Security Issues: Threats to Computers & Communications Systems. Among the threats to the security of computers are the following. (1) Errors and accidents, such as human errors, procedural errors, software errors, electromechanical problems, and "dirty data" problems. (2) Natural hazards, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, civil strife, and terrorism. (3) Computer crimes, which can be either illegal acts perpetrated against computers or the use of computers to accomplish illegal acts. Crimes against computers include theft of hardware, software, time and services, or information, or crimes of malice and destruction. (4) Crimes using computers include credit-card theft and investment fraud. (5) Worms are programs that copy themselves repeatedly into a computer's memory or disk drive, and viruses are deviant programs that can destroy data. Worms and viruses are passed by infected floppy disks, or infected data sent over a network; antivirus software can detect viruses. (6) Computer criminals may be an organization's employees, outside users, hackers and crackers, and professional criminals. Hackers gain unauthorized access to computers, often just for the challenge, whereas crackers do it for malicious purposes.
Security: Safeguarding Computers & Communications. Security, the system of safeguards for protecting computers against disasters, failure, and unauthorized access, has four components. (1) Computer systems try to determine authorized users by three criteria: by what they have (keys, badges, signatures); by what they know (as with PINs or personal identification numbers, and passwords or codes); and by who they are (as by physical traits, as determined perhaps through biometrics, the science of measuring individual body characteristics). (2) Encryption, altering data so it is not usable unless the changes are undone, tries to make computer messages more secure. (3) Software and data are protected by controlling access to files, by audit controls that track the programs used, and by people controls that screen job applicants and other users. (4) Disaster-recovery plans are methods for restoring computer operations after natural disasters or accidents.
Quality-of-Life Issues: The Environment, Mental Health, & the Workplace. Some quality-of-life issues related to information technology are as follows. (1) Environmental problems include manufacturing and disposing by-products, environmental blight, and possible risks of nanotechnology. (2) Computer-related mental-health problems include isolation, online gambling, and stress. (3) Problems affecting workplace productivity include misuse of technology, as when employees waste company time going online for personal purposes; fussing with computers because of hardware/software problems; and information overload.
Economic Issues: Employment & the Haves/Have-Nots. Two charges by economic critics of information technology are as follows. (1) Technology replaces humans in countless tasks, forcing millions of workers into temporary or part-time employment, and even unemployment. (2) Technology widens the gap between the rich and the poor, between information "haves" and "have-nots."
The Digital Environment: Is There a Grand Design? Some factors affecting the shape of the digital environment are as follows. (1) Internet2 is a cooperative university-business program to enable high-end users to quickly move data. (2) The 1996 Telecommunications Act was designed to increase competition among telecommunications businesses by allowing different carriers to offer the same services. (3) ICANN is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which is a nonprofit corporation established to regulate internet domain names. (4) The unruly nature of the internet has led to the emergence of company intranets and extranets to provide reliability.
