Preview

Kingpin Ananlytical Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
377 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Kingpin Ananlytical Essay
Introduction: Below I will present an argument that that shows the computer hacking by Max Butler, the main character, demonstrated in the book Kingpin by Kevin Poulsen, was unethical in nature. Max’s actions illustrate computer crime defined as, “any incident involving an intentional act where a victim suffered or could have suffered a loss, and a perpetrator made or could have made a gain and is associated with computers” (Parker, 1976). Max utilized his hacking skills in a malicious manner to victimize individuals by taking their personal property.
Supporting Bullets:
• Max used his hacking knowledge by entering stolen PINs into bank ATMs and withdrawing the money. “He’d enter the PIN, the withdrawal amount and …the ATM spat out cash like a slot machine” (Poulsen, p. 104). His behavior is unethical because he intentionally used individual’s bank PIN numbers to victimize bank account holders by stealing their property.
• Max finds any ‘loop-holes’ in websites and uses unauthorized access to gain data. Hackers utilized carefully planned strategies to commit their crime such as, “Take advantage of the enemy’s unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots” (Poulsen, p. 159). Max obtained unauthorized access to vulnerable websites, and used this as an advantage to easily increase his gain in stolen information.
• Max committed the crimes of seizing unauthorized access to data in websites, and using that data that he acquired in a manner to steal money. “He would be stealing numbers in a system, not dollars in someone’s pocket” (Poulsen, p. 80). Max took advantage of the computer as an accessory to his crime, to make it easier to steal more data for his personal benefit.
Conclusion: In conclusion, Max Butler demonstrated the behavior of an unethical hacker. Through gaining access to websites, Max used information that was unauthorized for his use and made it into a profit for him. He seized access to websites where he would then

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Epic Hacking Research Paper

    • 3326 Words
    • 14 Pages

    On Friday Aug.3.2012 Mat Honan’s personal Computer (PC) system was invaded by hackers. In the space of one hour, Mat’s entire digital life was destroyed. First his google account was taken over, then deleted. Next his twitter account was compromised, and used as a platform to broadcast racist and homophobic messages. And worst of all, Honan’s Apple ID account was broken into, and his hackers used it to remotely erase all of the data on his IPhone, IPad, and MacBook.…

    • 3326 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Kevin Mitnick

    • 1277 Words
    • 6 Pages

    One of the world’s most notorious black hat hackers goes by the alias Condor, named after the Robert Redford movie, “Three Day’s of the Condor”[7]. This is none other than the notorious, Kevin Mitnick. He has been a major thorn in the side of many companies computer networks since the beginning. His first major “crack” was in 1979, “. . .when a friend gave him the phone number for the Ark, the computer system at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) used for developing their RSTS/E operating system software. He broke into DEC's computer network and copied DEC's software. . .”[5] This in turn gave him not only the ability to make free phone calls but also listen in and eavesdrop on anyone he pleased.[6]…

    • 1277 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    High technology gives criminals the opportunity to obtain valuable information. They are considered a cyber-threat. Criminals usually get illegitimate or legitimate work-related access to a company’s computer resources to sell wanted information.…

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Digital Crime

    • 5203 Words
    • 21 Pages

    Computers are used for many different types of personal and work related activities. Getting on the Internet and researching a topic for a college paper, researching types of flat screen televisions and their various prices, or what about getting on the computer and playing games, or using computers to watch movies and chat with friends and family. From a work standpoint, computers assist in processing orders, calculating and tracking numbers, manufacturing vehicles, sending email, and literally millions of other computer related activities. But, what if computers were used to copy Microsoft’s Office software applications and sell them at 60% cost on the black market? What if computers were used to login to accounts that weren’t the owners and take unauthorized data to sell for identify theft purposes? What if computers were used to hack into databases and “borrowed” data that then provided “insider information” that endowed an unprecedented stock gain for Members of the Board of Directors? These examples would mean that computers were being used for cyber-crimes. There are four primary categories of these types of cyber-crimes that will be the focus of this research paper.…

    • 5203 Words
    • 21 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    cardinals wholesaler case

    • 2103 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Bill Carter- an angry, ex-employee that felt unfairly fired. Bill felt pressure from financial obligation and the need to support his family after being fired. With debts totaling $38,000 and educational expenses for his oldest son, Bill felt desperate about his financial situation and grew angrier giving him a motive to commit fraud. Bill was the purchasing department manager and was aware of the weak internal control that existed in the company. He knew that there was no segregation of duties in the company because as a former manager he knew that the person who approved vendor list also approved the payment. With this in mind we can see how opportunity to commit fraud is present. His rationalization was that the company owed him for using him as a scape goat to prove their point and he…

    • 2103 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hacker

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The advancement of information technology spans a lot of areas of our lives. Information technology has made a huge difference in industry, agriculture and services. This in turn boosts up the productivity of the society. However, the development of computer technology also leads to many security problems in our modern society. There has emerged a group of computer savvy people who seeks and exploits weaknesses in a computer system or computer network. Their motivation has put many questions on debating table. On the one hand, many people contend that a hacker is a dangerous person who will probably destroy the whole world’s computer system. On the other hand, others argue that hackers are not dangerous and not causing harm. This essay will discuss the two sides of the coin with regard to hackers with relevant examples.…

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nt1310 Final Exam

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Computer Hacking in 1960’s up to 1970’s – an individual working with computers who were technically gifted and skilled it was defined by computer ethicist Duncan Langford (1995).…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Plutonium, an Internet start-up company founded in 1988, was in the midst of a massive project to improve integration and internal data quality of its disparate information systems. At the heart of this project was an endeavor to implement a complex billing system called Gateway. Gateway, working with Visa, would automate billing for Plutonium’s large customer base; however, once implemented, Gateway had thousands of corrupt accounts that needed to be resolved in order to improve the system’s data integrity. Jonathan, Plutonium’s operations manager, was tasked to fix these corrupt accounts. After six to nine months, Jonathan noticed that his top and most trusted performer on the task, Chris, was acting suspiciously and had recently acquired several high dollar electronic items. Unbeknownst to Jonathan, Chris was committing employee fraud right under his nose.…

    • 1449 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Us Vs Arabo Case Study

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In 2004, 18 year old Jason Salah Arabo from Michigan was arrested and pleaded guilty with conspiracy to order destructive computer attacks on business competitor’s websites from his home by remotely controlling them with a computer program called, “Bot”. Bots can be easily disguised as MP3 music files or pictures that unaware users download from public websites. Once they are downloaded, Bots will cause the virus to overload the website’s hosting computer server that result in crashing the entire system. Arabo wasn’t alone in this process. He and former 16 year old “Jasmine” Signh from New Jersey, creator of the Bot, had met Arabo on an instant messenger chat, and had agreed to help takedown Arabo’s competitor websites in exchange for Arabo’s merchandise, including designer sneakers. Arabo was running two business companies that sold throwback sports apparel such as team jerseys over the internet. Together, Arabo and Signh had designed the program in what they thought would help Arabo’s business by stopping customers from visiting and using other services.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In, People of the State of California (Plaintiff) v. George Samuel Bronk (Defendant), the defendant used various software, tools, and methods to commit the felonies for which he was charged. He initially used a computer with access to the Internet to take over the email accounts of individuals who he located using the popular social media website, Facebook. Mr. Bronk located his victims by searching random Facebook profiles that had personal email addresses available to the public. Once he had the email addresses he tried to access emails accounts, by attempting to reset the passwords for said email accounts, by guessing at the security questions. Once he was able to gain access to the emails accounts, he went back to the Facebook profiles and took over the Facebook profiles as well.…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Computer crimes are criminal activities that involve using a computer and a network to gain unauthorized access with the intent of deleting, altering, or damaging computer data. Due to them being extremely versatile, establishing criminal and noncriminal behavior when in use can be very difficult at times. “According to the U.S. Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics, by 2000 more than 300 million users around the globe accessed the World Wide Web. Of those, at least 1 million were engaged in illegal Internet activities (computer crime or "cyber-crime"). Cyber-crimes include Internet-related forgery, embezzlement, fraud, vandalism, and the disposal of stolen goods. The potential threat to the overall development of e-commerce was serious—so much that online security expenditures were expected to double to $30 billion in 2004” (Computer Crime – Definitions). The four most common categories of computer crimes are infrastructure attacks, technological facilitation, information attacks, and promotion.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Tim J. Watts goes more into the dark side of the “hacker” community by bringing up the constant back in forth between computer security officers and the so called hackers. This article, being written this year is able to reflect on the events of September 11, 2001 and new homeland security measures. He represents this viewpoint of a dangerous hacker in his definition: “While some hackers are harmless, others break into systems with the intent to steal information or to do destruction to the system. Hackers performing the latter pose a serious threat to the economic future of the United States” (Watts). Tim Watt outright blames the hacker community of accessing information that should be private. Only looking and reflecting on the serious threat…

    • 154 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Peter Krapp Analysis

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Peter Krapp builds a well-constructed argument designed to persuade readers that computer hacking is a danger that steals our most valuable possession—personal information—from our most vulnerable people--students. The article focuses on personal information about college students stolen from college computer networks. The writer builds his argument brick by brick. He starts by giving an example of student data stolen from a college by hackers in China, relating his topic to an event that really happened. The writer quickly establishes himself as an expert in the topic so readers can trust his information. Krapp asks and answers questions about the theft of data, goes into more depth about the type of information stolen from college networks, and then briefly touches on the laws, or the lack of laws, to protect students. He points out that data is stolen from students by not only foreign hackers, but also by American companies. The writer finishes with a call for colleges to protect student data, clearly stating his purpose.…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    20142321 SIYIWANG TACC403

    • 2051 Words
    • 7 Pages

    4. K. Himma. (2004). The Ethics of Tracing Hacker Attacks Through the Machines of Innocent Persons. International Journal of Information Ethics. vol. 2, pp. (4), p1-13.…

    • 2051 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    When an intruder hijacks your computer and denies you entry into your files or your network this is considered targeting your computer. Viruses and Malware also can be introduced to your computer to damage your operating system, your files or just give you a headache.…

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays