Hackers…good or bad?

This topic has 5 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 23 years ago by hellsfury_25m.

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September 21, 2003 at 9:24 pm #5821

BlueBallJunior
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I once saw a movie made in the 80’s-early 90’s (I dont exactly remember) called Hackers. It was about a group of teenagers that used hacking for the good of the people.
Are hackers still that way today? No, hackers today are out to ruin people’s equipment and give them a hard time. They think its funny for someone like myself to lose everything. I think this country (US) or even the world needs to take MORE action against worthless hackers. I think “computer geeks” like ourselves should do something about hackers before it gets out of hand and we have another situation at hand just like the situation in the movie called The Net.
We need more than just anti-virus programs and such things to protect us. We need a nationwide security system. What do YOU think?

September 21, 2003 at 9:28 pm #55397

ShadowSlayer469
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Quote:

quote:Originally posted by BlueBallJunior

What do YOU think?

I think that this is posted in the wrong forum(try random ranblings[that was not supposed to be harsh])
But I also think that hackers are dirty scum, but “clean hackers”? They’re OK, I guess, becasue they don’t harm anyones stuff, and find security holes for the good of the company.

September 21, 2003 at 9:42 pm #55395

DJHyperbyte
Member

Topic moved to ‘Random Ramblings’, the area for offtopic subjects.

“Hackers…good or bad?”
Cheap answer, but it really depends on the hacker (or more on what he uses his ‘skillz’ for).

September 22, 2003 at 9:24 am #55394

FrutZle
Member

Definition of the word hacker according to the New Oxford Dictionary of English:
a person who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data

I recently saw part of a documentary about hackers, where old hackers called the new kind of hackers (a.k.a. script kiddies, or what I call a-holes) crackers. Hackers are, according to that documentary, people who use their skills to find security flaws and report them to companies so they can increase security. They are often hired by security companies (or even government agencies) nowadays because of their “outside” or “real life” knowledge of how hackers work.

Crackers on the other hand are people who hack into computers for their reputation or criminal purposes (hACKER + CRiminal = cracker). The people who “hack” forums, to name just one thing, usually don’t know anything about security but use holes in security that’ve been posted on public forums like bugtrack (I might’ve miss-spelled that name). They also tend to “deface” websites such as that of the RIAA which you undoubtedly have heard of happening.

I think what ShadowSlayer469 and DJHyperbyte said is therefore right. It’s a matter of what they do, and what you call them (hacker, or cracker).

By the way, Oxford Press won’t change the definition of hacker to what I explained above, nor add cracker and its definition to the Nex Oxford Dictionary of English because they say it’ll confuse people. However, hacker is now associated with criminal activities while it really shouldn’t.

September 22, 2003 at 12:23 pm #55396

ShadowSlayer469
Member

Crackers are another thing all together, theyre all bad, you cant really use cracking skills to help a company in any way. What are you going to tell them? If they are a smart company they will follow the basic rules of making passwords, make them with with both letters and numbers, make them the maximum length, or slightly less, change them every so often, don’t make them very easy to guess, and so on. How would it help a company to say: “Oh by the way, your password, “v5ksklv09” wasn’t good enough, I used a program to find guess it. That is not going to help!

September 22, 2003 at 5:52 pm #55398

hellsfury_25m
Member

There are also a couple of other terms to describe hackers “Blackhat” and “Whitehat” hackers. The “Blackhat” hackers would be the script kiddies, crackers, or people using their skills for not so good purposes. The “Whithat” hackers are those who use their skills to help companies get rid of security holes. I think there is a good reason to have “Whithat” hackers out there. They in a round-a-bout sort of way help protect our butts and companies, by informing them of certain security holes. Just imagine where we would be if none of the security holes that have been detected over the years were never discovered or informed to companies.

On another note, the “Blackhat” hacker/cracker gives the real hacker a bad name as well; as the average person assumes that all hackers are up to no good.
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