HACKING

Technological advancement has brought about comfort to our everyday living.

Getting access to one other from various distance has been made easier due to
technology.
Technology provides greater advantages to a nation and its citizenry and so
does it have disadvantages.
Talking of technology, it refers to the science or knowledge put into practical
use to solve problems.

There are many advantages associated with technology. Advantages like easy
communication, aids in research, learning and many more.
There are other disadvantages associated with the introduction of technology.
Disadvantages like cybercrime such as hacking people, frauds amongst others.
Let’s look at some of these disadvantages like hacking and its implications on
human and our society.
 A SHORT HISTORY ON HACKING

Hacking has been around as long as computers as a way to reconfigure or

reprogram a system to give access to someone who otherwise shouldn't have
that access. In the media any electronics manipulation is often referred to as
hacking, though "cracking" may often be more appropriate. Thanks to hacking,
computer geeks can be cool and dangerous.
1. THE TERM HACKER WAS COINED BY JOHN NASH, THE FAMOUS
MATHEMATICIAN. (RUSSELL CROWE FROM A BEAUTIFUL MIND). NASH CROWE
It was an insult, meant to describe someone who used a quick, elaborate
solution to sidestep a problem. 2. IAN MURPHY WAS THE FIRST HACKER TO BE
CONVICTED ON FELONY CHARGES. ONE OF THE FIRST TECHNOLOGY 3. HACKS
WAS DISCOVERED IN 1972. He hacked AT&T in 1981 and changed the clocks,
allowing people to get late- night discounts during midday and higher rates
when they called at night. A whistle from a Cap n' Crunch box was used to
make free long-distance phone calls.

The first known incidence of network penetration hacking took place when
members of a computer club at a suburban Chicago area high school were
provided access to IBM's APL network. In the Fall of 1967, IBM (through
Science Research Associates) approached Evanston Township High School with
the offer of four 2741 Electric teletypewriter-based terminals with dial-up
modem connectivity to an experimental computer system which implemented
an early version of the APL programming language. The APL network system
was structured in Workspaces which were assigned to various clients using the
system.

Hacking is an increasing concern in the 21st century which can lead to grave
consequences if the sensitive information falls in the wrong hands. This
“unauthorized intrusion” into computer networks has given many people
sleepless nights causing a massive monetary and physical damage.
Here are some of the most insane hacking stories ever from around the world
where hackers have done unbelievable things!

1. Using his knowledge of telephone systems, Kevin Poulsen, alias “Dark

Dante,” hacked the phone lines of a radio station to become the winning caller
for a brand-new Porsche. He was called the “Hannibal Lecter” of computer
crime by the media.
A former “black-hat” hacker (a term that evolved from the use of black hats to
depict cowboy villains and white to depict the heroic ones), Kevin Poulsen is
infamous for the hacking stunt that he did on June 1, 1990. Now a 52-year-old
journalist, Poulson hacked into the telephone lines of Los Angeles radio station
KIIS-FM to make sure that he was the 102nd caller to the win the prize of a
Porsche 944 S2.

When the Federal Bureau of Investigation learned about his trick, they pursued
him and he went underground. He was later found, arrested, and went to
prison for five years. He was the first American ever to be released from prison
with a ban on the use of a computer for three years. When he was featured on
NBC’s Unsolved Mysteries, the phone lines of the show mysteriously crashed.
Poulsen now works as a contributing editor with The Daily Beast and has
distanced himself from his past as a hacker. Recently, he has done several
investigative reports for social good. (1, 2)

2. The first person to unlock a first-generation iPhone, George Hotz, also

known as “Geohot,” was only 17 years then. He traded a second, unlocked
iPhone for a Nissan and three locked iPhones.

In August 2007, 17-year-old George Hotz unlocked an iPhone becoming the

first known person to do so. Unlocked iPhones were of high value as then they
could be used with any of the carriers which was not what Apple or AT&T
wanted. When he unlocked his second iPhone, he traded it for a Nissan 350z
and three 8 GB iPhones with Certicell founder Terry Daidone. His was a
hardware-based unlocking method which was the rage until an anonymous
group discovered a software-based one.

In December 2009, Hotz had successfully breached security on Sony’s

PlayStation 3. On July 13, 2010, Hotz declared that due to unwanted personal
attention and because he was demotivated with technology, he was
discontinuing his hacking activities. But on January 2, 2011, he posted a copy of
the root keys of Sony’s PlayStation 3 following which Sony sued him. The
lawsuit was settled out of court as Hotz “promised” not to meddle with any
other Sony device in the future. What was last known about him was he was
working with an American vehicle automation machine learning company
named “comma.ai.” (source)

Jonathan Joseph James, a hacker, was only 15 when he hacked into the
systems of NASA and the United States Department of Defense (DOD) along
with some private companies and schools in June 1999. A native of Miami who
operated under the nickname of “Comrade,” stole data worth 1.7 million
dollars from 13 computers at NASA. NASA had to shut down its network for 21
days to investigate the breach that cost them an additional 41,000 dollars.
The source code that James stole controlled important elements for
survival aboard the International Space Station including the controlling of
temperature and humidity. NASA had to rewrite that part of the source code.
He also became the first person in the world to crack into the network of
DOD’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency which is a division responsible for
analysing possible threats to the United States. He intercepted 3,000 messages
that gave him access to usernames and passwords of several employees that
also gave him access to ten military computers.

When he was arrested, computer crimes were not fully codified, and since
he was a juvenile, he was charged with two counts of “juvenile delinquency.”
He was placed under a six-month home arrest and asked to write apology
letters to NASA and DOD. If he had committed the crime three years later, he
would have been imprisoned for at least ten years and would have had to pay
a fine of thousands of dollars. (source)
4. Caught with over a 100 cell phone clone codes and several cloned cell
phones, hacker Kevin Mitnick was kept in solitary confinement for eight
months because law enforcement officers told a judge that he could “start a
nuclear war by whistling into a pay phone.”

ROLE OF HACKING

Hacking is identifying and exploiting weaknesses in computer systems and/or

computer networks. Cybercrime is committing a crime with the aid of
computers and information technology infrastructure. Ethical Hacking is about
improving the security of computer systems and/or computer networks.
Ethical Hacking is legal.

TYPES OF HACKING

The three types of hackers are the white hat hacker, the grey hat hacker and
the black hat hacker. Some have gone ahead and added blue hats, red hats,
and green hats to the categories of hackers based on their beliefs and
behaviours.

Each type of hacker hacks for a different reason, a cause, or both. All have the
required skills needed to accomplish their mission.
China accounts for the world’s highest number of hackers which at the end of
2012 accounted for 41% of the global hacking traffic.

Kevin Mitnick is the world's most famous hacker, bestselling author, and the
top cyber security speaker. Once, one of the FBI's Most Wanted because he
hacked into 40 major corporations just for the challenge, Kevin is now a
trusted security consultant to the Fortune 500 and Governments worldwide.