Computer Security Under Attacks

Case 1: Unauthorized Access at North Bay

Jessica Quitugua Sabatia, a former accounts payable clerk for North Bay Health Care Group, admitted to using her computer to access North Bay’s accounting software without authorization, and in turn issued approximately various[clarification needed] checks payable to herself and others. Several of the checks were cashed by Sabatia or deposited into her personal bank account, and some were deposited into the bank accounts of others. She attempted to conceal the fraud by altering the electronic check registers of North Bay to make it appear as if the checks had been payable to the company’s vendors. The fraudulent scheme resulted in losses to North Bay of at least $875,035.

On May 27, 2004, Sabatia, plead guilty to two counts of computer fraud, and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine

Case 2: Denial of Service Attack

Scott Dennis, a former computer system administrator for the U.S. District Court of Alaska, initiated three denial of service attacks on Judsys, a private mail list server that is owned and operated by the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Dennis was able to shut the system down by flooding it with numerous emails, which resulted in the computer maintaining Judsys needing to be shut down and taken out of operations, reconfigured, and brought back on line again. Investigators were able to identify Dennis as the perpetrator by tracing the Internet Protocol addresses back to his personal computer.

On January 19, 2001, Dennis was sentenced to six months incarceration; three months in jail and three months of home confinement, followed by one year of supervised release. Additionally, he must allow authorities to monitor his computer activity, and perform 240 hours of community service.

Case 3: Malicious Systems Admin at UBS

A disgruntled computer systems administrator for UBS PaineWebber was charged with using a "logic bomb" to cause more than $3 million in damage to the company's computer network, and with securities fraud for his failed plan to drive down the company's stock with activation of the logic bomb. Roger Duronio is charged in one count of securities fraud which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine and one charge of computer fraud which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a fine of $250,000 or, alternatively, two times the gain made by the defendant or the loss suffered by the victim.

Duronio, who worked at PaineWebber's offices in Weehawken, N.J., planted the logic bomb in some 1,000 of PaineWebber's approximately 1,500 networked computers in branch offices around the country. The logic bomb, which was activated after Durino resigned, deleted files on over 1,000 of UBS PaineWebber's computers. It cost PaineWebber more than $3 million to assess and repair the damage. Duronio also purchased more than $21,000 of "put option" contracts for UBS PaineWebber's parent company, UBS, A.G.'s stock, hoping that the stock would decline in response to the damage caused by the logic bomb. The bomb attack did not have any impact on the price of the stock.

The investigation of Duronio was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service’s Electronic Crimes Task Force with help from UBS PaineWebber.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_fraud_case_studies

The above cited cases are showing indeed that attacks on computer security are rampant. These cases presented an alarming problem in the modern world of Information Technology and Computing. With the growing complexity in computer technology, it adds a more serious issue on how to secure these things from unauthorized access.

However, authorities are doing their jobs (hoped so!) to control and although it can not be stopped, but lessen or minimize these problems.