Computer hackers could arguably be the next epidemic in America and as the world becomes more and more reliant on computers the computer hacking industry is greatly rising to dangerous levels. With such hackers as Kevin Mitnick, who is known as a computer terrorist, computerized information isn't safe any more. Kevin is known as the most high-profiled computer criminal and responsible for reaping the most havoc in the computer world today. He considered this an easy and fun task. He finally got caught and was thrown into prison, but once he got out nothing changed. Kevin stated that as long as the technology is there it just calls to people to break into it. Computer hackers usually start off young, thinking that it is nothing but a little …show more content…
The Internet is just another playing field. Hackers regard hacking as a game in which their mind is up against that of the system designers. The Internet allows the hackers to take files, programs, passwords, and other information from users that are surf the web. They use this as a tool to make it easier to beat the system. There are three types of hackers, one with good intentions, also known as an ethical hacker, but gets slapped in the face due to the bad reputation of others, there are the hackers with bad intentions, and there are the hackers that fit in between. The bad hacker category is the largest by far. A bad hacker's motives are to punish someone or retaliate against the owner of a computer system. Computer terrorists fall under this category. Some bad hackers may also hack just to challenge the programmer. The hacker feels that if they can break into a program then they are much more superior to the person who actually wrote the code. They can feel so superior that they might enter a virus to eliminate a program that was not worthy of their abilities. One of the other many goals of a hacker is to steal passwords. Hackers can steal your password in about four different ways. …show more content…
Rule #1, nothing on the internet is secure, even if it says it is. This is considered to be the golden rule of safety on the Internet. Many people think that the internet is safe but there is always that little chance that someone could be watching. The novice computer hacker usually doesn't try anything as challenging as credit card fraud of password stealing. They usually are just pranksters looking for a good time. They are the ones who often release computer viruses. Theses viruses are dangerous because they can erase, change files or can even disable computers access to the internet. These viruses are starting to become more of a nuisance. The release of the love bug virus is a good example of this. It is suspected that a young adult had released this just to see the effects. This virus steals the passwords and deletes certain information of your machine. This type of virus also was created to spread from one person to all of the people in their computer address book throughout their email. The computer specialists working for the government have to learn how to solve this problem. Good hackers do exist; they are the ones who work for the government. They are also the ones who use their knowledge to try to stop to bad hackers from striking again. Their knowledge is used to try and outsmart the enemy. Their job is to try and predict what kind of viruses will be made as well as
Kevin Mitnick, Former Fugitive Hacker, Laments How The Game Has Changed. (2013, January 11). Retrieved from Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/16/kevin-mitnick-hacker-book_n_928107.html
Hackers. You know them as gangly kids with radiation tans caused by too many late nights in front of a computer screen. Evil beings who have the power to wipe out your credit rating, cancel your cable TV, raise your insurance premiums, and raid your social security pension. Individuals who always avert their eyes and mumble under their breath about black helicopters and CIA transmissions. Paranoid, social deviants who could start World War III from the privacy of their bedrooms. Or so the mainstream media would have you believe.
Our generation is the first to travel within cyberspace, a virtual world that exists with all the computers that form the global network. For most people today, cyberspace is still a bewildering and alien place. How computers work and how they affect our lives is still a mystery to all but the experts, but expertise doesn't necessarily guarantee morality. Originally the word hacker meant computer enthusiasts but now that the internet has revealed its potential for destruction and profit the hacker has become the outlaw of cyberspace. Not only do hackers commit crimes that cost millions of dollars, they also publicize their illegal techniques on the net where innocent minds can find them and be seduced by the allure of power and money.
In this book Sterling discusses three cyberspace subcultures known as the hacker underworld, the realm of the cyber cops, and the idealistic culture for the cyber civil libertarians. At the beginning of the story Sterling starts out with discussing the birth of cyberspace and how it came about. The Hacker Crackdown informs the readers of the issues surrounding computer crime and the people on all sides of those problems. Sterling gives a brief summary of what cyberspace meant back then and how it impacted society, and he investigates the past, present and future of computer crimes. For instance he explains how the invention of the telephone led to a world that people were scared of because the telephone was something that was able to let people talk to one another without actually being in the same area. People thought that it was so strange and so different because they didn’t understand all of the information behind it. Back then people thought of the telephone as a tool that allowed others to talk to them in a way that was so personal yet impersonal. Sterling then goes on to explain how “phone phreaks” played such an important part in relating the telephones to computer crimes and how they were so closely related back then.
The technology that we depend on, and use in every aspect of our daily lives, has the utmost potential to destroy our lives in mere seconds with nothing but a single keystroke. As Goodman points out, in the old days, “crime was a simple affair” because criminals were limited to only a knife or a gun; then, as technology advanced with the innovation of the train system, criminals could rob up to 200 people on a train at one time (Goodman, p. 39). Fast-forward to today’s major technological innovation – the Internet –, and we see how the crime business has scaled exponentially. Thieves have gone from robbing hundreds of individuals at a time to stealing from millions of individuals with a mere keystroke. “As a result, we are witnessing a fundamental paradigm shift in the nature of crime and how it is committed (Goodman, p.
The documentary Rise of the Hackers, focuses on the rising criminal use of hacking and how it is effecting multiple areas of technology. The documentary describes simple and complicated situations concerning hacking, but there still questions that must be answered when it comes to hacking and crime. The main question is in trying to determine why a person would choose to commit computer hacking. There are various theories already present within the criminal justice system that may explain at a micro-level and macro-level. These theories would explain why offenders would commit the crimes, but it may not answer the full scope of the question. The Routine Activities Theory would help to explain why offenders offend, why victims are victimized,
Also the fact that Kevin Mitnick hacked into computer systems, but never did anything for personal gain, is not sufficient to say that he is innocent. Every time that he was apprehended by the FBI, he pleaded guilty and was prosecuted accordingly, but this did not prevent him from committing the crime over and over again.
The Ted Talk presented by Catherine Bracy took the word hacking to another level. A new way of looking at a hacker. A hacker meaning much more than a teen behind a computer trying to steal information. The points she brought out is that reaching out to the people can get things done and strengthen relationships between people and an organization and through that relationship both parties are more stable and content. Bracy expressed her experiences with hackers in a government and citizen view, but this can also be applied to personal and
Hacking has been around since the birth of computers. When the term hacking was first used, its meaning was not that of how we think of it today. At the origins of computing, a hacker was considered to be just a "creative programmer (Baase, 2003)." Early forms of computer games as well as the beginnings of operating systems were discovered and created by these original hackers. These hackers plunged into systems as a way of an intellectual challenge and to aspire to gain knowledge (Baase, 2003). Kevin Mitnick believes he falls into this realm of hackers. Hackers in today's era are now looked upon as criminals who invade the privacy rights of individuals and have the ability to deliver worms/viruses. The differences are that hackers today have full intentions of delivering terrible viruses and worms. Mitnick was one of the most infamous hackers during the 1980's. He molded his hacking style around the stupidity of humans and his quest for intellectual knowledge. The ways in which he wiggled his way into computer systems extenuates many of the issues surrounding computer security and privacy.
White-collar crime, specifically computer crime, is becoming more popular as computers become more readily available. Crimes using computers and crimes against computers are usually committed without fear of being caught, due to the detachment of the offender from the victim.
Kevin is a very intelligent man. He could use his computer skills in a good way by stopping other hackers. He didn't, so he faced the law many times. In all those times, he never spent more than a year in prison (Shimomura 1). Kevin was also a Phreak; a phone freak. He studied the phone system. He soon knew how to make free phone calls from payphones and how to crash a system. Kevin Mitnick has yet to be harshly punished for these crimes, which are very numerous (Shimomura 1).
The term “hacker” has been in use since the early 1980’s due to mass media usage to describe computer criminals. The use of this term is vastly used by the general population and most are not aware that there are different meanings to the word. People within the computing community especially within the programming subculture emphasize the use of the term “crackers” for computer security intruders (cyber criminals). Early hackers rarely used their skills for financial gain as a motivation for their criminal behavior in that time cybercrime was infantile and largely seen as a practical joke or game by those who committed it. Bob Thomas created the first credited computer worm n...
Hacking is strongly unjustified by individuals due to it being illegal activity. Laws relating to computer hacking vary depending on every region. However, there is a predominance of hacking being illegal in a majority of countries. Broadly speaking, it is illegal to hack into computer systems and networks since it involves accessing information with authorisation. This is a form of invasion of privacy and data breach, automatically making the activity unlawful. From ‘Computer Crime: American Hacking, federal police’, it is stated that computer intrusion, unauthorised modification and destruction of data comes with penalties under the state law. These range from class B misdemeanour (a fine) to class B felony (five years in prison). This validates that in most cases, due to the trespassing of computers and networks and data rupture, hacking is strongly considered as unvirtuous due to it being illegal
In Computer security terminology Hacker is a person or group of persons, who exploit, modify and identify weakness in a computer system or network. Hacker may be motivates of reasons such as profit, protest and challenge. based on attitude, belief, and goals hacker groups are categories such as
The Art of exploring various security breaches is termed as Hacking.Computer Hackers have been around for so many years. Since the Internet became widely used in the World, We have started to hear more and more about hacking. Only a few Hackers, such as Kevin Mitnick, are well known.In a world of Black and White, it’s easy to describe the typical Hacker. A general outline of a typical Hacker is an Antisocial, Pimple-faced Teenage boy. But the Digital world has many types of Hackers.Hackers are human like the rest of us and are, therefore, unique individuals, so an exact profile is hard to outline.The best broad description of Hackers is that all Hackers aren’t equal. Each Hacker has Motives, Methods and Skills. But some general characteristics can help you understand them. Not all Hackers are Antisocial, PimplefacedTeenagers. Regardless, Hackers are curious about Knowing new things, Brave to take steps and they areoften very Sharp Minded..