Digital Computer Crime There are multiple different scenarios in which computers can play a part in crime. Technology has made significant leaps and bounds in the last three-quarters of a century, which is truly astonishing (Taylor, Fritsch, & Liederbach, 2015). While it is wonderful for thousands of citizens across the world to be able to communicate instantly back and forth, there is a percentage of people that use computers, the Internet, and electronic communication to cause harm to others. It can be frustrating to understand exactly how to keep yourself safe in this world that is largely ran by computers, therefore, the following paragraphs will go in depth on what digital computer crime is and how you can be protected. To begin, there are four major categories of digital computer crime. The first category is classified as the computer as a target (Taylor, et al., 2015). This means when the computer itself is a target, the attacker is trying to deny the legitimate user of the system access to his or her data or computer (Taylor, et al., 2015). The intruder targets the server and can cause harm to the network owners or the operation of their company (Taylor, et al., 2015). An example in this category would be the alteration of data. The enemy could attack the useful information that is stored or processed by the computer, which could alter decisions made by the company or could directly impact the user by changing their records (Taylor, et al., 2015). Next, there is the category pertaining to using the computer as an instrument of a crime. This means the computer is used to commit a crime, such as theft, theft of service, fraud, exploitation, and threats or harassment (Taylor et al., 2015). A detailed example would be shopping cart fraud. Shopping cart fraud is an example of consumer fraud against a business. When the attacker selects his