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