that computer-related
offenses are drastically under-reported. They regard this as a major
open scandal of their field. Some victims are reluctant to come forth,
because they believe that police and prosecutors are not
computer-literate, and can and will do nothing. Others are embarrassed
by their vulnerabilities, and will take strong measures to avoid any
publicity; this is especially true of banks, who fear a loss of
investor confidence should an embezzlement-case or wire-fraud surface.
And some victims are so helplessly confused by their own high
technology that they never even realize that a crime has occurred--even
when they have been fleeced to the bone.

The results of this situation can be dire. Criminals escape
apprehension and punishment. The computer-crime units that do exist,
can't get work. The true scope of computer-crime: its size, its real
nature, the scope of its threats, and the legal remedies for it--all
remain obscured.

Another problem is very little publicized, but it is a cause of genuine
concern. Where there is persistent crime, but no effective police
protection, then vigilantism can result. Telcos, banks, credit
companies, the major corporations who maintain extensive computer
networks vulnerable to hacking --these organizations are powerful,
wealthy, and politically influential. They are disinclined to be
pushed around by crooks (or by most anyone else, for that matter).
They often maintain well-organized private security forces, commonly
run by experienced veterans of military and police units, who have left
public service for the greener pastures of the private sector. For
police, the corporate security manager can be a powerful ally; but if
this gentleman finds no allies in the police, and the pressure is on
from his board-of-directors, he may quietly take certain matters into
his own hands.

Nor is there any lack of disposable hired-help in the corporate
security business. Private security agencies--the 'security business'
generally--grew explosively in the 1980s. Today there are spooky
gumshoed armies of "security consultants," "rent-a-cops," "private
eyes," "outside experts"--every manner of shady operator who retails in
"results" and discretion. Or course, many of these gentlemen and
ladies may be paragons of professional and moral rectitude. But as
anyone who has read a hard-boiled detective novel knows, police tend to
be less than fond of this sort of private-secto