With the rapid growth of computer technology, computers have

          become an integral part of most corporations and government

          agencies.  However, this advancement has also created a

          tremendous potential for computer crime.  Developments in the

          computer industry which have increased the risk and occurence of

          computer crime in recent years are the spread of low cost

          personal computers, the growing number of people who are

          knowledgable about computers, the increased use of remote

          terminals giving employees access to corporate computers, and the

          availability of on-line data base services to both commercial and

                                  1
          personal computer users.   Estimates of exactly how large losses

          are vary greatly - from about 300 million dollars annually to 5

                          2
          billion or more.   Losses in documented cases are in the 100

          million dollar range, but, some experts believe that ninety

          percent of all computer crimes remain undetected or are not

          reported.  Many executives are reluctant to report crimes because

          they are afraid that disclosure of their losses "will undermine

                              3
          investor confidence"   or they are embarrassed to admit that a

          crime has been committed in their company, bank or agency.

          ----------

          1. "The Spreading Danger of Computer Crime".  Business Week.
                                                        ________ ____
          (April 20, 1981), 86.

          2. Leslie D. Ball.  "Computer Crime".  Technology Review.
                                                 __________ ______
          85(April 1982), 21.

          3. Grace Murray Hopper and Steven L. Mandell.  Understanding
                                                         _____________
          Computers.  (St.  Paul.  Minnesota: West Publishing Co., 1984),
          _________
          353.



          Computer Crime                  2                    J. Schaedler










            Computer crimes are of many types.  The FDIC classifies them in

          four general categories - physical, transactional, electronic and

          programming.  The methods used to carry them out are varied,

          requiring different levels of ingenuity, skill, knowledge, and

                          4
          computer access.


            Physical type crimes include "destructive attacks on equipment,

          data or programs, false data input through normal manual methods

                                          5
          and scavenging for information."   The meddling of hackers -

          teenagers who attempt to access computers through computer

          networking systems or phone lines and break their passwords or

          entry codes - has received a great deal of media attention.  The

          feats of these teenagers, requiring only a microcomputer, a modem

          and some computer literacy, have drawn attention to the ease with

          which almost any computer system can be broken into with time and

          a little cleverness.  The 414's, a group of Milwaukee hackers,

          accessed sixty business and government computer systems, leaving

                                                           6
          graffiti in their files, before they were caught.   A fifteen

          year old accessed the main computer at the Berkley campus of the

          University of California and destroyed important research


          ----------

          4. Angeline Pantages, Vin McLellan, and Edith Meyers.  "The Head
          in the Sand Caper."  Datamation.  (September 1979), 71.
                               __________

          5. Ibid., 71.
             _____

          6. William D. Marbach.  "Beware, Hackers at Play."  Newsweek.
                                                              ________
          102(