Week 13: Clear: Information Theft & Piracy

Information theft is when somebody steals another's personal information and uses it to their benefit. Some of the most common stolen information is financial data such as credit card numbers and passwords to accounts such as email and Ebay. This is a rising problem due to the capabilities of computers and their users. This information is most commonly stolen by viruses and hackers.

Software piracy is highly illegal and highly frowned upon. There are many laws that exist due to the abundance of software piracy. All software comes with a EULA that states somewhere in the document not to redistribute or copy without the approval from the creator. People who violate this are punished to the fullest extent of the law which is generally $250,000 and some jail time.

In order to avoid these things users must be very cautious. For instance, to protect yourself from information theft you want to install an anti-virus software and a firewall. This way hackers can't penetrate your system and steal your information. To be protected from piracy you can decide only to buy software from well respected sellers and avoid any website that is known for piracy. Basically, the only way to be protected of these things is to be smart about web surfing and using a computer.

The Business Environment

In the business world a company can get in huge trouble with software piracy and information theft. Specifically, a company can even get in trouble for getting it's own information stolen such as banks and lawyers. This can cause huge problems in the outside environment with this leaked information. I think the knowledge of software piracy and information theft is vital for companies because it could really hurt a company if they don't.

Related Link

This Link explains software piracy and how it is used. It also goes into detail how to protect yourself and others of piracy. It's definitely a good tool to use to learn about software piracy and theft.