US Technology v. US Hackers v.

US Security 1

US Technology v. US Hackers v. US Security

How does the increase of information technology in America change the way the American

people view technology and their sense of security in America as a whole?

Hannah Griggs

Global Studies and World Languages Academy

Gregory Falls

Abstract:
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Information technology is a growing factor in the economy today. With it growing so

rapidly and spreading to urban, suburban and even rural areas, it is essential that the American

people be able to protect themselves or know if they are safe from a hacker attack. The Internet

of Things, which is an organization that proposed the development of the internet into everyday

objects (and also goes by the acronym IoT), will continue to expand and make even making your

bed in the morning a type of smart technology. I have gathered information from scholars

dealing with smart technology and how the impact would improve the economy and make it

better. I have also gathered information also to make social problems we have in the country

better as well. Some suggest technology is taking over and is becoming ever more predominant

in our everyday lives. Some seem to think this is an inadequate way of moving forward in the

technology movement and that the internet of things is growing and will be more prone to hacker

attacks. In my opinion, the conclusion to come to would be is that the American people and the

US government should protect ourselves and be more cautious. It is great that the Internet of

Things have has been able to rapidly make made new and advanced technology that has helped

the American people. However, to not be ridiculed in the future for not doing enough, the IoT

needs to communicate to the people more ways to protect themselves.

Intro:
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Now take this scenario of how technology and cyber security collide. Let us say one has

just hit the jackpot! Now not trying to become a sad sap and spend all their money and become

homeless in less than a couple of hours, but instead they go and cash this in for a smart house or

even decide to upgrade their house with the latest technology. Moving They might move their

phone to the newest smartphone, buying buy a smart kitchen to make their life easier, and also

getting get a smart car with the hope that they might have less accidents than ever before. Now

with everything in their house becoming in a sense smart they feel that their house is more

secure from intruders and it is easy to protect with the press of a button, and yes, let us be honest,

the everyday bulgar would not be able to break in without setting off a few alarms. But what

about the new bulgars we have in this day and age? The ones that do not even have to leave their

house to get into anyone else's? And yes, The general public has encountered a new type of

burglar and they call themselves hackers. Hackers do not have to leave their house to get into

anyone else's. They do not even have to leave the room they are in. They could be lying on their

bed using their smartphone having complete control of anyones entire house while drinking a

glass of orange juice. But how is that possible? With the new Internet of Things they should be

safer, but somehow that is failing; the hackers are still able to come in. The question anyone

would have is how did they get in? And another would be how does anyone keep them out? With

hacking becoming the thing of the century, how does anyone control something like this? More

specifically how would America, which is moving into the new world of having everything be

either smart or software based, how do they keep their items safe? To make this even more

specific: How does the increase of information technology in America change the way the

American people view technology and their sense of security in America as a whole?

Lit Review:
US Technology v. US Hackers v. US Security 4

The sources vary from the first hacking of technology to the first hacking of the Internet

of Things. MatPat(real name is Matthew Patrick) is a theorist who comes up with different ways

to interpret films, games and life for famous gamers on YouTube. On MatPats Game Theory

Channel he went into discussed the game Watch Dogs 2 and brought up good points on how

hacking has been moved to being able to hack into anyones housing systems from everyday

items in someones own household in America. This source can be connected with Davids

define (a journalist for CNBC) in which he describes how the increase in adding computer

technology in everyone's life can lead to hackers having complete access and control over

peoples household. This can be further explained and shown in real life by the movie Mr.Robot

which takes over a smart house that is based on everything being connected by a tablet

(Epstein,2016).

Even Bing has a showcase of a NSA Director telling the public they should be limited in

the use of computer technology. Winston and Marshall tell stories of young teenagers in America

being able to hack into government level systems. Of course some were caught. Novak describes

a case of several hackers who were not discovered till later on in their lives. However, not all of

these sources go into the deep and scary part of technology. Others give insight of how

technology will impact our lives and make life easier for us. (Ryan,2016) Some even give good

tips to prevent hackers from coming in by normal means. (OToole,2014)

These sources bring up a broader topic of how that smart technology will continue to

take up more of individual lives with a click of a button, on a handheld device or by a computer.

This also implies that hacking will continue to grow as Americans becomes consumed by

technology and uses it for everyday routines. (These bring up the view of how maybe keeping

some aspects of the life we live now will come to harm us more now than in the future. Could
US Technology v. US Hackers v. US Security 5

also be with David and how moving into a stage could make progress in the ways we live our

lives and could also be the leading cause to why we have poverty and how we can stop it.)???

Not sure what this means

Limitations:

One major limitations to this project is that the author does not have a crystal ball to see

would be to not having information from the future to show how the change will be with having

more smart technology in our house, and the author is limited to only the research that is

published between the publishment of this paper and before now. Also, not having access to the

more advanced technology of this age because of government rule over it, cannot unable to

access the dark or deep web because of not being of hacker descent, and also because of the fact

that the hacking requires skills/techniques, that unless someone has a hacking friend, they would

not be able to access the dark or deep web at all. Limited to the sources that the scholars have

written out to the public and also to researchers that have looked into places like the dark or deep

web and figured out what is there and who has control over some places.

The Internet of Things

The world wide web is the best thing to happen to America in their technology movement

evolution compared to having to go to the library to look things up. The evolution of technology

over a couple of years have shown how quickly and how evolved this technology can become

when put in the rights hands of people who can spend a lot of time and money on the project.

Now everyone has a device that can not only tell them what time it is at that moment or tell them

their stamina on Candy Crush is full again, but also that their house door was just automatically

locked while they were in the car, or that the dishwasher is done cleaning the dishes that was left

before you went to work.

US Technology v. US Hackers v. US Security 6

Information Technology has moved to where it has become smart technology. The

technology movement has sprouted out a new organization that is called the Internet of Things

(IoT). The Internet of Thing is a organization that regulates through technology as it goes along .

(Meola,2016) The Internet of Things have has been able to advance the way we use and control

technology by having technology everywhere, from using them for smart boards that go

straight to a students from via App, by having smart cars that are able to drive themselves and

avoid accidents on the road. (Mistress,2012) (Super,2016) They have even been used on farms

where it can monitor the movement of crops and control the environment of greenhouses and

barns with mechanical robots. (Ryan,2016) Internet of Things has definitely been able to

improve how much technology can be used inside the household. Some have even advanced to a

smart gun which would make millions in America happy from preventing accidental shootings

that have been happening in the country to finally be at a end, for the most part at least. These

major advances in technology are essential to maybe ending conflict here in the States, and also

are great for ending poverty with moving from a physical currency society to one without it.

(Weller,2016) With technology advancing like this most Americans would feel safe and protected

in their homes knowing a normal burglar could not get in without setting off an alarm or without

having the codes to get inside the house.

However, for the people of America this joy would soon turn to horror when they find

there is a burglar worse than compared to the one that breaks into peoples households and steals

their prize possession. A type of burglar that does not even leave the space of their own house to

break into anyones house and steals an even bigger prized possession; their credit card

information, social media account information, private or personal emails, maybe even important
US Technology v. US Hackers v. US Security 7

top secret work documents. And the list can go on. These items can be accessed in a snap by a

Cyber burglar breaking into your house. These cyber burglars are known as hackers.

History moment to find the origin of hacking in America and the definition of what a

hacker is. (Reword this sentence...not sure what you are trying to say) To the root word hack,

is by the definition: using a computer to gain unauthorized access to data in a system. Hacking in

the United States has dated back to the 1960s when having and using computers were expensive

of the time and programmers wanted to get the most out of it.( Programmers would come up with

hacks which is in this reference means: 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. (Devitt, 2001) However, hacking was not seen as a point of

something to fear in the American people until individuals like Kevin Mitnick and groups like

414s abused hacks to their advantages. (S, 2002)

The first known hacker attack into a smart house was recorded by accessing the

refrigerator. (Bort,2014) Yes, the fridge. With having any type of smart technology, hackers

now have been able to accessed into important information of any kind by breaking the security

passwords on these items. And most people just leave these items to have the default password it

came with.

Hackers have been stealing information from the federal government since 1976 and

beyond. One but it was not till a group of hackers which were just now found for the crimes of

breaking into the federal government. (Novak,2016) These men and women got away with a

crime they committed over 40 years ago. There are even cases of young children hacking into

mainframes. However, The most interesting fact about hacking is that these cases can go years

without finding out who the hacker is. At some point it becomes irrelevant to even bring charges
US Technology v. US Hackers v. US Security 8

for a crime that was over 40 years old. Most people are not surprised by the age hacking as more

as the fact they have got caught in the act. (Wilson) For the most part hacking is like the random

chat apps you can download on your phone. You don't introduce yourselves and never find out to

whom you are talking. to. In the States, we have a more hacking type crime than in any other

country. MatPat brought up a website where there are multiple attacks against all the countries

around the world with cyber attacks. (Pat,2016) But, if stealing information from the US

government is a walk in the park for most in the states, would it not be just as easy for others in

different countries as well?

One theory is formed, would be that the US government is weaker to the attacks inside

the country compared to outside the country. Because of the fact that The US government does

not maintain as much internal security as it does for global threats. Most cases of hacking into

the government was by email. The government is less likely to monitor the cyber attacks inside

its own country as to outside. Now, the question is why? And that answer is simple, the Internet

of Things allows it to.

The Internet of Things has brought awareness that a major crisis is at hand. However all

the Internet of Things have said about the topic is for the users of the smart equipment to

change the password and that they will eventually look into fixing this issue. (O'Toole, 2014)

However, its been 2 years since that statement and the fact that the hackers are accessing smart

technology seems as easy as using a key to open a house door. They take over like they had the

right to. An example is Mr.Robot. A movie about a woman with a smart house that is being

controlled by a group of hackers. They make her house become completely dysfunctional.

(Epstein,2016) Another example would be an article about how the internet of things has become
US Technology v. US Hackers v. US Security 9

a living nightmare for some. and how with Hackers taking over they would proceed to take over

the house by not only the computer but everyday household appliances. (Stavridis,2016)

Americans have this knack for being lazy when it comes to updating passwords. Then to

have a smart with over smart 100 appliances in it, the actual process to make a password for

each one and remember which passwords go to each one is a tedious task Americans wouldn't

want to go through. So how do Americans respond to these hacker attacks? Most would say they

would just ignore it till it got serious, but it is to the point where hacking of smart technology

is here.

A Youtuber by the name of MatPat brought to life that hackers are just not made by video

game artist to score huge bucks on their last games, but are actual events that are happening in

real life with real hackers. (Pat,2016) Hackers being able to hack into the main frame of a city or

simply hacking to a passersby phone and seeing what that person is doing. So how do we

counter this dilemma? We could try to upgrade our security, but this is the worldwide web where

there are places like the dark and deep web are not accessible to the public. Then how should the

public feel about their safety with the American government controlling all of the information

that gets in and out? Some believe that going into this digital age would lead to chaos and cyber

wars that the American people can not fight but must sit helplessly on the sidelines.

To bring in hardcore evidence I emailed the youtuber MatPat, asking about his theory as

to why information technology or hacking has been growing in such a rapid way. MatPat said

that for the most part hackers do hack for the fun or thrill of doing a and challenge of getting into

the federal government databases. But there are groups that hack to get information that would

help them in the long run to conquer an enemy. (Pat,2016) It shows that hacking is for the most a

pastime; something they do when they get bored and want to have a challenge. This indicates
US Technology v. US Hackers v. US Security 10

that to hackers lives are a game to them. And, after they break through them, they would just

move on to the next victim. Not caring in the slightest of the harm that came to someone else. A

good question to this problem would be: how can this be changed to protect the American

people? Where in effect they aren't just toys that hackers toss away and ruin?

The answer is so simple most people overlook it. The power for this change to happen is

the tools to do so have has already been given to them. This includes using safe and well known

cyber security websites, like Norton, and Mcafee. These anti virus sites are there to protect the

public from hacking attacks. These sites give access to protection of potential viruses or low raid

hackers from getting into your computer system or to your household. Other ways for Americans

to counter attack the hacker attacks is to use The Guardians Project. The Guardian Project is a

group of individuals who have banned together to protect individuals around the world by any

person looking to protect their communications and personal data from unjust intrusion,

interception and monitoring. So anyone from an average citizen looking to affirm their rights or

an activist, journalist or humanitarian organization looking to safeguard their work in this age of

perilous global communication. (Guardian Project, 2016) This way they are going to help and

change the way others view technology and stay protected under it. Hacking will continue to

grow. And, the only way to fight against this change and to continue to move forward is to

maintain a balance of trying new things, but also keeping safe as possible while doing it.

(Making sure every click counts.) I like this sentence. Maybe include in the beginning or title

so that it is reinforced here. Just a thought

Conclusion

Information technology is growing and is to used in everything from trying to help gun

protection laws to making life on the farm a lot easier for farmers and cowgirls. As Everyday we
US Technology v. US Hackers v. US Security 11

see new inventions or new ways of making technology that take up every aspect of our lives.

There will always be a hacker looming around that will have access and take over your house

like in Mr.Robot. But, even though we are in a age where wars are now digital, the American

people will continue to move forward in the pride they feel for being so smart. They will

continue to use anti virus programs to protect themselves. Using everyday to try to stop the

hackers from getting in by low key manners and by making sure the sites and information they

save is under lock and password of a different kind so it would be make it harder for a hacker to

pinpoint exactly what the password could be for each one. With this advance in technology,

America will be able to move forward feeling safe in their cyber security secure bubble and will

continue - some in ignorance and some with well tone knowledge - of using more smart

technology to make life easier, cheaper and safer too. Making every click count! (Just a thought)

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