin (2010) reported that Nemeth himself admitted having carried out the installation of malicious software in the corporation’s system. Such a practice guarantees one an automatic access to any kind of computer system.

The cases went through the normal investigation procedure after which, U.S authority found Nemeth guilty of a hacking crime, which led to a two year and six weeks sentence in prison. As was alleged, he was charged of having transmitted malicious codes to the computers of the Marriott Corporations. The court further established that this was not Nemeth’s first time to blackmail an organization, but that the criminal had done the same for a number of organizations.

According to Cottin’s (2010) revelations, Nemeth carried out the act as a threat strategy with the motive of securing a job with the corporation. He explained that Nemeth had stated that if his demand of securing employment was not going to be met then he would reveal all the organization’s confidential information. Cottin observes that Attila pleaded guilty for having e-mailed the personnel at Marriott and that he had had access to their computers for months, including all the details regarding the corporation’s dealings.

However, the trick used by the U.S. secret service was so effective. They created a fictitious account and used it in their communication with Nemeth. Having been promised a job, Nemeth went ahead to reveal all his misconducts in a fictitious interview, thinking he was communicating with the corporation’s human resource manager. Nemeth wanted to demonstrate that he had exceptional skills in solving problems related to computer hacking and to win favor with the corporation to secure him a job.

Nemeth’s activity violated the Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1986. The punishment given to Nemeth fit the crime committed since this law states that any computer access breach leads one to be imprisoned for not less than 20 months.

In conclusion, with the increasing trends in these acts, such measures as ensuring that the computers are physically secure and the creation of firewall, as well as making it mandatory for the site users to undergo an authentication process before getting access to the site, should never be ignored by any organization. Perhaps the corporation could have been safe if such measures were followed.