Hacking has been in existence for more than a century. It all began when a group of teenage boys who were interested in knowing how the telephone worked than in making proper connections and directing calls to the correct place. Originally, hacking was not even seen as a negative connotation with which we associate the term with in today’s world. The term "hack" is a shortcut that would modify and improve the performance of a computer's operating system that would take less time to complete. (http://findarticles.com) This all started way back in 1971 where people began to hack into everything from phones, to bank accounts and then to computers. What's ironic is that two men by the names of Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, who later founded a company called Apple Computers in 1977, were originally two members of the Homebrew Computer Club of California. They began making "blue boxes", devices to generate different tones to help people hack into the phone system. The real meaning of hacking is to expand the capabilities of any electronic device; to use them beyond the original intentions of the manufacturer. (http://www.hackingalert.com/hacking-articles/history-of-hacking.php) Although the idea of hacking is somewhat private to the public, it is now unfortunately becoming more widely known because it is continuing to disrupt society and the technology world. There is this idea that computer hacking back in the day would not become what it is now days. However, if hacking continues to escalate then there will be nothing further to do. There will become this continuing cycle of more advanced individuals who will find ways to hack into the computer systems each and every year technology becomes more advanced. When the issue of s... ... middle of paper ... ... 5) Schwartau, W. (2000). Cybershock Surviving, Hackers, Phreakers, Identity Thieves, Internet Terrorists, and Weapons of Mass Disruption. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. 6) Stratford. (2008). Hacker Ethic. Retrieved November 19, 2008, from http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/cyberwarfare_101_what_makes_hacker_tick 7) Fotinger, Christian S, Ziegler, Wolfgang Understanding a hacker's mind – A psychological insight into the hijacking of identities. Retrieved November 16, 2008, from Safetybelt Web site: http://www.safetybelt.at/download/danubeuniversityhackersstudy.pdf 8) Personality Characteristics. Retrieved November 16, 2008, from Chester County InterLink Web site: http://www.ccil.org/jargon/jargon_66.html 9) Hackers’ psychological profile hacker definition. Retrieved November 16, 2008, from Your Dictionary Web site: http://www.yourdictionary.com/hackers
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).
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.
Scott Schober is an American businessman, cybersecurity expert, and CEO of Berkeley Vartironics Systems, a company that produces wireless analysis and threat detection systems. As a leading expert in security commonly seen on television and radio news shows, Schober is a frequent target for those he uncovers and defends against: hackers. In Hacked Again, Schober describes the feelings of panic and exposure that he felt after being hacked, imparts security knowledge and tips gained from working in the industry, and describes recent security breaches to help readers stay informed of how their information can be discovered and stolen in sometimes only a few clicks.
ZHENGCHUAN, XU, HU QING, and ZHANG CHENGHONG. "Why Computer Talents Become Computer Hackers." Communications Of The ACM 56.4 (2013): 64-74. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
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,
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:
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...
Harvey, Brian. A. Computer Hacking and Ethics. Ed. Paul Goodman, P.G., a.k.a. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
The Internet is a connection of computers across the world through a network. Its origin dates back to the 1960s when the U.S Military used it for research, but it became more available to the public from the late 1980s. The World Wide Web was created in 1989 and browsers began appearing in the early 1990s. Over the last 24 years, the Internet has enabled people to shop, play, do research, communicate and conduct business online. It has also become cheaper and faster in performing different tasks. As much as the Internet has done immeasurable good to society, it has also dominated people’s lives and brought with it an array of cybercrimes. According to Nicholas Carr in his book The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way we Think, Read and Remember (Carr, 2010). He debates on whether the Internet has done more harm than good. People use the Internet daily to exchange accurate information and constantly personal data such as credit cards, passwords and Social Security numbers are travelling through the network from one computer to another. With security measures put in place on the Internet, personal information remains confidential. But unfortunately, criminals have adapted to innovations in technology, and today, more people are increasingly becoming victims of cybercrime. The Internet has had profound effects on the public, both positive and negative. In this paper we will examine how access to personal information has led to an increase in online and offline crimes. The essay will particularly focus on ecommerce and hacking.
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..
Millions of people around the world use computers and the internet every day. We all use it in school, work even at home, computers have made us life easier, it has brought so many benefits to the society but it has also brought some problems and cybercrimes is one of them. “The times have really changed,” said Greg Garcia, the department’s assistant secretary for cyber security and communications. “We’re seeing now phishing, farming, botnets … war dialing and domain server spoofing. And we’re seeing coordinated cyber-attacks against nation states.” (Fowler 5) Cybercrime is one of the most prevalent and most popular rising crimes being committed today. This is criminal activity done using computers and the Internet. There are millions victims around the world everyday who face these problems. Most people become victims of these at one time or another, but there are ways to avoid or deal with cybercrime by protecting yourself appropriately. I also was one of those victims who faced a similar problem. This unfortunate truth forces me to understand that computers and the Internet have made our lives easier in many ways. However, it is unfortunate that people also use these technologies to take advantage of others through identity theft, hacking attempts, and malicious use of software.