Paper on Hacktivism Unveiled: Navigating the Ethical Landscape of Cyber Activism and Security Breaches

Introduction to Hacktivism

Computer security aims to protect information systems from access by an unauthorized individual and thus cause harm. Hacktivism is one of the ethical issues affecting IT security. Hacktivism is a concept that emerged in the 1980s from a meeting held by technological enthusiast activists and a community of hackers. The term hacktivism is a combination of "hacking" and "activism." Hacktivism has been generally described as hacking skills to enhance political agendas over social media platforms. Hacktivism is similar to activism, although it is not usually democratic activism. It is sometimes thought to serve the interests of the global population in general. Anonymous and WikiLeaks are examples of highly questionable concepts that are associated with varied forms of hacktivism. In many forms, WikiLeaks can be termed to use hacktivism to fight for the general population's well-being, especially in the United States.

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CRAP Test 1

The article Human Rights and Hacktivism: The Cases of WikiLeaks and Anonymous by Tom Sorrell argues that hacktivism is an instance of political activism where technological skills (computer hacking skills) are used against prominent governments and commercial institutions among other areas of focus ("Human Rights and Hacktivism: The Cases of WikiLeaks and Anonymous"). When hacktivism is employed in jurisdictions with a well-built democratic culture, it is not always open. Moreover, the act is not usually based on consensus-building when the target is comprised of political opposition. According to the predefined statistics, many hacktivists are those in their teens who may have little experience in the associated political fields. Hacktivism is naturally anonymous ("(PDF) Human Rights and Hacktivism: The Cases of WikiLeaks and Anonymous"). Although the hacktivists may lack a wide and established political collaboration, they usually have a great capability to enjoy significant power. Cyber experts can enable hacktivists to steal commercial mysteries, expose the government's critical and classified information, attack infrastructural facilities, and spread malware to the target commercial institutions.

CRAP Test 2

The book The Cloud Security Ecosystem defines a hacktivist as an attacker of computer security systems for politically based purposes. The cases of hacktivism have been prevalent. An example of hacktivism is the case of DDoS on the Internet infrastructure in the country of Estonia in reaction to the plan to move a Soviet-era statue in Tallinn, Estonia ("Hacktivist"). According to this article, hacktivism is ideologically motivated ("Role of “Hacktivism” in Modern Politics"). Hacktivist groups are comprised of individuals who may not know each other in real-life circumstances but who work in unison to fulfill a common belief. Some of the hacktivism incidents include the US Office Copyright Office, Visa, and MasterCard attacks.

In March 2010, Google was attacked by Vietnamese hacktivists. According to the report given to the Google company, hacktivism was performed through the use of malware. This malware had the effect of affecting tens of thousands of computer users ("Hacktivist"). The machines infected by this malware have been used as speakers on others and participated in the DDoS attacks.

CRAP Test 3

According to The Building an Information Security Awareness Program by Bill Gardner and Valerie Thomas, there are various hacktivism examples. The most popular and successful hacktivism is Operation Sony. This hacktivism was associated with George Hotz, who could hack the PlayStation 3 to allow users to share and play homemade games. The article includes how hacktivism causes breaches to be individual and organizational emails, usernames, and passwords. Some of the highly targeted areas are MasterCard, Visa, Westboro Baptist Church, and PayPal.

Response 1

I agree that hacktivism has had a great impact on the political field. Hacktivism has been used to create protests against political issues. This particular hacktivism is usually fueled by political leaders who intend to defend people's rights or intimidate their fellow leaders. According to the preliminary studies, political wars have adopted a hacktivism fashion. Leaders have used internet services to cause harm, such as causing protests and framing others.

Response 2

Hacktivism can be used to cause destructive activities over the networks. Google is one of the most prominent corporations in the world. Google corporations contain a lot of data as almost everyone in the world has a Google account. This is an indication that hackers target prominent corporations. In some cases, the cybercriminals encrypt organizational files and demand a ransom to share the decryption code. This is because these activities are conducted by cybercriminals who have the intent of causing harm.

Response 3

I agree with The Building an Information Security Awareness Program article. In this book, Bill Gardner and Valerie Thomas explain the most prevalent forms of hacktivism. It is apparent that the target corporations are well-established and prominent corporations such as PayPal, MasterCard, and Visa. The activity of George Hotz also indicates how breaches in computer systems can be used to access unauthorized access to computer systems.

Works Cited

"(PDF) Human Rights and Hacktivism: The Cases of WikiLeaks and Anonymous." ResearchGate, 22 Sept. 2015, www.researchgate.net/publication/282349989_Human_Rights_and_Hacktivism_The_Cases_of_Wikileaks_and_Anonymous. Accessed 28 Sept. 2020.

"Hacktivist." ScienceDirect.com | Science, Health and Medical Journals, Full-Text Articles and Books, www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/hacktivist.

"How Hacktivism Affects Us All." PCWorld, www.pcworld.com/article/239594/how_hacktivism_affects_us_all.html.

"Human Rights and Hacktivism: The Cases of WikiLeaks and Anonymous." OUP Academic, 22 Sept. 2015, academic.oup.com/jhrp/article/7/3/391/2412155. Accessed 28 Sept. 2020.

"The Role of “Hacktivism” in Modern Politics." Northeastern University Political Review, 28 Feb. 2016, www.nupoliticalreview.com/2011/11/03/the-role-of-%E2%80%9Chacktivism%E2%80%9D-in-modern-politics/.