There is growing concern in the United States today that the

          computer will be the vehicle of "the perfect crime".  Many

          factors have contributed to the increase in computer crime during

          the past decade.  The most vulnerable part of a computer system

          is the human/electronic interface; specifically, the people with

          access to input and output.  Another factor partly responsible

          for the proliferation of computer crime is the fact that computer

          systems are not completely predictable.  [1]  Therefore, there is

          no way of knowing whether or not an operating system is

          performing unauthorized acts.  With the implementation of

          changeable microcodes in today's systems, the verification of the

          integrity of the total system is virtually impossible.  Other

          factors contributing to the increasing number of computer crimes

          are the ever increasing flexibility of the computers themelves,

          the widespread use of microcomputers with simplified operating

          instructions, the fact that computer skills are being taught to

          children at very young ages as well as the potential gains that

          can be made by computer criminals due to the amounts of valuable

          and confidential information stored on computers.[2]


               The FDIC uses four general categories in discussing

          vulnerability; namely, physical, transactional, electronic and



          ----------

          1. Pantages,A., McLellan,V., and Myers, E., "The Head in the Sand
          Caper", datamation, September 1979, pg.71.
                  __________

          2. Mandell,S.  and Hopper, G., Understanding Computers, New York:
                                         _____________ _________
          West Publishing Co., 1984, pg.354.



                                        - 1 -










          programming.[3] Each requires different levels of skill,

          knowledge and access on the part of the criminal.  Physical acts

          include destructive attacks on equipment, data or programs, as

          well as false data input through normal methods.  Transactional

          acts include assuming the identity and privilege of another

          person and "piggybacking", the unauthorized use of a still open

          terminal.  Electronic threats are described as wiretapping and

          electronic hardware modifications that produce the same results

          as software meddling.  However, the area of programming attack

          seems to be the division most sought by the computer criminal.

          It seems that with the increased use of computers in business and

          government, the possibilities of manipulating a conputer's

          software programs to distribute money and information into the

          wrong hands have become numerous.  In addition, the gamesmanship

          inherent in the "art of breaking the system" has brought a

          challenge to the ingenuity of many computer buffs.


               One of the more popular forms of attack in recent years is

          the Trojan Horse attack.[4]  The method involves situating an

          unauthorizd computer program within authorized programs to gain

          access to computer resources.  Trying to locate the Trojan's

          secret code among the five or six million instructions inside a

          computer system is like trying to locate a needle in a haystack.

          In fact, Trojan programs can include such sophisticated logic

          ----------

          3. Ibid., Pantages, "Caper", p.71

          4. Ibid.



                                        - 2 -










          that they could order a computer to execute a specific set of

          instructions at a given time and subsquently destroy all internal

          evidence that there had been any illicit access to the system.

          Another known technique for corrupting computer systems involves

          an asynchronous attack, confusing the operating system into

          executing two programs while it records only one continuous

          progr