Topic5

Topic 5
**Password protection, Security, Biometrics and Authorized access** **by Akira Jackson **

First of all, what are password protection, biometrics and authorized access? Password protection is a form of security that uses various numbers, alphabets and symbols to prevent other people from accessing your computers and private files. Another form of security that has emerged recently is biometrics, which uses various body parts, such as eyes and fingers, to identify individuals authorized to view confidential company information.

The issues surrounding these subjects mainly concern the hackers and other people who try to get through the security that is set up. For example, hackers can figure out passwords using various programs and tools or by simply guessing. Also people believe biometrics is a form of protection that they can rely on, but nothing is perfect; even biometrics can have flaws.

For example, in the case of face recognition the machine uses the information like how your face is shaped, the location of your nose, ears and their shape. In this case people can use a realistic model of the person to fool the machine, or coerce a person with access privileges to allow entrance. Voice recognition can be fooled using high-quality recordings or simply forcing the individual to speak in front of the machine to get in.

That goes for authorized access as well, which mainly uses passwords during login to determine if the user is granted authority. This also can be broken easily and even altered so the original user is unable to control the computer. Also people from the company can be paid to get individuals through security, or fooled by social engineering specialists. For example, Kevin Mitnick, a former hacker, regularly convinced people over the phone that he belonged to the same company and obtained passwords from them. So there is nothing that can keep you completely safe from outside interference.

I think one solution to help overcome the problem would be to make the punishment heavier for the hackers and other individuals that try to get past various security measures. Also companies can hire hackers to check if their security is reliable. Another way to overcome the problem is to hire security personnel, who would be useful because they can recognize people that do not belong to the company.

What areas do hacking and other illegal behavior affect? First of all, the economic consequences are huge. This is because hackers can break in to various companies computer and steal new technologies and company secrets. Then they can sell these secrets and technologies to rival companies and even other countries, which can greatly impact society because companies would lose profit or gain profit that they don't deserve. Also, people's sense of security would be greatly affected because there is always a possibility that someone would hack into your computer and steal or mess up documents and files.

The act of looking at people's private files and documents is ethically wrong, and destroying or stealing them is even worse. This is mainly because they don't belong to you and because the individual didn't permit you to look at the documents. In cases of stealing company secrets and new technologies the same logic applies. You don't deserve the technology if you didn't acquire it through your own efforts. Faking the biometrics is almost the same as saying you had criminal intentions because outside of the entertainment industry there is no need to copy other people's faces, fingerprints, voices and so on in everyday life. Breaking security means you are getting into somewhere you don't belong and ignoring other people's thoughts and feelings, which is morally wrong as well.

If you break into a house by faking the biometric security is entering the house without authorization, which is against the law in Japan and many other countries. Also, if you hack into a game CD and copy the content and resell the copies this is against the law on copyright. The main law concerning hacking and accessing files through hacking is the law that states: knowingly accessing a computer without authorization and gaining information and this is what some hackers do. Most of the other laws state the same idea like intentionally accesses a protected computer without authorization, and as a result of such conduct, recklessly causes damage Most laws deal with individuals who break into computers without authorization and steal information from the computer. But it is bit in the grey area if the individual only breaks the protection but does not cause damage, steal information, or copy files.