Computer crime is a broad term that encompasses a number of crimes where the computer has a major role as either the target of the offense or as the means of committing the offense. For example, the categories of computer crime for the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation's Computer Crime Squad are:

• intrusions of telephone company networks
• intrusions of computer networks
• breaching the security systems of public and private computer networks
• industrial espionage (computer spying)
• pirating of software

Surveys have estimated that each year computer crime costs industries hundreds of millions of dollars in lost information and time. Many victims do not report crimes; hence, the loss figure is likely much higher, perhaps into the billions of dollars. The crimes range from corruption of computers by viruses and theft of computers to financial fraud, to the theft of proprietary information and sabotage.

Crimes where a...