The Rise Of Hacktivism : A Form Of Protest

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).

Kenneth first premise is that hacktivism with political motivation is digital civil disobedience. She argues that the characteristics of hacktivists and the motivation of the act decided

The hacktivist group has claimed responsibility for several cyberattacks carried out against governments, companies, and religious groups in the last 12 years, the report details.

It is not a secret that some of the largest of United States events are skewed based upon media bias and general misinformation provided by the outlets. When a group of individuals uses their tools to create a blueprint for social change they use it as a call to arms for political and social activists to begin a non-physical clash with the oppressive force. This is exactly what Anonymous, a small organization of hacktivists fighting in the new medium, is all about. Hacktivism is defined as “ the nonviolent use for political ends of ‘illegal or legally ambiguous digital tools’ like website defacements, information theft, website parodies, DoS attacks, virtual sit-ins, and virtual sabotage”, which is exactly what Anon is doing (Hampson 514). They take lessons stemming

The film Killswitch was about the government trying to monopolize and control user traffic on the internet. Whether it is for security purposes or financial gain, our system of democracy is being compromised at a technological level. Several speakers including Tim Wu, expressed how “hacktivism” was a revolutionary tool used to take a stand against government interference.

Learn software and computing concepts. To be a true member of a hacktivists organization it is critical that one knows how to hack or at least supervise security and privacy. It would be appropriate to understand the TOR network, which is a multi level encryption browsing bundle that allows for sluggish but secure browsing as well as access to the dark web, the forbidding side of the internet; VPN, or virtual private network security which allows for the bypassing of filtering inside schools and other organizations due to the layer two tunneling protocols used in the OSI model for computers and networks in wide-ranging and general sense of the word. Finally Proxies, another privacy system allowing the use of alternate servers to handle a request, which effectively obfuscates the transmission of data, or in extremely intricate proxies it turns the request into a form of cryptographic communication in

Among Nir Zigdon, various others have spiked a surprising increase in internet based hacktivism. These new hacktivists have brought with them a new form of law enforcement punishment on the basis of hacktivist crime. The impressive amounts of protests and internet sit ins went hand in hand with law enforcement that was equally as impressive. FBI and police have detained hundreds of activists and levied astronomical fines sometimes reaching nearly $500,000 over the past year (Coleman, 401-402). By increasing penalties, law enforcement ensure that hacktivism would cease. For instance, hackers of the Islamic State known as the Cyber Caliphate seized control of the U.S Central Command’s Twitter account and hijacked a French T.V network in early April. These hackers were to be found with lifelong sentences in detainment facilities if ever caught. With the wake of hacktivism, law enforcement have placed astronomical punishments to derail hacking-based crimes. It is foolish to concur with the many who dispute for the hacktivists to be unchained and freed of their fines however supporting the curtailment of the fines being placed would be wise. To dwindle the numbers of hacktivist related crimes, law enforcement have become insistent on the

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).

Such actions are often called hacking. Hacking is the use of computer skills to gain unauthorized access to computer resources. Hackers are highly skilled computer users that use their talents to gain such access, and often form communities or networks with other hackers to share knowledge and data.

The term computer hacking describes the process of seeking and exploiting weaknesses in a computer system or computer network to breach the security of computers in order to theft the unauthorized and confidential information. “Hacker” is a special term that is used for the person who attempts to bypass way past the system security to perform the hacking. Hacking is of two types:

The term hacking was first promoted by the famous MIT between 1950s and 1960s. It all started as a fun experiment in a lab, but it led to something completely different today. Hacking is a term used to describe unauthorized, illegal intrusion into a network of connected systems or just an individual system. It is a technical effort or a process that is used to exploit the vulnerabilities of a system or connected systems to gain unauthorized access. Today it is synonymous with malicious activity on the web.

The term "hacker" has a dual usage in the computer industry today. Originally, the term was defined as 1. A person who enjoys learning the details of computer systems and how to stretch their capabilities—as opposed to most users of computers, who prefer to learn only the minimum amount necessary.

Hacking - Actions taken by someone to gain unauthorized access to a computer. The availability of information online on the tools, techniques, and malware makes it easier for even non-technical people to undertake malicious activities. It is the process by which cyber criminals gain access to your computer.

“We are anonymous, we represent freedom, we oppose repression, and we are simply an evolution of the technological system. Where liberty is at risk, expect us.” This statement from one of the hacktivists groups called Anonymous gives everyone a message that there are still some people in this world that can give justice to all of the inequality that are happening politically and socially. According to Oxford Dictionary, a Hacktivist is, “A person who gains unauthorized access to computer files or networks in order to further social or political ends.” Furthermore, Hacktivists came from the words hack and activists, which means that they use computers in order to support and attain human rights. Although their actions are illegal and are not acceptable by the law, it cannot be denied that they are doing the right thing that some companies or government departments and officials cannot do. Sometimes, it is questionable why they cannot just be given special access since their only goal is to bring out the reality that everyone should know about. Moreover, their aim involves the First Amendment of the United States or the freedom of speech. Hacktivists are the epitome of a perfect democratic society because they ought to fight for what is right; and they believe that everyone should be exposed to the truth. They are like the heroes in a world that is full of hidden lies and corruption.