Today??™s online resources are susceptible to schemes that target a
smaller scale but provide a much higher prize for every single
successful scam.
Whereas a personal-productivity software package sat on your
own computer, the vast majority of these new resources simply
cannot be under your direct control. They may be remote,
owned by others, dependent on external infrastructures, and
in?¬‚uenced by many other factors. The natural model is then
making resources available to you in term of services. You stipulate
a contract, implicitly or explicitly, with the owner (or the
guardian) of a resource; as a result, you gain a privilege on it.
From that moment on, you can exercise your privilege just by
being you. When you walk into a branch of your bank for the
purpose of withdrawing some money, all you have to do is
show a picture ID to the cashier and make your request. In
Vittorio??™s small hometown, where the director of the bank has
known him since he was 6, until some years ago he may have
even skipped showing the picture ID.
In theory, online services are not different. You point your
browser to the pages of your home-banking application, you
give proof that it??™s really you behind the keyboard (see later
Spam leverages the
scale of the Internet
for adding up tiny
margins into huge
gains
When a resource is
trusted to a third
party, being able to
recognize its owner
becomes key for
allowing access
The Advent of Pro?¬?table Digital Crime 15
sections for muchmore on this topic), and you access the privilege
of administering your money.
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