$555 million annually with each individual case of fraud costing approximately $100,000. Financial institutions, such as banks, are the biggest targets of computer fraud with an estimated annual loss of $1 billion. In most cases, computer crimes go unreported. The victims are often embarrassed. A computer related crime could show that a company might have some weaknesses. Another reason for a company not to report a computer crime is to avoid lawsuit threats shareholders may make, which can cost more than the computer theft itself.How are computer crimes committed? Break-in methods include altering input, theft of computer time, software theft, data theft/modification and output theft. The most common method of committing computer crimes is altering input. In order to alter input, the criminal only needs to know how the system works and how to cover their trail. A good example would be an employee in charge of payroll keeping another employees record on the payroll after their termination in order to collect paychecks.Stealing business time occurs when one uses a company's computer for personal use such as an employees running a side business or keeping personal records on an employers computer or playing computer games at work. This frequent occurrence in the workplace takes time from productivity, costing the company money.Software theft is a large problem in the software industry. Each year, software companies lose millions of dollars to this type of theft. Not only does software theft contribute to loss of sales, but it also adds to the spread of computer viruses. Two examples of software theft are the production of illegal copies of software and the creation of software used to break into systems. An example of how software theft causes software manufacturers to lose money is as follows: If Acme Company has a software package available for $300 and someone makes a copy of that software without purchasing it, Acme Compa...
