Computer Hacking Essay, Research Paper
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 an addiction. The
definition of a hacker according to the Hacker’s
Dictionary, “a person who enjoys exploring the details of
programmable systems and how to stretch their
capabilities.”(Hackers 1) “The Internet is just another
playing field.” (Kjochaiche 3) “Hackers regard hacking as a
game in which their mind is up against that of the system
designers.” (Hackers 3) The Internet allows the hackers to
take files, programs, passwords, and other information from
users that are using it. They use this as a tool to make it
easier to beat “the system”.
There are three major types of hackers, one with good
intentions but gets slapped in the face due to the bad
reputation of others, there are the hackers with bad
intentions, and there are the hackers that fit in between.
The bad hacker category is the largest by far. “A bad
hacker’s motives are to punish someone or retaliate against
the owner of a computer system.”(2) Computer terrorists fall
under this category. Some bad hackers may also hack just to
challenge the programmer. The hacker feels that if they can
break into it then they are much more superior than the
person who actually wrote the software. They can feel so
superior that they might enter a virus to eliminate a
program that was not worthy of their abilities. One of the
other many goals of a hacker is to steal passwords.
Hackers can steal your password about four different
ways. Intercepting your password through email is “not that
difficult.”(How are they getting my password? 1) This is by
far the easiest method because all they have to do is take
the email as it is being sent to you. Hackers can also use
a program called a password cracker to actually learn you
password. There are two types of theses but both have their
own problems. The first “checks every password possible from
the entry site.” (1) The second uses a program that goes in
and reads the passwords off. The problem with both is that
you have to “get the cracker into the site, undetected”(1)
You also must cover you trail. Some prefer the manual method
first. “There are actually lists of 100(or more) most-used
passwords.”(2) Hackers have reported that, “a simple
password that appears in the English dictionary will take
about an hour or less for a hacker to crack.”(4) “This is
not considered a long time to a hacker.”(Brian 2) Third,
they use what is called web spoofing. This is the most
dangerous because they see what every you are doing. They
can get you passwords plus any other information you might
have. This web spoofing is caused by a middle man who can
redirect information from your page, to his page, to the
page you were sending the information to. “The middle man
sees all.”(How are they getting my password? 3) This is
above all the easiest way to get any information that they
might want or need. The last method is through Java.
Through a program they can hack into a computers hard drive
through your Java program. That is why if you can avoid
keeping your passwords on your hard drive do it. Some
people keep their passwords on three by five cards and store
them which is allot safer.
The best method to securing yourself is always backing
up files. That way if a virus or hacker crashes you
computer you will safe. Another very safe method is to
change your password often and don’t use the same password
for everything. “If they already know another one of your
passwords, they ‘ll try them first.”(How are they getting my
password? 2) Consider rotating your passwords, just make
sure they are not available on you hard drive. In the long
run it will be safer to go throughout the trouble than find
out that someone is using your passwords to get into things.
This can be dangerous in that Hackers supply their work with
peoples money by buying stuff with other peoples credit
cards. They can do this by using the same technique as
getting a password.
They use web spoofing to look at the peoples credit
card numbers while they type them in. ?Rule #1, on the
Internet nothing is secure, even if it says it is…?(4)
This is considered the golden rule of the safety on the
Internet. Many people swear that the Internet is safe but
there is always that little chance that someone could be
watching. Today many major Internet companies are allowing
users to order then about 5 minutes later the company calls
you back and you transfer your credit card number over the
phone, which is safer than over the Internet. ?There is a
bigger threat of getting your number taken over secured
Internet sites than over the telephone.?(Hackers 1)
The novice computer hacker usually doesn?t try anything
as challenging as credit card fraud of password stealing.
They usually are just pranksters looking for a good time.
They are the ones who often release computer viruses.
?Viruses are the leading threat amongst the Internet.?(Espy,
6) These viruses are dangerous because they can erase, or
change files, or can even disable the computers that access
the site. These viruses are starting to become more of a
nuisance and cause corruption. (5) They recent release of
the love bug virus is a good example of this. It is
suspected that a young adult had released this just to see
it?s effects. This virus steals the passwords and deletes
certain information of your machine. This type of virus
also was created to spread from one person to all of the
people in their computer address book throughout their
email. They computer specialists working for the government
have to learn how to solve this problem.
Good hackers do exist also, they are the ones who work
for the government. They are the ones who use their
knowledge to try to stop to bad hackers from striking again.
?Their knowledge is used to try and outsmart the enemy.?
(Kjochaiche, 5) Their job is to try and predict what kind
of viruses will be made as well as the existing viruses.
?They try to get in the mind of their evil adversaries.?(5)
They learn to explore what is going on in the hacker?s
brain. Good hackers try to eliminated viruses and find was
to stop people from uploading them. Their goals are to
write software to prevent such occurrences. They are hired
by companies to find safety measures that will help the
company. ?Web servers are introducing new software that was
used to be hacker-proof.?(Orman, 2) ?These good hackers are
essential for the survival of technology and the Internet.?
(Dellert, 4)
Hackers will be around no matter what happens. There
will always be loop holes that the hacker can break into.
?There will always be the man who thinks he can rein over
technology.?(5) It is a constant war between good and evil.
The government and other companies will spend millions and
millions each year. This what people pay for in their
taxes. Every one suffers from this problem. There are
underground hacker groups that hack for fun. Because they
are ?underground? police and government agents cannot track
them down. ?There is a certain respect between each of the
hackers. You don?t rat someone out even if they are your
enemy.?(3) All hackers are linked together even though they
never meet each other personally. ?Your work sort of
represents yourself.?(6) On an occasion you might even have
a team of hackers working together. This is very uncommon
but can happen especially when the job is to big for one man
and it needs to completed right away. But with the group of
hackers comes different views and often the ?hacker
relationship?(1) doesn?t work out. ?More often than not the
hackers are soloists.?(Kjochaiche, 6) It is proven that
when hackers work together they get caught more often.
Hackers will always do their work just like doctors
will always treat patience. With the growth of technology
comes new threats, and new problems. ?This will continue to
be on the rise due to advances in the world.?(Hackers, 3)
Millions and millions of dollars will be put to end this but
this will not work because new ways of hacking will always
be made.
Computer Hackers [Online] Available Http://www.mc2.nu.Dellert, Brian. Interview with a Hacker [Online] Available
http://www.rabble.com/xpress/1997.03.01/hacker.com January 3,1997.Espy, Bob. Crime on the Intenet [Online] Available
http://www.techforum. com/tsld009.htm.Hackers [Online] Available http://scitsc.wlv.ac.uk/~cm5220/home.html.How are they getting my password? [Online] Available
http://geocities.com/yosemite/2215/password.html.Kjochaiche, Ahmad. Kevin Mitnick: Computer Terrorist [Online] Available
http://www.rmit.edu.au/lectures/.Orman, Neil. Is your computer hacker-proof? [Online] Available
http://www.amcity.com/austin/index.html Septemeber 1, 1997