Is there such a thing as good hacking? Yes, it may sound like an oxymoron but it does exist. Computer hacking is the practice of altering computer hardware and software to achieve a goal different from that of the creator’s original purpose. The people who participate in these activities are called hackers. These hackers cause a lot of complications to corporations and personal owners with malware and hacking attempts. According to Verizon’s Business 2010 Data Breach Investigations for the year of 2009, hacking attempts and malware were the two and three spots in corporate data breaches. About forty percent of the breaches were due to hacking. These actions are caused by the “black hat hackers,” who like to break into companies to show their security system has flaws. Hackers use security exploits that help them take advantage of a known weakness. Corporations must hire high tech security teams in order to protect themselves from hackers, but they might have to hire a reformed hacker or two to get the job done.
There is a very long history of hacking that has dated back to when text were first becoming scripted. Hacking originally began when text first became scripted and was put up on Egyptian walls called hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics were encrypted messages that people put up to hide valuable secrets from enemies. Researchers believe Egyptian hieroglyphs came from the Sumerian script, which was the earliest known from of written expression. The Sumerian script consists of a combination of logophonetic, consonantal alphabetic and syllabic signs. Hieroglyphs are modified Sumerian scripts in which they have phonetic glyphs, logographs and determinatives. When the writing of these became more and more common, simplified forms of ...
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...ient Egypt - Gods, Pyramids, Mummies, Pharaohs, Queens, Hieroglyphics, History, Life in Ancient Egypt, Maps. Web. 15 Oct. 2011. .
Editors, Focus. "The History of Hacking." Focus - Connect with 1000s of Leading Business Experts. Get Quality Answers to Your Business Questions. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. .
Kreider, Aaron. "Ambiguous Definitions of Hacker: Conflicting Discourses and Their Impact upon the Possibilities of Resistance." Campus Activism. Web. 15 Oct. 2011. .
"Timeline: A 40-year History of Hacking - CNN." Featured Articles from CNN. 19 Nov. 2001. Web. 14 Oct. 2011. .
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 two primary definitions; the first refers to the enthusiastic and skilful use of computers to solve problems (Techterms, 2013); the second, to “gain unauthorized access to data in a system or computer” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2013). In the context of this essay the second definition is more appropriate and will be the meaning inferred throughout. This definition also more closely aligns with legal terminology used in the UK when describing the hacking of computers. The Computer Misuse Act (1990) introduced three criminal offenses:
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,
Gray, (Curador) Raphael. Who are Hackers? March 2003. 30 September 2003. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hackers/whoare. html> Hackers. Dir. Iain Softly. Metro Goldwyn Mayer, 1995.
There are a few elite in our technology-driven world that possess the unnatural ability to understand and wield the power of computers. To the media they are known as hackers, threats to computer security everywhere. To the underground they are known as "console cowboys", samurais, and the last defenders of free information. To the common man they are young teenage boys that break your computer and ruin your e-mail. Hackers are not criminals or mischievous kids with no purpose. They play an important role in our culture and are the fuel behind our technological revolution.
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.
References to Beddoes’ hacks (Bisson) evoke resentment among readers; they see that black hat hackers gain more by participating in illicit activities than honest citizens do in a year of work, causing them to feel as if it is unfair to themselves because they are stealing from honest citizens like most readers would be. Also, in emphasizing the damages done by black hat hackers and the mysterious backgrounds they often seem to come from, fuel is added to the fire of an already negative connotation. As the other two articles mention, the common perception of hackers is that they are rebellious teenagers out to destroy the world regardless of the channel used. The background described in this article supports those theories when Beddoes speaks of his past as a teenager who started out with an innocent interest in hacking and then transitions into a rebellious malicious hacker after being rejected by the companies that he was trying to assist. Beddoes’ ethos also supports the goal of the article because he is a credible, well-established hacker in recent years. After almost pulling off a multimillion dollar heist, he is a respected yet accessible authority on the topic. Statistics to quantify the amount of data Beddoes stole in his hacking career provide the base to an argument supported by logos. Referring to those numbers also evokes strong emotions in accordance with the amount of people losing money and being victimized by hackers. Readers are inclined to feel sympathy towards the victims of the hackers, evoking an even greater amount of resentment towards the hackers. The content of Bisson’s article effectively supports a negative reaction to
* Bill Apro & Graeme Hammond (2005). Hackers: The Hunt for Australia's Most Infamous Computer Cracker. Five Mile Press. ISBN 1-74124-722-5.
Zetter, K. (2010, January 14). Google Hack Attack Was Ultra Sophisticated, New Details Show | Threat Level | WIRED. Retrieved April 8, 2014, from http://www.wired.com/2010/01/operation-aurora/
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 main reason hackers hack because they have ability to hack. The casual hobby for some hackers is hacking. They test their own system just to test and see what they can hack and what they cannot hack. The guys who get kicked out of corporate and government IT and security organizations are mostly the hackers. By attacking and stealing information, they try to bring down the status of the organization. The addiction for hackers is the knowledge they gain after the malicious hacking and the ego comes along with that knowledge.
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.
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..
Harvey, Brian."Computer Hacking and Ethics." Ed. Paul Goodman, P.G. Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. U of California, Berkeley, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.