Protecting your personal information, both on your personal computer and in other places such as your bank or your job, has become more difficult with the massive growth of the internet and the expertise of some unsavory characters called hackers, crackers or phreakers. Whatever they choose to call themselves, they are theives, plain and simple. Some people still question whether or not hacking should be illegal. I think it's obvious that what hackers do is illegal. A personal computer is personal and the information on it is private. When a hacker invades that privacy, he/she is trespassing and when they take your personal information they're committing a form of thievery (Ludlow). In addition to hackers, we now have marketers invading our privacy through the use of cookies (Rodger).
Cyberterrorism costs companies, goverments and everday people billions of dollars each year. "Cyberwar may be to the 21st century what blitzkrieg was to the 20th (Arquilla)." In 1994, a Russian hacker broke into CitiBanks funds transfer system and transferred over $10 million to his own accounts. A 16 year old English hacker penetrated a highly sensitive military research facility in Rome, New York. Just last year hackers shut down several 911 systems in Florida (Smith). So not only are they costing us money but they're also putting people's lives in danger.
Even though the theft of money is a growing problem, there are other things for hackers to steal. For instance, hospitals have very elaborate network security setups. Why? Many hackers attempt to gain access to people's personal medical files in order to blackmail them, or to avenge some injustice by spreading the person's health problems around. Other possibilities might go as far as to include looking up a patient's current location, in order for gang members to finish off the survivor of a drive-by shooting or other attempted murder. It is for these reasons that medical facilities computer security procedures are second only to the government's (Shoben).
There are even more forms of hacking to go into. One type, called phreaking, is often a side-effect of a computer hacker's work. Phreaking is the manipulation of phone lines and phone services. Over the space of a few years in the early eighties, hackers learned how to make free phone calls, bounce their line around to other places to avoid traces, even damage equipment at the other end of the line.
Compared to past, today we have sound security policies, established cyber laws, active monitoring systems, and extra layers of security in form of firewalls etc., to prevent access to uninvited guests for your network and most importantly increased user awareness. But still there exist vulnerabilities in and around the cyber space of which the hackers exploit for different purposes. The monetary losses we suffer today are much greater in magnitude as well as in mass. But, we definitely are in a better place compared to the time the events in this book took place.
The use of hacking to identify weaknesses in computer security has become an increasingly controversial issue in recent years. Awareness of this issue is important, because our ever increasing reliance on technology means that breaches in computer security have the potential to have wide-ranging and devastating consequences to society, worldwide. This essay will begin by clearly defining the term ‘hacking’ and will examine the type of people who hack and for what reasons. There will then follow a discussion of the moral argument on hacking before examining a few brief examples. The essay will then conclude by arguing against the use of hacking as a means of identifying weaknesses in computer security.
How much privacy do we as the American people truly have? American Privacy is not directly guaranteed in any manner under the United States Constitution; however, by the Fourth Amendment, Americans are protected from illegal search and seizure. So then isn’t it ironic that in today’s modern world, nothing we do that it is in any way connected to the internet is guaranteed to remain discreet? A Google search, an email, a text message, or even a phone call are all at risk of being intercepted, traced, geo located, documented, and stored freely by the government under the guise of “protecting” the American people. Quite simply, the Government in order to protect us and our rights, is willing to make a hypocrite of itself and act as though our right is simply a privilege, and without any form of consent from the people, keep virtual tabs on each and every one of us. In the words of Former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis “The right to privacy is a person's right to be left alone by the government... the right most valued by civilized men." Privacy isn’t just Privilege, it is nonnegotiable right, and deserves to be treated as such.
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).
Phone Phreaking: Is a slang term described as “the art and science of cracking the phone network (I.E. make free long-distance calls).” The subculture started in the 1970’s with Joe Engressia and John Draper. Joe Engressia is recognized as the first phreaker. Joe was a blind genius
Every year, cybercrime costs businesses $400 billion and by 2019, cybercrime will have cost the global economy 2.1 trillion dollars (Morgan 1). But, economic loss isn’t the only problem caused by weak cybersecurity; weak cybersecurity measures could allow hackers to collect data on citizens, cause widespread death, and destroy entire nations. Despite the massive threat the problem poses, no one has yet to institute an effective solution. Although government regulation and website blocking attempt to eliminate cybercrime and cyberwarfare, an ideal solution exists in government guidance and collaboration with the private sector.
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.
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
Privacy threats are currently the biggest threat to National Security today. The threats are not only concerning to the government, however. An alarming 92% of Americans are concerned that the power grid may be vulnerable to a cyber-attack (Denholm). Although this is a more recent development to the cyber threats we have experienced, this is not the first time that privacy threats have stepped into the limelight as people are forced to watch their every online move.
Have you ever felt violated? Like somebody knew too much about you that they didn’t need to know? Or have you ever felt like someone was watching you? As if somebody knew your every move? Most people don’t normally feel this way; most people feel safe in their general surroundings. Although with the constant use of technology in today’s era, it’s time to ask: Should we, as American citizens, feel as safe as we do?
By the year 2021 cyber crime will cause six trillion dollars per year in financial damage and increase of three trillion dollars from 2015. Over the next five years, annual spending for cybersecurity will exceed one trillion dollars annually. Unfortunately by the year 2019 1.5 million cyber security jobs will remain unfilled. As a result cyber security unemployment rate is zero and is the fastest growing profession in the United States.
The Economic Impact of Cyber Crime and Cyber Espionage. (2013, January 1). . Retrieved , from http://www.mcafee.com/us/resources/reports/rp-economic-impact-cybercrime.pdf
As technology penetrates society through Internet sites, smartphones, social networks, and other modes of technology, questions are raised as the whether lines are being crossed. People spend a vast majority of their time spreading information about themselves and others through these various types of technology. The problem with all these variations is that there is no effective way of knowing what information is being collected and how it is used. The users of this revolutionary technology cannot control the fate of this information, but can only control their choice of releasing information into the cyber world. There is no denying that as technology becomes more and more integrated into one’s life, so does the sacrificing of that person’s privacy into the cyber world. The question being raised is today’s technology depleting the level of privacy that each member of society have? In today’s society technology has reduced our privacy due to the amount of personal information released on social networks, smartphones, and street view mapping by Google. All three of these aspects include societies tendency to provide other technology users with information about daily occurrences. The information that will be provided in this paper deals with assessing how technology impacts our privacy.
At what level is Internet surveillance by the United States government acceptable to society, considering a balance between security and privacy, what are the short and long term implications, and how does it affect the rest of the world.
Privacy is the ability to maintain what or who can access and see your personal content and information. With that, the idea of privacy is different amongst different cultures and countries, while they all differ, they share common characteristics. The act of sharing ones own personal information is decision one must make on their own. Privacy is a right that all people should have and the government has the responsibility of maintaining that right. Data such as personal emails, bank details, medical records, and passwords need to remain safe and secure to ensure privacy is not invaded.