Picture a dark room, where the only source of light is coming from a computer monitor. The clacking sounds of a keyboard echo throughout the room as words flash across the screen. Without much more description, one could easily assume that the person at the computer is a hacker, trying to gain access to sensitive information, as is the image presented to people by the media. Although not all hackers may operate in such an environment, what they do is still relevant in this age of information. Hackers can, and some will, access people 's private information, and some are even willing to monetize from their ability to do so by selling products to government agencies. One such group of hackers is known as Hacking Team. As their name suggests, Hacking Team is a company that specializes in hacking into other people 's computer devices and obtaining information. According to an article from The Guardian, Hacking Team provides "Remote Control System (RCS) software" that can "hack into targets’ computers and mobile devices, install backdoors, and monitor them with ease." Such surveillance tools raise ethical concerns, such as the invasion of privacy of the people being surveilled. These concerns should not be taken lightly, as these issues are directly related to the violation of basic human rights. Such issues have been raised, and according to the lecture, "information technology has already been used to abuse people," which is what Hacking Team 's software is designed to do.
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.
The word hacking, usually associated with information technology, is a term used for the development of creative solutions for a problem by someone in a non-professional environment. With the introduction of personal computers and the internet, anyone could create solutions to problems in computer science. This led to the emergence of “hacker culture”, leading to the decentralization of computer industry (Hicks, 2014).
Hackers can gain access to the computer records of banks, credit card companies, hospitals, merchants, universities, government agencies, and other organizations. Though such breaches occur much more rarely than phishing, even one instance can give the hacker access to millions of people’s personal data, including Social Security numbers, birth certificates, driver’s license numbers, health records, employment records, and financial information. The FBI reports that, since
In Herbert B. Dixon Jr.’s “Is Hacking the New Normal?”, the author is trying to convince the world to pay better attention to the technology in their lives. Dixon is addressing why he believes that the new “normal” is to live in a society where all technology is hacked and vulnerable all the time. Dixon creates the implied message that everything is a target, and should be handled as if it is a primary target of hacker’s attention and time, because it just might be. Dixon’s ideas are backed by statistics given by Peter Katel in his article “Identity Theft”, regarding the number of people that are attacked and how hard the economy is hit by the breach in security. Thus, showing just how many are attacked and giving validity to Dixon’s ideas about sources of information breaches. This source brings to light other sources of potential security breaches, and gives a new perspective regarding just “accepting” this new era. Dixon gives valid ideas on how to increase your safety but ultimately describes that nothing is completely safe.
The goal is to inform the public of the facts about hackers and the influences from pop culture and mainstream media that have changed society’s perception of hackers over time. I will also discuss statistical data about society’s fear of hackers and how it has changed the perception of hackers. If I can convince the readers that hackers are responsible for many of the technological innovations over the last 50 years, it will help me argue my point and hopefully persuade people to reconsider their opinions of hackers. The ultimate goal is to persuade people to redefine their definition of hackers and hope that society will use the correct classifications when reporting about them or describing their character in pop culture, but I would be satisfied if I could just create a platform for the next step on the road to change. One thing that absolutely amazed me was the amount of new information that is created and distributed every year. I learned that it is important to make sure that the message is strong and loud so it will not be lost amongst all the other information. An argument must be clear and maintain focus so that the audience will not become disinterested or
The Facebook,Instagram, and Twitter social media sites with passwords that can be hacked no matter the “strength” of the password. Peter Ludlow effectively persuades using ethos,logos and pathos in the reading What is a ‘Hacktivist’? By talking about events that have happened to “Hacktivist” in the recent years due to “Lexical Warfare.” Lexical Warfare irs a phrase that I like to use for battles over a term is to be understood. When people think of hackers, the first thing to mind is people who sit on computers all day and steal information from everyone possible. The previous sentence provides an example of how people think of the word “hacker” because of what media tells people. It either gives them a good thought if you think “hacktivist” are doing right or unpleasing thought because it makes people feel unsafe since hackers can hack into whatever they please.
Computers are one of the world’s greatest inventions, and sadly, one of the worst. Thanks to computers, there are so many things we can do from the comfort of our own home. We can do our banking online, pay our bills, go to school, look for jobs, and so on. Computers have made us all lazy. They have also made us unconcerned, at least up until recently, with our privacy. We all know there are bad people in this world, but it seems to be that we have forgotten that there are some very, very smart people in this world as well. It took a very smart person to invent the computer, to figure out the inner workings. But if one person can do this many can do this. Enter the computer hacker.
An article published by TheWeek.com titled Inside America’s Hacking Epidemic states that cyberattacks initiated by hackers is a growing threat that could lead to a number of serious problems. Some of these problems include the shutting down of the electrical grid and water supply. The author writes, “These cybercriminals can potentially target every aspect of our lives that involves an internet connection. They could suddenly apply the brakes on smart cars or take over a passenger jet’s avionics system.” In this passage, the author is trying to convey that there are many things that hackers can do to cause chaos. Some countries, such as Russia and China, sponsor hacking groups. Hacking groups such as Cozy Bear and Guccifer 2.0 are some examples of hacking groups sponsored by Russia. In conclusion, the author believes that cyberattacks are becoming more threatening and can be catastrophic to all aspects of society.
In the current society, business, organizations and government are very dependent on computers and Internet. Adequately protecting an organization 's information assets is a requisite issue. Many organizations have deployed security software or devices, such as firewalls or intrusion detection systems, to help protect their information assets and to quickly identify potential attacks. IBM Systems Journal states that "some organizations came to realize that one of the best ways to evaluate the intruder threat to their interests would be to have independent computer security professionals attempt to hack into their computer systems" (IBM 2001). This might be a good way to evaluate the system vulnerability. However, to allow a penetration test team break into their systems, the organization may have faces some risks. For example, the penetration test team may fail to identify significant vulnerabilities; sensitive security information may be disclosed, increasing the risk of the organizations being vulnerable to external attacks (The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants). Some organization even send their system administrator to be trained Ethical Hacking as a career course in Tertiary
With the dramatic development in the technology of computers and communications, the entire world has certainly benefited a great deal, but the purchase price of computers might also be very expensive. Computer crimes are now becoming very serious problems that are costing as much as billions of dollars. Also, computer crimes are threatening the continuing future of communication, confidentiality, and even the integrity of businesses and organizations.
The online world of social networking, with spy's and hackers. Do you remember the term Libertarianism? Libertarianism is the idea to believe in the doctrine of free will, where nobody tells you what to do and how to do it, including the government. That's nots in effect anymore. This topic is relevant to today's world because of the constant war on terror that hasn't ended yet. Currently, the FBI and Apple are in a feud because Apple is denying the request sent by the FBI to unlock the San Bernardino killers' Apple IPhone. Many claim that if Apple unlocks the phone, their would be a back door in the encryption in the future. If this happens Americans are posed with having their information leaked. Snowden and the Patriot are also factors that
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
As the world becomes more and more reliant on computers the computer hacking industry is greatly rising. With people such as Kevin Mitnick, who is known as a "computer terrorist" (Kjochaiche 1), computerized information isn't safe any more. Kevin is known as "the most high-profiled computer criminal and responsible for more havoc in the computer world today."(1) He considered this a fun and easy task. He got caught and thrown into prison, but once he got out nothing changed. Kevin stated that as long as the technology is there it just calls to people to break into it. Computer hackers usually start off young, thinking that it is nothing but a little harmless fun. But as they get older, they realize it has turned into
Also criminals can use computers to communicate and store data. These criminals involved in these illegal activities are called hackers.
Outsider attackers often called hackers because they gain access to system without authorization or permission from the owners or legitimate user. With information technology, comes increase risk of fraud and information theft. Hackers can steel sensitive information from one organization and sell it to a