Part 116 (1/2)
Tuesday, January 12
The Computer As Weapon?
by Scott Mason
Since the dawn of civilization, Man has had the perverse ability to turn Good into Bad, White into Black, Hot into Cold, Life into Death History bears out that technology is falling into the saun; they were created to help uns are bought with no purpose other than to hurt another hu to send reat advantages that technology has brought modern man have been continuously subverted for malevolent uses
What if the same is true for cohbor, or my opponent, I would hire a private eye to perforer of his being caught Today? I'd hire et h their coument's sake, let's say I want advance information on coet inside the SEC coet in from literally thousands of locations nationwide) and read up on the latest figures before they're reported to the public Think of betting the whole wad on a race with only one horse
I would iine, and I am no lawyer, that if I broke into the SEC offices and read through their file cabinets, I would be in ame in their computer is an extraordinary exercise in resource frustration, and usually futile For unlike the burglar, the computer criminal is never at the scene of the crime He is ten or a hundred or a thousand miles away Besides, the better computer criminals know the systems they attack so well, that they can cover their tracks couest
Isn't then the computer a tool, a weapon, of the computer crimi- nal? I can use my computer as a tool to pry open your computer, and then once inside I use it to perhaps destroy pieces of your computer or your information
I wonder then about other coory Is the computer or the virus the weapon? Is the virus a special kind of computer bullet? The intent and the result is the sa an articulate man recently make the case that computers should be licensed, and that not everyone should be able to own one He maintained that the use of a computer car- ried with it an inherent social responsibility What if the technology that gives us the world's highest standard of living, convenience and luxury was used instead as a ical civil disobedience if you will? What if politi- cal strength came from the corruption of an opponent's co with a weapon as un is a weapon? my friend pleaded
Clearly the computer is Friend And the computer, by itself is not bad, but recent events have clearly deal purposes It is the use to which one puts the tool that deter of computers, information sys- tems, would be hts But I nize that the history of indus- trialized society does not support my case
Automobiles were once not licensed Do ant it any other way?
I am sure many of you wish that drivers licenses were harder to come by Radio transmitters have been licensed for most of this century and many a civil libertarian will make the case that because they are licensed, it is a restriction on my freedom of speech to require approval by the Government before broadcast
On the practical side, does itto use the same frequency?
Cellular phones are officially licensed as are CB's Guns re- quire licenses in an increasing nuical to say that co calaly befall us The company phone effectively licenses lines to you, with the added distinction of being able to record everything you do
Computers represent an obvious boon and a potential bane When coainst theainst the contents of the computer under attack, the results can ripple far and wide I believe we are indeed fortunate that coainst their creators by faction groups vying for power and attention
Thus far isolated events, caused by ego or accident have been the rule and large scale coordinated, well executed coh, is certainly no guarantee that ill not have to face the Computer Terrorists to the Galaxy at Warp 9
Tuesday, January 12 Federal Square, New York
Tyrone was required to con Scott in and escort hi Scott didn't arrive until al up for lost sleep He knew it didn't work that way, but twelve hours of dead rest had to do so
Tyrone explained as they took an elevator two levels beneath the street that they were going to ith a reconstructionist A man with a very powerful computer will build up the face that Scott saw, piece by piece They opened a door that was identi- fied by only a number and entered an almost sterile work place
A pair of Sun workstations with large high resolution e white tables by one wall, with a row of racks of floor to ceiling disk drives and tape units opposite
”Reht,” said Scott ”No names”
Tyrone introduced Scott to Vinnie ould be running the com- puter Vinnie's first job was to familiarize Scott with the procedure Tyrone told Vinnie to call hi;he had other matters to attend to in the meantime Of obvious Italian descent, with a thick Brooklyn accent, Vinnie Misselli epitoood
His lantern jaw and classic Ro the blue suits and white shi+rts that typified the FBI
”All I need,” Vinnie said, ”is a brief description to get things started Then, we'll fix it piece by piece”