Computers have simultaneously made our world safer and less safe because more information is available online and accessible through computers, computers can be hacked, and crime can be tracked digitally. For instance, nowadays there are 5 million terabytes on the internet or five trillion megabytes of data available on the internet according to Eric Schmidt the CEO of Google. With all of that data available online hackers can certainly steal credit card information, bank accounts, and personal information they could use to blackmail someone or phish them. Hackers certainly do steal personal information as found in an article written by Elsie Boskamp a reporter and writer from Zippia, “Globally, an estimated 30,000 websites are hacked each day.” However, computers can and are hacked daily by malicious actors which steal any sensitive information from the computer. A hacker could send a phishing email to an individual and trick them into giving them the login credentials to their computer or send malware that would give them access to the computer. In fact, as reported by Statista a trusted and reputable research organization, “Meanwhile, over 422 million individuals were affected in the same year by data compromises, including data breaches, leakage, and exposure.” These were the number of individuals adversely impacted in 2022 and that number is certain to rise as more people are connected to the internet. Law enforcement uses technology like cameras, voice recordings, and digital forensics to track crimes. As highlighted by an article published by the office of justice programs and written by Goodison et al., “There is a wealth of potential digital evidence on a personal computer. Many of these items are obtained through a manual or logical extraction process.” Police departments, the FBI, and the CIA can extract evidence of crime from computers and use them to convict criminals.
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