Prompt: In the article “White-Collar Cybercrime,” Brian Payne explores how technological changes have shifted the landscape of occupational crime. He suggests that while the “motives” for crime might remain traditional (financial gain, status, or revenge), the “opportunities” have expanded significantly due to the advent of the computer within the workplace.

Task: Write a response of approximately 250 words addressing the following:

• Changing Opportunities: Based on the reading, how does the integration of computers into daily business operations create “new opportunities” for deviance that did not exist in traditional white-collar settings?
• Blurred Lines: Payne discusses the overlap between white-collar crime and cybercrime. Provide an example from your own perspective (or the text) where an employee might use their legitimate “access” to a system to commit a deviant act.
• Impact of Anonymity: How does the perceived anonymity of digital actions change the “cost-benefit analysis” for an employee considering workplace deviance compared to a physical crime (like stealing from a cash register)?

The integration of computers into daily business operations gives people a way of accessing a lot of information if given the proper opportunity. Information that would be locked behind multiple doors or have any kind of physical barrier is now able to be accessed by many as long as they know how. This creates many opportunities to access that info, whether it be through social engineering, looking over one’s shoulder for login information, or getting another to access the information needed for them. 

An example that I could use is how a person working in a doctors office could look over the shoulder of a nurse putting in credentials, and later use that to access information about a patient they were assigned to. This information wouldn’t normally be accessible to the other employee, but with the login info they can use that to find out information that can then be spread about the building. This could be used for malicious treatment of said patient. 

Anonymity makes the benefit of crime more appealing. If someone were able to commit a crime under a guise of anonymity, they would be more willing to do said crime. This would leave them with the thought that the crime could not be linked to them and they would not be punished for it. When taking the possibility of punishment away from crime, it makes it more appealing to a lot of people.