Research Paper

Hacking – An Art of a Menace?

ENC 1101

Geller Offiong

Professor John Lutzky

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 HACKING – An Art or a Menace??

In the modern world, where technology reigns supreme; with ever evolving

concepts, there is also an evolution “backdoor” technology. As human beings, we are

prone to acts of indiscipline, sub-verting the law for personal gain, and pushing the

legal boundaries just to stay “ahead of the pack” -- a trait which behooves the question

“Where did it all go wrong?”. Now the average man walking down the street is wired

mentally only to recognize the good in technology; the increasing emphasis on “what

a device can do” is quite the devil in the fine detail. We look beyond the downsides

of every improvement, seeking what we perceive to be an advantage over a previous

purchase. But then, collapsing in despair and pondering the pleasures all forgone, we

ask ourselves… how did this happen? How did I get maligned off $3000? Surely no

one is aware of my three-day long complex pin which so happens to be a protection

for another digital piece of hardware. These ever-increasing instances and the

frightening effects they have on modern society, beg the question… where did it all go

wrong?? And for those mildly alert to the dangers or possibly intuitive thinkers… is

hacking real?? But then going beyond that and examining the consequences and the

enticing thoughts of the dark side of computing and modern technology, we can also

ask ourselves, what the art of hacking? Or Is it an art or a menace? In my opinion,

hacking is an intricate art, which requires other-worldly flexibility of the human mind

to accurately comprehend.

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 Taking a little peek into history, we find that hacking was around as early as the

late 1800s!!! Quite astonishing really that the world was oblivious to the possible threats

of such a trend. But more so alarming is the fact that hacking is encouraged by the

same people who promise you gadgets to assure your privacy. Flip a parenthesis on

the right side, or simply ignore the fact that the topsides are always open; seemingly

creating a sense of sandy presence in a graphic imagination. Or then, we could attempt

to relate to the following scenario which is quite common in Urban areas. You walk

into a building with a friend, fresh off a million-dollar transaction, which to your

surprise was conducted with the traditional “brief-case exchange”. You proceed to

have drinks and celebrate your new found financial gait; not considering you booked

a hotel room adjacent to where the deal was to be made – for security reasons. Now

while this may seem like a common pituitary storyline, it is quite apparent that your

little party is getting crashed – albeit by the other party in your seemingly “safe business

transaction”. Making a quick stop in this scenario, we can observe a similarity in

patterns. The largescale development organizations promise security, privacy, and

next generation technology, akin to the hotels who promise safety, privacy and even

possibly “pre-dawn services”. Now, if you are seriously invested in your personal safety

and the potential earnings, you would opt for a fortress, distant from any possible

mishaps. But then again, where is better to hide than in plain sight? Somehow, the

ever so savvy criminals get their hands on a backway into the hotel room systems,

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which is after they made several incriminating phone calls through “un-traceable lines”

and are able to setup an access hatch that leads them right to the target, YOU! Now if

we quickly examine this now so developed scenario, we can observe a rather glaring

likeness – your hotel room was hacked! With the use of hacked and hackable

technologies! The two principal factors in society, your telecommunications device

and your “home”. Now further examining this event, we find that access latches are

created in public properties to enable or facilitate evacuations during emergencies. But

then if we really do our research, we realize that 1 in 14 hotels get attacked or bypassed

in any major metropolis (hotelsafety.org). And the chances of a hotel being prone to

an extreme natural disaster are quite low. This only goes to show that a supposed asset,

can become a liability, when in the wrong hands. That, my dear novitiate is the art of

hacking.

After considering the former scenario, one may seek answers to rather obvious

questions regarding hackers and what they do. Who are hackers? What do they do?

Why exactly do they do that they do? To emphasize the process, we can attack each

question and reverse engineer our answers to explain its predecessor. Assuming you

actively considered every possibility in the above crime scene concept, one thing would

be rather clear; hackers find problems from solutions. It is quite often, modern day

tech giants such as Microsoft, employ these guys to go head-to-head with the very best

of their creations. Hackers find a way from a destination and create the illusion of

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proper logic, to achieve their goals. For some, such as Adrian Lamo, the goal is to

maximize human want through excessive financial gain. Plowing at public systems in

a bid to divert funds from unsuspecting masses. And for others, such as LulzSec,

hacking is a literary relic; a study of the very science that it is and all it stands for.

Sometimes going beyond is not uncommon, especially with characters like

“Anonymous” whose very life mission is to wreak havoc and strike terror in even the

most sophisticated tech giants.

In employing such queer methods, they equate the positive side of technology

to a blank canvas. And like a photographer runs through an innumerable number of

filters to find a perfect fit, hackers employ a lifetime’s worth of resources to seek out

or create weak points in every seemingly perfect medium. In the early 1960s, the term

referred to men with extraordinary knowledge of computer arts; individuals with the

ability to push programs beyond their capabilities. It is only rather clear now what

exactly hackers do. They create technological dissonance, which gives room for their

very existence and makes them thrive. Who better to seek the cure from a werewolf

bite, than the werewolf-vampire hybrid? Hackers employ illegal means to acquire

access to certain loopholes in manufacturing. Think about this; with every internet

browsing software, there is a cache file. The cache file maintains “active memory” on

the rom and keeps the user’s workspace intact, running the program at peak

performance, acting like an airplane’s black box and observing, while saving user

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preferences. Now, what happens if I were to make a transaction online? I would

probably love to save my information to my personal account on the computer, to

avoid repetition on subsequent purchases. Now, if you connect the dots, like a real

hacker would, you can see the very possibility of remotely “accessing” the cache.

Considering it holds vital information -- being the Central Nervous System of your

active browsing. This pretty much explains my earlier implication; the hacker pretty

much has his work cut out… step one “gain access to victim’s system”, step two

“acquire cache file” … and voila! my life’s work, information, private files, and

finances, all in jeopardy due to a hacker’s ability to substantiate a loop-hole from a

working system.

Examining the first and primary question, creates a sense of intrigue; we want

to know who hackers are, and exactly how their minds work. But the former carries

more importance. Who is a hacker? Or who are hackers? A brief timeline from

(sptime.com) provides a foundation via historic events in the permeation of

technological fronts.

Early 1960s - University facilities with huge mainframe computers, like MIT's artificial

intelligence lab, become staging grounds for hackers. At first, "hacker" was a positive

term for a person with a mastery of computers who could push programs beyond what

they were designed to do.

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Early 1970s - John Draper makes a long-distance call for free by blowing a precise

tone into a telephone that tells the phone system to open a line. Draper discovered

the whistle as a give-away in a box of children's cereal.

Early 1980s - Author William Gibson coins the term "cyberspace" in a science fiction

novel called Neuromancer AND Two hacker groups form, the Legion of Doomin

the United States and the Chaos Computer Club in Germany.

Late 1980s - The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act gives more clout to federal

authorities.

First National Bank of Chicago is the victim of a $70-million computer heist -- An

Indiana hacker known as "Fry Guy" -- so named for hacking McDonald's -- is raided

by law enforcement.

Early 1990s - Operation Sundevil, a special team of Secret Service agents and

members of Arizona's organized crime unit, conducts raids in 12 major cities,

including Miami. Also Kevin Lee Poulsen ("Dark Dante"), is indicted for stealing

military documents..

Late 1990s - Hackers break into and deface federal Web sites, including the U.S.

Department of Justice, U.S. Air Force, CIA, NASA and others.

A Canadian hacker group is formed called the Brotherhood.

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Hackers pierce security in Microsoft's NT operating system to illustrate its

weaknesses.

It is therefore apparent that hackers are individuals who do not seek solace only

in the perceived positive functions of advanced technology. Hacking is an art true to

itself, and everyone who has taken a shorter and more resourceful route to anything

in a digital sense can be considered a hacker. We have a solid idea of what hackers

are capable of and the general “dark” effect associated with the term. It is only

imperative that society recognizes it for the artistic aspect, especially at a remotely

individual level equip and educate ourselves with information to utilize it to our

advantage and prevent it from being the Achilles-heel of modern technology.

“For Hacking is poetry, and poetry is magic, and magic is power to those who can tap

into it” – (newyorker.com)

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 Sources Cited

• Chike. O, 2009 - BlackHatsMatter E-book on Hacking.

• TBG Security – Information Security Consultants – Infosec

Retrieved from: https://tbgsecurity.com/the-history-of-hacking-timeline-of-hacking-

techniques-infograph

• PC Tools – About Black Hat Hackers

Retrieved from: www.pctools.com/security-news/blackhat-hacker/

• Techopedia – White Hat Hacker

Retrieved from: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/26342/white-hat-hacker

• The New Yorker – Hacking and Poetry, www.newyorker.com

• Securelist.com – History of Hacking

• Georgia Tech – Department of Computer and Artificial Intelligence, 2009

(Gatech.edu)

• Sptime.com

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