Hacking and Its Implication in the Modern World: Case Study Sample

Hacking is the process of modifying the software and hardware components of a computer to access unauthorized data or perhaps damage sensitive information. It is a breach of computer security, and it can risk user privacy. Hackers frequently target all those office and home computer systems that are connected to the internet. After hacking these systems, they proceed to expose private user data such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, and personal details. However, it should be heeded that not all hackers have evil intentions. Two types of hackers are the black hat hackers and the white hat hackers. Black hat hackers are the ones responsible for evil deeds that are happening to the most systems in the world while white hat hackers are often hired by the government corporations to counter attack the deeds of the black hat hackers. It is also fundamental to realize that when a lot of user information is in the hands of black hat hackers, these users tend to be very vulnerable to manipulation from this hackers.

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Hacking and its implication in the modern world

In my opinion, computer hacking is just like a dangerous disease since it has a lot of adverse effects on the community. Nowadays a lot of companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in improving the security of their systems. But, despite their efforts, hackers have always found a way of infiltrating these systems and stealing their data. In this article, I will discuss this menace in details and how it has affected our society. I will also endeavor to explain the reasons behind numerous hacking activities that is whether this activities are done for thrill, money, or just maybe the act of breaking the rules and laws motivates the hackers. As technology expands so do hackers improve their skills, this means that the act of hacking is here to stay and it is never too late to address the issue.

Many people define hacking has the act of gaining unauthorized access to confidential information. But I believe hacking is more than that, in my opinion, hacking is the whole process of attacking the privacy of people. However, we both agree that the act of hacking is illegal. Who is a hacker? Well, the answer to this question comes with different perspectives. Some people believe that a hacker is anybody who relishes in accessing information whether for malicious intentions or fun. Others explain that a hacker is a person who does illegal activities with the computer systems or their functionalities. These differences in opinions about the hackers arise because it is difficult to understand the mentality of different hackers and their intentions Loukas (2015). It will be much simpler to know the hackers and their hacking activities if we pay attention to their motivation and their ethics (Loukas, 2015).

According to Pauli (2013), a hacker can be anybody who has the skills of manipulating the computer systems; he can be a computer specialist or perhaps just a student. They are just the same people who live amongst us, and they are a part of our community. However, it should be noted that most hackers are often professional and expert personnel who get to use the technology first hand for the purpose of development and research. It is difficult to discern the turn of events to crime activities by these hackers. Technology has a lot of benefits if used for the right reasons. However, it can also lead to disastrous events if used for the wrong reasons. The problem begins when these smart professionals develop a habit of using technology for their benefits, as this habit grows the desire in this experts also increases up to a point where they develop approaches to help them gain more benefits through illegal methods (Pauli, 2013).

We can also categorize hackers according to their functionalities that are the manner in which they interact with their target systems, and they type of systems the hack. There are three types of hackers the super hacker, the in-house hacker and the professional hacker. Super hackers are responsible for remote system hacking and monitoring. This kind of hackers doesn't need to be near the system to hack it. In-house hackers are those hackers who work inside the companies and have full information about their systems. Most of these In-house hackers hack their respective companies systems because of misunderstanding with their superiors or when they not happy with the way they are treated in the company. And then there are the professional hackers; this is the group of hackers which can get any information from anywhere and they have the potential of manipulating things whenever they want.

Now that we understand who a hacker is let us evaluate their psychology. And moreover, understand the motives in doing what they do. According to Rowe (2014), several reasons motivate the hackers, some of them include; the need of finding quick money by manipulating the target users, the adrenalin rush to do an illegal activity, the sense of excitement in cracking strong computer security tools among many other reasons. Ethical hackers are responsible for duplicating the actions and intentions of malicious hackers in a manner that no harm can result from their actions. They often carry out a lot of research to evaluate what a malicious hacker can get from an information system. The research enables them to understand the functionalities and the vulnerabilities of the systems completely and to seal any loopholes within the systems if any (Rowe, 2014).

What are the implications of hacking? Well, hacking has a positive side and a negative side. Based on Sinha (2016) findings the positive side of hacking is that most hackers are experts regarding computer systems functionalities, therefore, they have a lot of knowledge and skills in determining flaws in a system. In fact, many companies nowadays are hiring trustworthy hackers for the purpose of fixing their systems vulnerabilities. These type of hackers are called the ethical hackers, and they help in examining computer systems using different hacking techniques and preventing the potential damages. There is also the negative side whereby malicious hackers tend to break into systems for the purpose of destroying data or rendering the systems unusable. Most of these hackers do these activities for their personal gains. For instance, hacking of a commercial site may result in huge losses, and it is likely to cause major inconveniences. Moreover, the company running the commercial website is likely to incur extra costs on restoring and protecting the site from other malicious hackers. On the other hand, these hackers are likely to gain unauthorized access to peoples private data such as the bank account details and other financial data (Sinha, 2016).

Conclusion

In the past hackers were seen as the genius individuals and many of them spearheaded the developments of Internet technology and computers. Today a lot of conditions have changed, and many people are having a lot of egocentric personalities. People are only interested in what benefits them, and this kind of desire has pushed many of them to participate in illegal activities. We can create a much safer and secure world if evil acts of hacking are prevented. In fact, all those malicious hackers should use their talents and skills for the good of the public and by extension the whole world.

References

IoT Hacking. (2017). Hacking the Hacker, 189-191. doi:10.1002/9781119396260.ch35

Loukas, G. (2015). Cyber-Physical Attacks on Industrial Control Systems. Cyber-Physical Attacks, 105-144. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-801290-1.00004-7

Pauli, J. (2013). The Basics of Web Hacking. The Basics of Web Hacking, 1-18. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-416600-4.00001-0

Rowe, N. C., & Custy, E. J. (2013). Deception in Cyber Attacks. Cyber Warfare and Cyber Terrorism. doi:10.4018/9781591409915.ch012

Rowe, N. C. (2014). Ethics of Cyber War Attacks. Cyber Warfare and Cyber Terrorism. doi:10.4018/9781591409915.ch014

Sinha, S. (2016). Legal Side of Hacking. Beginning Ethical Hacking with Python, 3-3. doi:10.1007/978-1-4842-2541-7_1

Sinha, S. (2016). Hacking Environment. Beginning Ethical Hacking with Python, 5-8. doi:10.1007/978-1-4842-2541-7_2

Wireless Hacking. (2017). Hacking the Hacker, 127-132. doi:10.1002/9781119396260.ch23