Overview of computer hacking

This event also led Congress to pass several bills around computer crimes, but that did not stop the number of high-profile attacks on corporate and government systems. Of course, the concept of hacking has spiraled with the release of the public internet, which has led to far more opportunities and more lucrative rewards for hacking activity.

This saw techniques evolve and increase in sophistication and gave birth to a wide range of types of hacking and hackers. There are typically four key drivers that lead to bad actors hacking websites or systems: 1 financial gain through the theft of credit card details or by defrauding financial services, 2 corporate espionage, 3 to gain notoriety or respect for their hacking talents, and 4 state-sponsored hacking that aims to steal business information and national intelligence.

On top of that, there are politically motivated hackers—or hacktivists—who aim to raise public attention by leaking sensitive information, such as Anonymous, LulzSec, and WikiLeaks. Black hat hackers are the "bad guys" of the hacking scene. They go out of their way to discover vulnerabilities in computer systems and software to exploit them for financial gain or for more malicious purposes, such as to gain reputation, carry out corporate espionage, or as part of a nation-state hacking campaign.

They can steal sensitive personal information, compromise computer and financial systems, and alter or take down the functionality of websites and critical networks. They use their technical skills to break into systems to assess and test the level of network security, also known as ethical hacking.

This helps expose vulnerabilities in systems before black hat hackers can detect and exploit them. The techniques white hat hackers use are similar to or even identical to those of black hat hackers, but these individuals are hired by organizations to test and discover potential holes in their security defenses.

Grey hat hackers sit somewhere between the good and the bad guys. Unlike black hat hackers, they attempt to violate standards and principles but without intending to do harm or gain financially. Their actions are typically carried out for the common good. For example, they may exploit a vulnerability to raise awareness that it exists, but unlike white hat hackers, they do so publicly.

This alerts malicious actors to the existence of the vulnerability. Smart devices, such as smartphones, are lucrative targets for hackers. Android devices, in particular, have a more open-source and inconsistent software development process than Apple devices, which puts them at risk of data theft or corruption. However, hackers are increasingly targeting the millions of devices connected to the Internet of Things IoT.

Webcams built into computers are a common hacking target, mainly because hacking them is a simple process. Hackers typically gain access to a computer using a Remote Access Trojan RAT in rootkit malware, which allows them to not only spy on users but also read their messages, see their browsing activity, take screenshots, and hijack their webcam. Hacking routers enables an attacker to gain access to data sent and received across them and networks that are accessed on them.

Hackers can also hijack a router to carry out wider malicious acts such as distributed denial-of-service DDoS attacks, Domain Name System DNS spoofing, or cryptomining. Email is one of the most common targets of cyberattacks. It is used to spread malware and ransomware and as a tactic for phishing attacks, which enable attackers to target victims with malicious attachments or links. In those days, most companies and universities used mainframe computers: giant, slow-moving hunks of metal locked away in temperature-controlled glass cages.

It cost thousands of dollars to maintain and operate those machines, and programmers had to fight for access time. Because of the time and money involved, computer programmers began looking for ways to get the most out of the machines. The best and brightest of those programmers created what they called "hacks" - shortcuts that would modify and improve the performance of a computer's operating system or applications and allow more tasks to be completed in a shorter time.

Not until the early s did the word "hacker" earn disdain, when people like Kevin Mitnick, Kevin Poulsen and Vladimir Levin more on them later began using computers and the internet for their own questionable gains. Still, for all the negative things hackers have done, I believe they provide a necessary and even valuable service, which I'll elaborate on after a brief timeline of some of the high points or low points, depending on how you look at it in the history of computer hacking.

He adopts the moniker "Captain Crunch," after the cereal and is arrested dozens of times in the next few years for phone tampering. Their names? Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, who would later go on to found a company called Apple Computers in In one of the first high-profile cases against computer hackers, the FBI arrests six teenagers from Milwaukee known as the "s," named after the city's area code.

One hacker gets immunity for his testimony; the others are given probation. The following year, a pair of journalists from St. Louis begin publishing Phrack, an electronic magazine that provides hacking information.

The Comprehensive Crime Control Act is passed, which gives the Secret Service jurisdiction over cases of credit card and computer fraud. In typical congressional fashion, the law doesn't apply to those individuals largely responsible for computer crimes - juveniles. Federal authorities say the teenager - who did most of his hacking from a computer in his bedroom - was only a few steps away from tapping into the company's central telephone switching system, which could have brought most of the nation's telephone networks and communications systems to a standstill.

The program itself is mostly harmless; users whose computers are infected with the virus find a small file added to their hard drive containing an unencrypted text message giving contact information for a "Brain Computer Services" in Pakistan. The virus eventually infects more than 6, systems - roughly one-tenth of the Internet's computers at the time - and virtually shuts down the entire network for two days. Based at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, its mission is to investigate attacks on computer networks.

The hackers are charged with selling information and software to the KGB; three are convicted and sentenced to prison terms, but none of the hackers ever spends any time behind bars.

In a separate incident, a hacker who goes by the name of "The Mentor" publishes a now-famous treatise on hacking, The Conscience of a Hacker. The work ends with the line: "You may stop this individual, but you can't stop us all. The hackers are accused of lifting login accounts, passwords and connect addresses for its computer networks, information that could "potentially disrupt or halt service in the United States," according to a subsequent indictment.

Three of the hackers are found guilty and given prison sentences ranging from 14 to 21 months; they are also ordered to pay BellSouth nearly a quarter of a million dollars in damages. The Secret Service, in conjunction with Arizona's organized crime unit, unveils Operation Sundevil, a nationwide project designed to hunt down computer hackers. They eventually seize computer equipment in 14 cities, including Tucson, Miami and Los Angeles.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is created, with the primary goal of defending the rights of people accused of computer hacking. Dana holds a B. She has loved being part of the EasyTechJunkie team ever since discovering the joys of freelance writing after her son was born. Dana also hones her writing skills by contributing articles to various blogs, as well as creating sales copy and content for e-courses. Dana Hinders.

For this reason, the U. Even this is not enough, though. A few years ago, a hacker organization broke the CIA and FBI web sites simultaneously and replaced the normal web pages with pornographic materials. The intrusion was detected immediately and within thirty minutes, the site had been restored to normal.

To this day, the identity of the group has not been discovered. Hackers represent a clear and present danger to the security of the United States of America. Not only do they cost our nation billions a year, but hackers also contribute to a serious espionage problem. Hacking, no matter its form, is an act of thievery, piracy, or blackmail, and cannot be tolerated. Essays Find a Tutor. December An Overview of Hacking. Copy to Clipboard Reference Copied to Clipboard.