In this day and age, technology is more integrated into our lives than ever before. From communication, transportation, and even our professional work environments, it is almost impossible to avoid something that is operated by a circuit board. Especially with the developments of Wi-Fi enabled devices, we are even more connected to the internet and each other. As society develops technologically, governments, corporations, and individuals, can become prone to acts of hacking. Hacking can take different names depending on the intent of the act. Hacktivism can be defined as: “the act of hacking, or breaking into a computer system, for a politically or socially motivated purpose.” (Margaret Rouse, searchsecurity.techtarget.com) One of the most famous examples of a hacktivism or hacktivist
Usually as a result of their hacks are either one of two acts. The first is denial of service (DoS) which means shutting down an internet site, someone’s personal computer, or a social media account. The second is the public leaking of obtained information usually posting on WikiLeaks or some other forum. There has been great debate on whether the actions of Anonymous and hacktivism in general is helpful civil disobedience or not. Some argue it causes more harm than good while others argue it is an alternative form of protest essentially making it a right such as freedom of speech. Due to the controversial nature of hacktivism, it can be compared to how Batman fights to save Gotham City. To some people he is a hero or vigilante, while too others he is a criminal. The same goes for hacktivism, where
There are probably as many answers to that question as there are hackers (maybe more). It is important to realize that these people are individuals with their own hopes, fears, desires, and everything else that comes with being human. However, there are general patterns to the motivation behind the computer hacker's drive to manipulate technology. The problem of hacker motivation is probably one of the more interesting questions concerning this sub-culture (Hacker-Bible, 1995).
Historically, the Anonymous has been engaging in activities that qualifies the group as hacker group as opposed to troll organisation. The group began its operation on December 2010 by attacking the MasterCard for blocking the Wiki Leaks website donations (Coleman 1). In January 2011, the Anonymous group attack the Tunisian government website for using illegal means against protesters. In February...
Hacking is the term used to describe the process of breaking into and obtaining access to a computer system or network. It’s essentially the modern successor of the age-old breaking-and-entering. In this information age, information is power. Those who obtain a person’s personal information can use it to for various crimes including identity theft. Companies and corporations are not exempt from this either. Nowadays, many companies store their customer’s personal data in their databases (a massive collection of data, similar to a giant, virtual phonebook). As a result, they become targets of hackers who, if successful,
Related to the concept of Civil Disobedience and Electronic Civil Disobedience or Hacktivism, is the issue of Direct Action. Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action participant.
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,
Many people through out the world use the internet in way you can’t imagine. Hacktivism being a virtual way to make a statement for the world to see is only the beginning. A recent demonstration of hacktivism followed the death of a Chinese airman when his jet fighter collided with a U.S. surveillance plane in April 2001. Chinese and American hacktivist from both countries hacked Web sites and used them as "blackboards" for their statements. This is only an example of what hacktivist are capable of. This in my opinion is not ethical. I do understand they are making a point but the way to make the point is all wrong.
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:
This act hugely allows Anonymous to differentiate themselves from a more radical group such as the Weather Underground as they were intentionally seeking to use violence and intimidation through their movements in the pursuit of political aims. The work of Anonymous can still be defined as civil disobedience even when they do make mistakes since they do not adhere to straight violence but instead deliberate violation of the law for a greater purpose.
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 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..