Computer Fraud: A People Problem?
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb025606 |
| Pages | 31-44 |
| Date | 01 January 1993 |
| Published date | 01 January 1993 |
| Author | Emma Grundy,Paul Collier,Barry Spaul |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
Computer Fraud: A People Problem?
Emma Grundy, Paul Collier and Barry Spaul
Emma Grundy
is Researcher at the Woolwich Centre for
Computer Crime Research.
Paul Collier BSc, FCA
is Lecturer in Accountancy and ICAEW
Academic Fellow.
Barry Spaul BA, MSc
is Lecturer in Accountancy and Director
of the Woolwich Centre for Computer
Crime Research.
ABSTRACT
The crux of the paper's argument is that, if
organisations are to counter computer
fraud,
they must adopt suitable personnel
procedures.
The authors start by examining previous
research into computer fraud focusing on
the work of Albrecht et al and Bologna.
They then set out personnel practices and
procedures which, it is maintained, provide
a powerful deterrent to computer crime. The
paper ends with an analysis of the Audit
Commission's publication, 'Survey of Com-
puter Fraud and Abuse' and an examination
of cases where improved personnel proce-
dures may have deterred computer abuse.
'In a general sense it is impossible to
produce a computer system that can-
not be tampered with. An inviolable
system would have to be perfect, as
any error or breakdown would lead to
it being permanently out of use. For
this reason, programmers, operators
and others can always corrupt a sys-
tem and get information from it, if
they wish to and have the necessary
technical skill... A certain amount of
safety can be ensured by good system
design and separation of
duties,
but in
the last resort personnel selection and
screening are vital; if anyone con-
nected with the computer is unreli-
able,
then he will always be able to
find ways of getting data.'
Chambers and Hanson1
INTRODUCTION
As the serious implications of computer
fraud gain public awareness and the
scale of the problem increases, the ten-
dency is to focus on the controls which
aim to detect or prevent fraud (see for
example Audit Commission2 or Collier
et al3). This approach ignores the fact
that it is people and not computers that
commit computer fraud and that human
ingenuity will enable virtually any con-
trols to be circumvented.
This paper argues that computer
fraud is a problem caused by people and
that, while a suitable control environ-
ment is vital in combating computer
fraud, its effectiveness will be dimi-
nished if the human factor is not
addressed. Central to this approach is the
attempt to try and understand the moti-
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