A countless number of today’s companies understand “hacking” is not just a crime, but a necessity to today’s internet security. “Microsoft and Facebook announced last November that they would pay bounties to ethical hackers for discovering vulnerabilities, not just in their own products, but in software systems that make up the internet infrastructure, as well” (Acohido par 3). Companies are soliciting outside computer specialists to illegally crack into their networks and try and find security holes in their infrastructure. Imagine prosecuting one of these hackers for responding to the call of these high profile companies. Punishments handed out to a person who has gained access to a network or system that is not their own, must be reflective of the situation and not a blanket punishment for all unauthorized access. Merriam-Webster defines the word hacker in four different ways. The first definition is one that hacks; second is a person who is inexperienced and or unskilled at a particular activity; third, an expert at computer programming and solving problems with a computer; and fourth is one who illegally gains access to and sometimes tampers with information in a computer system (“Hacker”). When society first started associating the term hacker with computers, it was before digital identity theft and cyber terrorism, during the wonderful time of the golden 80’s and 90’s and during the early conception of the internet. Society, at that time, put hackers up on a pedestal. Movies and television portrayed hackers as white nights fighting evil companies for the impoverished peasants. Hackers were capable of feats only thought possible in the most educated of individuals, not mere teenagers working out of their parents’ b... ... middle of paper ... ...ivity in Hacker Culture." Journal of Popular Culture 45.1 (2012): 133-152. Web. 19 Apr. 2013. Rensin, Emmett. "This Infamous Hacker Went to Prison for Trolling AT&T. Now He Wants to Troll Wall Street." Trolls. New Republic, 22 Apr. 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. send-him-back-prison>. Swartz, John. "Internet Activist, a Creator of RSS, Is Dead at 26, Apparently a Suicide." Business Day Technology. New York Times, 12 Jan. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. 26.html?_r=0>. Yu, Zhengchuan, Gng Hu, and Chenghong Zhang. "Why Computer Talents Become Computer Hackers." Communications of the ACM 56.4 (2013): 64-74. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
A question all parents, and some elder siblings, ask at some point is, “when should I let Jr. stand on his own?” and while it was only a case of bureaucracy not being equipped to quickly respond to a situation, this lack of response forced a man out of his comfort zone, gave him something to care about, and eventually made for an interesting book. It could even be hypothesized that Cliff’s decision to marry was aided by the paradigm shift he experienced during the course of his hacker chase (Stoll 356). The delay of intervention on the part of the government agencies forced Cliff Stoll to leave the sidelines of his life, take responsibility, and become "pro-active–almost rabid–about computer security” (370).
In reality, most hackers are ordinary people with a great deal of curiosity, above-average skills with a computer, a good understanding of human nature, and plenty of time to kill. Hackers have no distinguishing characteristics. Your next-door neighbor could be a hacker, as could your niece or nephew, one of your co-workers, or even the kid who serves you coffee in the morning. Not all hackers are dangerous and out to destroy business or damage lives. The view of the general public toward hackers is mixed. A recent CNN-poll shows 33% of respondents labeling hackers as "useful," 17% seeing them "as a menace," and the majority (45%) seeing hackers as "both" useful and a menace (CNN, 1999).
The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier by Bruce Sterling is a book that focuses on the events that occurred on and led up to the AT&T long-distance telephone switching system crashing on January 15, 1990. Not only was this event rare and unheard of it took place in a time when few people knew what was exactly going on and how to fix the problem. There were a lot of controversies about the events that led up to this event and the events that followed because not only did it happen on Martin Luther King Day, but few knew what the situation truly entailed. There was fear, skepticism, disbelief and worry surrounding the people that were involved and all of the issues that it incorporated. After these events took place the police began to crackdown on the law enforcement on hackers and other computer based law breakers. The story of the Hacker Crackdown is technological, sub cultural, criminal, and legal. There were many raids that took place and it became a symbolic debate between fighting serious computer crime and protecting the civil liberties of those involved.
Although, hackers can damage a person psychologically, emotionally, and financially, hacking almost never leads to direct physical violence. I believe that hacking is one of those unique tools of life that is considered good or bad depending on what it is being used for. I believe that anything that falls into the right hands and is used for a genuine purpose, can help progress society in a positive light even if the thing in question is deemed bad. For instance, in June of 2013, Edward Snowden, an American computer professional, leaked classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) to the mainstream media in Hong Kong by using the helpfulness social engineering approach, which help him obtain confidential information without physically taken it from the person. Although this was detrimental for the US government’s reputation, simultaneously it was an event that lead to the improvement of security. In addition, if the US had hired Edward Snowden that could use his wrong doing for a right cause. We all have our thoughts about what is wrong and right, but in reality those who are in power of wealth determine what is deemed acceptable and unacceptable. With this in mind, I state the claim that from a creativity aspect no matter whether a product is deemed good or bad,
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,
The use of hacking to identify weaknesses in computer security has become an increasingly controversial issue in recent years. Awareness of this issue is important, because our ever increasing reliance on technology means that breaches in computer security have the potential to have wide-ranging and devastating consequences to society, worldwide. This essay will begin by clearly defining the term ‘hacking’ and will examine the type of people who hack and for what reasons. There will then follow a discussion of the moral argument on hacking before examining a few brief examples. The essay will then conclude by arguing against the use of hacking as a means of identifying weaknesses in computer security.
Hacking was once a term that was used to describe someone with a great deal of
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.
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...
The issue with tackling the ethical hacker scenario is that the event is almost entirely action based. There is no end to give meaning to the action and there is no finalized result or indication that it impacted happiness, which many ethical theories depend on. Namely consequentialism, utilitarianism and ethical egotism require an end result in one form or another. There is also no purpose in committing the hackings which makes applying moral theories that deal with motivation and intent, ethical egotism and aspects of virtue ethics, increasingly more difficult to do effectively. Therefore moral theories that apply almost exclusively to the action itself will be utilized in this argument.
Harvey, Brian. A. Computer Hacking and Ethics. Ed. Paul Goodman, P.G., a.k.a. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Hacking was a term established in the 1960s. This word is the concept of unauthorised intrusion of a computer or network with malicious intentions behind them. This includes any technical effort of manipulating or damaging the normal behaviour of network connections/systems or stealing information. In this generation, hacking has become evidently significant and the debate of hacking being considered ethical or unethical arises. Therefore, will hacking ever be justified? The justification (reasonableness) of hacking has become a disputation of mixed opinions and emotions amongst society. These opinions range from hacking being considered immoral due to it being illegal activity and the vast negative impact it has on people. This includes the affirmative opinions on hacking; such as hacking being considered ethical due to the “white hat” hackers.
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..
It is likewise disturbing when Das and Nayak (2016) report that in 2015, seventy five percent of private ventures detailed having encountered arrange security breaks. This is an expansion from the cases experienced in 2013 and 2014, a sign that cybercrime is turning into the most risky test to