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In this presentation I would like to bring up a subject of hackers.
Are they criminals ? Or maybe they have some good impact on security systems ?
In my opinion hackers are amazingly skilled people who can easily access any data they want to from almost any device. Access to information is the most valuable asset these days and that makes them so powerful and scary. There is no place to hide yourself and your data.
In the video I present below it is said that hackers are like the immune system of the Internet. If they can access any data of - for example - some company, this company feels threatened and endangered and keeps improving and preserving its sensitive data. So after all...is it good or bad we have hackers ?
There is a very interesting video - TED presentation about this topic, please watch it:
Just two questions for you:
- What is your opinion of hackers ?
- Do you also think that hackers are useful to keep improving security and privacy on the Internet, or maybe they are unnecessary evil that should be entirely eliminated somehow?
Thank you for reading and watching!
Comments
While there's a positive effect on the whole IT industry, there's a scattered negative effect on the victims - I guess someone who got his bank account hacked will not agree that hackers are good for us.
That's why I think that hackers should be controlled on some level, the best solution I could think of is offering rewards for found vulnerabilities and hiring hackers. For example recently CloudFlare service was hacked, and their biggest reward for reported vulnerability was a t-shirt with their logo:) At the same time Google offers up to $100,000 for hacking Chrome - I guess hacker will think twice before selling vulnerability information elsewhere or exploiting it by himself.
For me hackers are useful if only they don't break law. For example they prove that they hacked a system, but they didn't destroy or steal anything. But I'm sure that my opinion would change if I would be responsible for security in my job.
https://niebezpiecznik.pl/post/sejm-poparl-zaostrzenie-kar-za-szukanie-dziur-pentesterzy-i-bughanterzy-beda-latwiej-podsluchiwani-i-moga-wiecej-stracic/
luckily our senate stepped just in time to put necessary imporvements:
https://niebezpiecznik.pl/post/pentesterzy-i-bugbounterzy-jednak-nie-beda-przestepcami-senat-czasem-sie-przydaje/
I know, that there are "good" and "bad" hackers, but if there was no holes in security systems they wouldn't have anything to do
Actions taken by hackers require extensive, technical knowledge, the highest level of experience. They have to be really dynamic, keep developing all the time and stay connected to trends and new technologies.
On the other hand, there is a second group of so-called “hackers” which, to put it mildly, doesn’t have an equally good reputation. These people don’t respect any ethical principles. They are usually not talented and often buy some ready-made hacking tools and try to fool you using e.g. social media. In my opinion, they deserve a deep contempt and should be severely punished.
Summing up, I believe that hackers (professionals) do a great job and improve security and privacy on the Internet rather than put our safety at risk. Sadly enough, there is still the second group of criminals wrongly associated with hackers, which gives the latter a bad name.
Of course they are needed. There are many types of them and they act on different motives. Some search and exploit vulnerabilities for their own gain although I believe most of them do not fall so low but rather live by hackers ideology which is based on freedom of infomation over the internet. The TED's talk about hackers being the immune system is true. There's always a security hole to find and people who seek them and report them increase the security overall.
In my opinion the whole cyber-security field is going to be very important in incoming years. Modern wars/battles will (already are) take place over the wires. Governments hiring hackers and forming their cyberdivisions is something that's going on for longer than we think. We are in dire need of hackers. The good one's who care, who will help us strip away governments tentacles spreading over community driven global network.
HACK THE PLANET!
2) Are they good to keep security level at maximum ? Most of people I know who works as IT Security specialist did something in their live just for a test if they can make it - no harm done. There is a good way to keep hacking, keeping adrenaline high and being paid at the same time. If you're good at your job, many companies are hiring hidden IT specialists - that main idea of the job is to hack into their own systems. The thrill is the same and only people on the top level knows what you're doing but if you will get busted, someone will give you "Get out of jail - free card" :)
I agree with the fact that hackers are intelligent.
So, thanks to hackers our systems are more secure, but we are protecting that systems from being hacked. It's like to say that viruses are good because thanks to them we can better protect from being infected.
I think that only those hackers who don't use their knowledge for own purposes are good for IT industry. Identity theft for the purpose of obtaining money is not good in any case.
If hackers weren’t exists there wouldn’t be a problem with security, so i don't think that they are useful.
On the other hand, do all the hackers have such good motives? Are they doing what they are doing just with a goal to help others? To help corporations?
Personally, I don't think so. I'm sure, for many of them hacking is a way to get some money for living and I think it might be a really good money.
So, hacking has two sides (like almost everything in our lives) and it needs to be controlled. It can be an official job, or just a part-time job, but it should be a controlled thing. As long as this activity calls hacking, people won't trust this. And if hackers want to change this behavior, they have to thing about changing all "hacking culture."
But there are also so-called ethnic hackers , they find vulnerabilities in different systems and transmit reports for example the company in which they found the vulnerabilities. But over the last 10 years in medium and large companies created the so-called "Bug bounty program" their point is that for the found vulnerabilities, the company you pay a certain amount which depends on the severity of the vulnerability, I think that is what affected the amount of "white" hackers grows with Kazim the company , as in full legally they can earn lengi not rescue to be in prison.
The only one advantage of their 'work' is that protection software developers can improves their product.
Of course there are many types of hackers but most of them are trying to steal our privacy - money or data.
About them being useful in making things in internet more secure and private. Well i agree. They help. Though i don't think so much security is needed in the first place. Yea personal data should be protected but as i have said earlier. Big companies and/or governments should not have any secrets from society, cause if some of those secrets are leaked it can cause major uproar and/or panic.