Project #3

Access Nation

The episode of Law and Order called Access Nation brought to light ideas about what computers and programmers can do to retrieve personal information about a specific person through the internet. There were factual examples of what can actually happen and there were fictitious examples as well. I do not think it helps the IT industry when shows like this scare non IT people from using available technology, such as the internet, with the fear of loosing their personal privacy. The more people believe the fictitious examples given in the show then support for the development of the internet will decrease and thus prevent it from becoming a more useful tool in day to day lives.

In the beginning of the show the computer of the victim was recovered. The investigators then discover that they need a password to access the files that was crucial to their investigation. They then ask their in house computer technician to crack the password. The computer technician was able to successfully crack the password protection and gain access to the files. This in real life is indeed possible. There have been many instances where hackers have been able to hack their way into files that were password protected. What got my attention was that when the computer technician was asked if she could retrieve the copy of the document file before it was modified she said yes. From what I have been taught I do not think there is any way for someone to retrieve that kind of information if the file was successfully modified and saved. Perhaps if the computer was set to save a different copy of the same file each time it was modified could someone get that unmodified version. I also find it unlikely that computers will retain the old copy of files after they have been modified on purpose as this would take up too much extra memory to do.

Through the recovered files they find their suspect. Once they interrogated the suspect he told them that he used the services of a company called Access Nation. This company supposedly uses the internet to gather personal information about anyone simply by knowing what IP address that person is using and then follow the bread crumbs that person leaves behind. The information that they gather include passwords, usernames, bank balances, home address, medical records and other personal data. If a company can really do this then there would be sufficient reason for anyone to be paranoid while using the internet. Some of the information probably could be retrieved if the cookie was hijacked. However, using common sense, I do not think banks, hospitals and other companies will make it that easy for hackers to get that personal information about their clients. If their systems were vulnerable to that information leaks then their company would not be in business for too long as trust from their customers will be gone.

The one other thing that I found fictitious was when they said that they specifically made a worm for the victim’s computer. This worm supposedly enables the hacker to take full control of the victim’s computer and sees what they are doing real-time. For this to possibly work the victim, the psychiatrist, must accept and run an attachment sent by her patient, the hacker, for the worm to be able to spread and take over the computer. Also, the victim must have constant access to the internet for the hacker to be able to see what the victim is doing. The victim should also leave her computer unattended for long periods of time while connected to the internet. This is to enable the hacker to manipulate/modify her files without her knowledge. This is somewhat possible but once again quite unlikely.

This episode of Law and Order shows that there are risks when using the internet. It also shows that people given the right background and training could potentially access this information. Although, companies that provide services requiring a person to divulge such detailed information most likely know how hackers will try to get this information and will protect their customers from these hackers. This episode was very interesting as it successfully integrated fact from fiction making fiction more believable. However, it is important to remember that not all that was seen in the episode is fact and that it is safe to use the internet using the right precautions and that companies do not “legally” exist.