Essay Example on Former Hackers Hired: Ethical Controversy or Opportunity?

Introduction

Several companies have recently hired former hackers from both those who destroyed those who didn't. This has caused controversies on the grounds of ethics. Examples of some people who were former hackers and got hired include Kevin Mitnick and Chris Putman. The Dart Enterprises employed Mitnick as a security consultant after facing charges for hacking. Facebook hacking Facebook accounts employed Putman and creating worm like pranks that spread on people's profiles (Hamburger, 2011). The employment of such people has various pros and cons.

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The first benefit of hiring former hackers as security consultants is that they have experience. Systems are different, and for them to hack, they use different techniques. They know the different security systems and how they work. Therefore it will be easier for them to identify problems with security systems.

They make work easier for engineers and also can give suggestions for improvements. They can easily identify loopholes in the system then the work of the engineers of the system soft where it is just to correct them (Reddy, 2019). They can also give suggestions on how to improve the system in a way it will be difficult for others to access.

The demerits of hiring a hacker are that it may distort the company's image due to their criminal background. This mostly will be a problem if the company is dealing with a government institution. The company may also lose trust, or the customers may be unsatisfied. People may fear that greater damage or the fear that they may not have fully reformed.

It may also be dangerous for the company. The hacker may have had ill motives for the company. It is difficult to determine if their reasons are ill or for a useful purpose. Hiring them is like giving them direct access to the security system of the company. They may then accomplish the most significant damage if their motives were ill.

Data Breaches

The year 2018 faced millions of data breaches affecting many countries. Some of the top profile data breaches involved ten companies comprising of Ticketfy, Facebook, Google, Chegg, MyHeritage, Quora, MyFitnessPal, Twitter, Exactis and Marriott. In all these companies, the reach mainly involved the accessing of data by the hacker. They obtained emails, contacts, addresses and other data of the users of the mentioned companies above.

The affected companies faced many problems due to the data breach. Some of the worst consequences included the closure of Ticketfly as the hackers accessed all the data of customers and employees and changed passwords for access then took over (Roussey, 2019). The remedies for the majority of these cases are still being resolved as they were carried forward to 2019. Majority of the companies alerted the public and updated their systems so that the hackers may not do more harm.

The companies have not filed the majority of the cases as they are still working on trying to recover the data and update their system. The locating of the hackers also has been a challenge and even the evidence against them - some companies for example. Marriot had been warned that their data was leaking. The effects were faced last year. However, the majority of these companies have not filed the cases against the criminals. For many like Facebook and Google, they have enhanced the security features of their systems and also communicating with their customers.

References

Hamburger, E. (2011). These Young Troublemakers Got Hired For Hacking Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft. Businessinsider. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/hackers-hired-by-tech-companies-2011-6?IR=T

Roussey, B. (2019). 10 Biggest 2018 Data Breaches - and What They Mean For 2019. Techhenix. Retrieved from techgenix.com/2018-data-breaches/

Reddy, C. (2019). Top 10 Pros and Cons of Hiring Hackers to Enhance Security - WiseStep. Retrieved from https://content.wisestep.com/hiring-hackers/