Computer crimes – cyberterrorism, hacking

Defined broadly, the term “computer crime” could reasonably include a wide variety of criminal offences, activities, or ussues. The term “cyberterrorism” is used by the mass media. Absent any evidence of activity, we have difficulty to determine whether cyberterrorism is currently being deterred, is a phantom menace… or somewhere in between.

A key distinction between electronic civil disobedience and politicized hacking is anonymity. The motive for remaining secret is simple: the majority of politically motivated hacks are clearly illegal. Most institutions recognize that breaking into an opponent’s computer and adding, changing or deleting (HTML) code, even if it is juvenile graffity, violates some other’s rights. Attitudes and opinions begin to diverge markedly around however. One person’s activist is another’s terrorist.

EXERCISE EXERCISE 6

Read more information about ways of a computer protection from unauthorized access

Firewall - брандмауэр ( аппаратно-программные средства межсетевой защиты )

router - маршрутизатор

slot – слот, отверстие, гнездо

PDA (personal digital assistant) - "карманный" компьютер, предназначенный для выполнения некоторых специальных функций

protrude - высовываться, выдаваться

proxy server - proxy-сервер, брандмауэр ( средства, защищающие локальную сеть от несанкционированного доступа через Internet ); посредническийсервер;промежуточный сервер

LED (light-emitting diode) - светодиод, светоизлучающий диод, СИД

Text 2

What is “Firewall?”

A network firewall protects a computer network from unauthorized access. Network firewalls may be hardware devices, software programs, or a combination of the two.

Network firewalls guard an internal computer network (home, school, business intranet) against malicious access from the outside. Network firewalls may also be configured to limit access to the outside from internal users.

Network Firewalls and Broadband Routers

Many home network router products include built-in firewall support. The administrative interface of these routers include configuration options for the firewall. Router firewalls can be turned off (disabled), or they can be set to filter certain types of network traffic through so-called firewall rules.

Another common form of network firewall is a proxy server.

Like PC Card adapters for notebook computers, wireless Compact Flash cards fit into a slot on the side or back of a PDA. The portion of the device containing the Wi-Fi antenna and LED lights protrudes from the PDA.

Compact Flash card network adapters obtain their power from the PDA batteries and are designed to minimize the unit's power consumption.

Proxy servers act as an intermediary between internal computers and external networks by receiving and selectively blocking data packets at the network boundary. These network firewalls also provide an extra measure of safety by hiding internal LAN addresses from the outside Internet. In a proxy server firewall environment, network requests from multiple clients appear to the outsider as all coming from the same proxy server address.

EXERCISE

EXERCISE 7

Translate special expressions consisting mainly of nouns. You should start translating with the last word in the word combination.

Internal computer network, home network router products, built-in firewall support, configuration options rot the firewall, certain types of network traffic, PC Card adapters for notebook computers, wireless Compact Flash cards, Compact Flash card network adapters, unit’s power consumption, blocking data packets, a proxy server firewall environment, the same proxy server address.

EXERCISE EXERCISE 8

Ask questions to the following sentences.

1. It protects a computer network from unauthorized access.

2. Network firewalls may be hardware devices, software programs, or a combination of the two.

3. Wireless Compact Flash cards fit into a slot on the side or back of a PDA.

4. Compact Flash card network adapters obtain their power from the PDA batteries and are designed to minimize the unit's power consumption.

5. Proxy servers receive and selectively block data packets at the network boundary between internal computers and external networks.

6. These network firewalls also provide an extra measure of safety by hiding internal LAN addresses from the outside Internet.

EXERCISE EXERCISE 9

Read another text about security of wireless networks.