Ethical Hacking Essay

1067 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on ethical hacking

What is Hacker?
What is a hacker? This term has been used a lot lately, especially due to the cyber attacks that have escalated to a whole new level in the recent years. According to Sjoholm and Rosencrance, a hacker is “an individual who uses computer, networking or other skills to overcome a technical problem”. It also refers to a person that gains unauthorized access to systems or networks for the purpose of committing acts of malicious intent. There are three different types of hackers: White hat, black hat and grey hat hackers. White hat hackers or ethical hackers are the hackers that seek to remain in the best interest of the pubic. Black hat hackers are criminals that seek to violate laws and regulations and cause chaos by illegally …show more content…

White hat hackers are ethical hackers, and their purpose is for evaluating the security measures of a system by conducting penetration testing and other exploitative acts against the network, with the hopes of exposing the vulnerabilities so that the customer is aware. Take a hacker that is hired by a company to do penetration testing on its network while another company is suffering from a hacker that was able to exploit a vulnerability in a Microsoft Office package and back door into the network, only to run malicious scripts that removed all of the system files…that is just an example. There is clearly a difference, however. Hacking is ethical if it benefits the client. Hacking is not ethical if it seeks to only benefit the originator of the hack, based upon malicious intent or personal beliefs. Going back to Kevin Mitnick who again was the most notorious hacker of all time, stealing code and causing over $300 million in damages (www.pbs.org). He works as a white hat hacker or an ethical hacker, servicing companies that he used to target as a black hat hacker. He works for the good of the

Show More
Related

  • Counter culture / Hackers

    1334 Words  | 3 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Steven Levy: The Hacker Code Of Ethics

    144 Words  | 1 Pages

    In chapter six of the text it explained the hacker code of ethics and the issues associated with it. An ethical hacker is defined as a computer and networking expert who systematically attempts to penetrate a computer system or network on behalf of its owners for finding security vulnerabilities that malicious hackers could infiltrate. American journalist Steven Levy established six principals for hacker code of ethics. The six principal are limited computer access, free use of information, mistrusted- authority, examination of hacker, creation, and support in life for advancement. These principal has been controversial to many based on personal moral. As for creating appropriate set of guidelines for non-malicious hackers without becoming

    Read More

  • Computer Hackers: The Who's, What's, When's, Where's, Why's and How's.

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hackers are people who are getting into our computer systems, destroying our personal property and stealing our information. Years ago, a hacker was a person who was capable of creating elegant and or unusual uses of technology. These days, a hacker refers to a person who attempts to penetrate security systems on remote computers (Hackers 2). Not only are computer hackers causing many problems for businesses, they are also causing many problems for the average person. Hackers get in personal information and get a hold of credit card numbers, various banking accounts and financial information, and just about anything else they want to know about you. They are going to get it whether you like it or not.

    Read More

  • Is Ethical Hacking Ethical?

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    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,

    Read More

  • Catherine Bracy: Why Do Good Hackers Make Good Citizens?

    746 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Ted Talk presented by Catherine Bracy took the word hacking to another level. A new way of looking at a hacker. A hacker meaning much more than a teen behind a computer trying to steal information. The points she brought out is that reaching out to the people can get things done and strengthen relationships between people and an organization and through that relationship both parties are more stable and content. Bracy expressed her experiences with hackers in a government and citizen view, but this can also be applied to personal and

    Read More

  • Kevin Mitnick

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Cybercrime Essay

    2112 Words  | 5 Pages

    In today’s society technology is used for everything. With the invention of computers and the internet this open doors to the cyber world. Today you can do almost anything without having to leave your home. The internet gives us the opportunity of shopping online, ordering food online, working from home and video chatting with friends and family across the world. Everyone has a computer and internet access in their homes. While the internet is really convenient it also opens doors for cybercrimes, loss of privacy and the need for computer security.

    Read More

  • Cyber Crime and Businesses

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Cyber Security Essay

    2186 Words  | 5 Pages

    Cyber Security as an International Security Threat National and International Security is a sum of the actions taken by countries and other organizations that can guarantee the safety and well being of their population. It is vital for a nation to pre-emptively discover what issues could affect their security, and take action to prevent any detrimental or harmful events from happening. With the development of technology and the transition into a more technologically savvy society, cyber security has become one of the most prevalent and important economic and national security issues that the United States will come to face. United States President Barack Obama has identified cyber security as a key issue the nation will face. President Obama declared that the “cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation” and that “America's economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on cyber security (“Foreign Policy Cyber Security,” 2013).”

    Read More

  • Is Hacking Ethical Or Ethical Essay

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hacking was a term established in the 1960s. This word is the concept of unauthorised intrusion of a computer or network with malicious intentions behind them. This includes any technical effort of manipulating or damaging the normal behaviour of network connections/systems or stealing information. In this generation, hacking has become evidently significant and the debate of hacking being considered ethical or unethical arises. Therefore, will hacking ever be justified? The justification (reasonableness) of hacking has become a disputation of mixed opinions and emotions amongst society. These opinions range from hacking being considered immoral due to it being illegal activity and the vast negative impact it has on people. This includes the affirmative opinions on hacking; such as hacking being considered ethical due to the “white hat” hackers.

    Read More

  • Essay On Cyber Security

    737 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cyber security is the protection of networks, computers, programs and data from attack, damage or unauthorized access. This is important because a great number of our confidential information is on computers and transmit that data across networks to other computers. As of now cyber-attack is one of the transnational issues that we are concern about in the United States. If these private networks were hack our national security infrastructure will be in distress.

    Read More

  • Black Hat Hacking Essay

    686 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Ethical Hacking Essay

    2025 Words  | 5 Pages

    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..

    Read More

  • Essay On Cybercrime

    1579 Words  | 4 Pages

    Cybercrime refers to all forms of crime conducted through a computer or a mobile device using computer networks. It is thus the use of a computer with the aim of intercepting and manipulating content, disrupting communication, stealing or generally destroying others’ information or hardware through a network. Although cybercrime is a worldwide problem and affects both small and big companies, small companies are affected more from the dangers of cybercrime. The rapid advancement in technology is causing tremendous problems to businesses in terms of more sophisticated cyber-attacks. This project is interesting and beneficial because it enlightens one on the dangers of cybercrime, thus preparing individuals to know how to prevent attacks while online, how to reduce the effects of a cyber-attack and how to prevent future

    Read More

  • Cybercrime Essay

    2700 Words  | 6 Pages

    As the internet has evolved it is now a part of many people’s daily lives and with that, many could not function or conduct their daily business or lives without it. It is impressive that we can now communicate and even see someone all the way across the country with just a few clicks of a mouse. But as technology changes and progresses seemingly for the good, many will always find ways to exploit technology and use it with the intent of committing crime, turning a positive tool into a negative one. As such the negative side of the World Wide Web, cybercrime has evolved as just one of the major disadvantages of the internet. Cybercrime itself is a broad term and can and does include any crime that is committed via the internet or computer network including seemingly minor acts as downloading music, to denial of service attacks, to even acts of cyber-terrorism. With the newly formed threat of cybercrime has also come new ways for law enforcement to attack and prevent it as well but with limited resources not much can be changed but to continue to prevent new methods from approaching the cybercrime world. This is not only just in our own neighborhoods but is at an international scale. This paper generates the insight about the overall rise of cybercrime among our societies. The main focus of this paper is to describe the types of computer crimes and its effects on individuals and businesses.

    Read More

More about Ethical Hacking Essay

Open Document