Ethical Hacking : A Breach Of Security

First Himma’s argues that, to determine if an act of hacktivism is morally justified depends on how much harm is done. Himma’s first premise shows that there is a possibility that some acts of hacktivism potentially can be morally permissible, but often acts labeled as hacktivism are not. For example, a harmful act of hacktivism that should not be considered morally permissible by Himma’s standard was when Sony experienced one of the most impactful hacktivist acts by LulzSec in April, 2011. LulzSec is an anarchist group that came up with an effective strategy of using social media and clever

In the early days of computing, a hacker was primarily referred to as a computer guru, someone who is extremely technical with a high expertise in computer also known as “Expert Programmers”. Nevertheless, as technology is advancing at a face pace, hacking has adopted a completely different definition. The modern definition is someone who access a computer system primarily to steal or destroy information. Hacking has caused major harm in the realm of technology. Over the years, hackers have become much more lethal in their craft. They manage to break into complex information systems from entities such as banks, government agencies, and private businesses. Furthermore, they often manipulate their victims through social engineering in order to obtain financial benefits. Hackers hold different label such as: black hat hacker and white hat hacker in which all have their own motives.

One of the unethical considerations to put into perspective is the sophisticated use of Hacking/cracking. Hacking “To gain unauthorized access to data in a system or computer”. Also cracking, “which is the technique of the modification of software to remove or disable features which are considered undesirable by the person”. The unlawful and unethical use of these techniques have the features and sophistication to create devastation and destruction to our lives through the exploitation of technology. For example, as shown in Die Hard 4, this movie visually demonstrates how “Hacking” was frequently used to exploit technology to create a “fire sale”. This was used to achieve unethical outcomes to hackers which would cause devastation, unrest

An ethical hacker is a person who performs most of the same activities a cracker does, but with the owner or company’s permission.

“We cannot defend ourselves with a weapon…but we can do this with their cars, homes, bars, brothels and everything else in their possession. It won’t be difficult; we all know who they are and where they are located.” Quoted from an Anonymous member. (Schiller, A.6.) Computer hacking began in the 1950s with an individual looking out for his own personal gains; like free phone calls for instance. The perception of hackers ever since has become very negative. Hacking has evolved over time, with many modern hackers following their own set of values that they believe are, arguably positive motives.

Hacking is a practice of art and the feature of systems. It is the practice of changing a computer hardware or software to archive a goal outside of the hacker’s original purpose, mostly common among teenagers and young adults. This is also known as Cyber hacking, which is using computers to commit fraudulent acts such as fraud, privacy invasion, stealing corporate/personal data etc. Cyber Hacking costs many organizations millions of dollars every year.

Hacking cannot be considered ethical due to the fact that it damages a company 's reputation. Hackers have no care in the world about the negatives that happen to you. They may not have anything against you but what you stand for. Erickson was the owner of a website known for political debates was hacked and his page on which he spent thousands of dollars on was hacked by Anonymous and became malicious. “Erickson spent $1,500 to rebuild his site with enhanced security measures. He also spent a considerable amount of time with Google’s appeals process to get his site relisted-- a process that took 3 months.” (KAVILANZ, PARIJA. "Hacked by Anonymous." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 29 May 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.) When you are targeted by cyber terrorists they don 't aim to just make a statement. They are there to hurt you. They demoralize the things you treasure and make all your prized possessions worthless. To build a website is not a cheap and easy process. Without prior knowledge of web development you need to hire a web developer in order to do the work for you which can in turn cost you thousands of dollars. Erickson then had to rehire web devs and network analysts to get his entire web page restructured with better security. No one can say for sure who will be next. Many of these attacks can be very random and seemingly pointless, however, these hacker groups are still out there in the world doing what they seem to do best. Anonymous as you can note is one of the top

Computer hacking: Is the practice of modifying computer hardware and software to accomplish a goal outside of the creator’s original purpose. People who engage in computer hacking activities are often called hackers. Since the word “hack” has long been used to describe someone who is incompetent at his/her profession, some hackers claim this term is offensive and fails to give appropriate recognition to their skills. The majority of hackers are technology buffs. They are self-motivated and learning about computers is their true passion. ("What Is Computer Hacking?" WiseGEEK. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2013).

"If you are a good hacker everybody knows you, But if you are a great hacker nobody knows you" (Rishabh Surya). Hacking is known in the community as a way of stealing information from people and it can be but it can also be a lot more. Hacking is a dangerous tool that can lead to a life of crime. When people hack it is to mostly gain information that would benefit them in some way. Hackers can obtain information from a lot of places they usually put their focus into one place so they are able to easily obtain information. Hacking is wrong and it is used for wrongful acts of stealing information Hacking is not ethical because it is used to steal one 's personal information, it is used to steal a business 's information, and is used to steal a government 's classified information.

A malicious hacker’s motivation can be money, gain respect or reputation, denial of service, political gain, or for fun (Wilhelm, 2010, p. 65). For the penetration tester, the motivation and purpose is to find vulnerabilities in order to protect the computer systems that a malicious hacker would use to meet their agenda. Penetration testing is commonly referred to as ethical hacking and personnel that conduct penetration tests are also referred to as ethical hackers or white hat hackers (Wilhelm, 2010).

The ethical issues surrounding hacking, stem from several sources mainly dealing with order and control, and information ownership. What is difficult to decipher from all the media hoopla surrounding the terms, "hacker" and "hacking" is both the simultaneous sensationalism and the condemnation of said activities. Of course just recently, even a movie was made and was appropriately called Hackers. The term and all that it implies has truly entered our popular consciousness when Hollywood has made a box office movie on it. As the advancement of computer technologies and systems of information become increasingly more and more complex in today's fast paced modern world and said technologies become an integral

Hacking is a very fast paced adrenaline crazed job, whether you 're doing it legally or doing it illegally. Hopefully if you are hacking you have permission from the system or network owner/owners. Or if you have earned your CEH which is a Certified Ethical Hacker. Becoming a Certified Ethical Hacker is a good career choice because with technology changing everyday, people need someone that can protect their company from the dangers of unethical hacking.

Hacking is when an unauthorised person breaks codes and passwords to gain entry to someone else’s computer system. Hackers can do a lots of damage if they break into a computer system.

"If you are a good hacker everybody knows you, But if you are a great hacker nobody knows you" (Rishabh Surya). Hacking is known in the community as a way of stealing information from people and it can be but it can also be a lot more. Hacking is a dangerous tool that can lead to a life of crime. When people hack it is to mostly gain information that would benefit them in some way. Hackers can obtain information from a lot of places but they usually put their focus into one place so they are able to easily obtain information. Hacking is wrong and it is used for wrongful acts of stealing information. Hacking is not ethical because it is used to steal one 's personal information, it is used to steal a business 's information, and is used to

An ethical hacker is therefore a good hacker, somebody who uses the methods and tools of the blackhat [4] community to test the security of networks and servers. The goal of an ethical hack is neither to do damage nor to download any valuable information –it’s more a service for a client to test his environment on how it would withstand a hacker attack. The final output from an ethical hack is mostly a detailed report about the detected problems and vulnerabilities. Many times, the report does even have instructions on how to remove certain abilities. Ethical hacking does perfectly fit into the security life cycle (see figure 1.1). Ethical hacking is a way of doing a security assessment a current situation (from a technical point of view) can be checked. Like all other assessments (or audits), an ethical hack is a random sample and passing an ethical hack doesn’t mean there are no security issues. An ethical hack’s results is a detailed report of the findings as well as a testimony that a hacker with a certain amount of time and skills is or isn’t able to successfully attack a system or get access to certain information.