Essay About Computer Hackers And Definition Of A Hacker

Computer Hackers
Computer Hackers
As the world becomes more and more reliant on computers
the computer hacking industry is greatly rising. With
people such as Kevin Mitnick, who is known as a “computer
terrorist” (Kjochaiche 1), computerized information isnt
safe any more. Kevin is known as “the most high-profiled
computer criminal and responsible for more havoc in the
computer world today.”(1) He considered this a fun and easy
task. He got caught and thrown into prison, but once he got
out nothing changed. Kevin stated that as long as the
technology is there it just calls to people to break into
Computer hackers usually start off young, thinking that
it is nothing but a little harmless fun. But as they get
older, they realize it has turned into an addiction. The
definition of a hacker according to the Hackers
Dictionary, “a person who enjoys exploring the details of
programmable systems and how to stretch their
capabilities.”(Hackers 1) “The Internet is just another
playing field.” (Kjochaiche 3) “Hackers regard hacking as a
game in which their mind is up against that of the system
designers.” (Hackers 3) The Internet allows the hackers to
take files, programs, passwords, and other information from
users that are using it. They use this as a tool to make it
easier to beat “the system”.
There are three major types of hackers, one with good
intentions but gets slapped in the face due to the bad
reputation of others, there are the hackers with bad
intentions, and there are the hackers that fit in between.
The bad hacker category is the largest by far. “A bad
hackers motives are to punish someone or retaliate against
the owner of a computer system.”(2) Computer terrorists fall
under this category. Some bad hackers may also hack just to
challenge the programmer. The hacker feels that if they can
break into it then they are much more superior than the
person who actually wrote the software. They can feel so
superior that they might enter a virus to eliminate a
program that was not worthy of their abilities. One of the
other many goals of a hacker is to steal passwords.
Hackers can steal your password about four different
ways. Intercepting your password through email is “not that
difficult.”(How are they getting my password? 1) This is by
far the easiest method because all they have to do is take
the email as it is being sent to you. Hackers can also use
a program called a password cracker to actually learn you
password. There are two types of theses but both have their
own problems. The first “checks every password possible from
the entry site.” (1) The second uses a program that goes in
and reads the passwords off. The problem with both is that
you have to “get the cracker into the site, undetected”(1)
You also must cover you trail. Some prefer the manual method
first. “There are actually lists of 100(or more) most-used
passwords.”(2) Hackers have reported that, “a simple
password that appears