An Empirical Study of Attitudes and Opinions of Computer Crimes: A Comparative Study between U.K. and the Kingdom of Bahrain

In this digital age we are constantly becoming more reliant on technology and information systems in all walks of life. There is no doubt that Computer systems play a fundamental role in the basic operation of almost all organizations today. The emergence of the Internet has played a major role in exploiting new opportunities and markets for many businesses today and has also revolutionized the way information is shared globally. With the increased use of computer networks as a means of sharing data, the need to protect and preserve the integrity of data arises due to the increase in unauthorized access of organizational computer systems. It has become a major challenge for organizations to identify and counter these threats. Computer crime has emerged as one of the major forms of sabotage causing millions of dollars worth of damage annually. These attacks usually come in the form of viruses, worms, denial of service attacks and hacking this study will attempt to compare the opinions on computer crimes of the online society in the Kingdom of Bahrain with that of a study conducted in Great Britain. Similarly this study will also try to measure the perceived level of safety the online public enjoys and use these results to determine weather there is a relationship between the perceived level of online safety and the willingness to conduct online transactions. The issue of "software piracy" will also be discussed with respect to copyright laws in the Kingdom of Bahrain.