Hacker Ethics Question

[methdeath]

I have a question for all of those AO members who are system admins. If a hacker were to find your system open and [list=1][*]acess it[*]find all the security holes[*]notify you[*]do no damage[/list=1] would you still be angry or want to contact the athourities about it?

[n0t 1337]

Frankly, I would be grateful if a hacker were to do these things- provided he/she told me the security holes and how to fix them. I would almost pay for a good hacker to do something like that.
However, I can see how a large corporate admin would be less than happy with such a thing. Security is his job and if a hacker finds a vurnerabilty- many admins see it as a hint that they arent doing their job well.

[R0n1n]

I have a question for you,

If a burgular were to find your front door open, and

1) Come inside your house
2) Find all the open windows, your lack of a safe, money in drawers etc..
3) Notify you
4) but not take anything

Would you be upset?

(just playing a little devils advocate)

[tampabay420]

be careful of so-called white hat hackers…
these guys/gals notify you of the exploits they used (but did not develop), you think- great, this really nice white-hat told me what was wrong- so you don’t get angry or press charges, low and behold: he stole all of your sensitive corp. data and sold it for whatever he could scrounge… I’ve heard of it before.

So in conclusion, I’m not quite sure how I feel on the subject. Although- I doubt any skilled white-hat’s going to hack your net-work just to be nice, prolly just some script kiddie trying not to get in trouble?

[Tiger Shark]

Originally posted here by methdeath
[*]find all the security holes

Now this is a guy I gotta meet....... He's way ahead of the game.......

[the_twister]

Actually I would thank him for the valuable information he provided and ask him how to close these holes.And regarding the thief example,if he doesn't do anything then he cannot be regared as a thief.

[Hades]

Yes this is a tough Question...It would really depend on the webmaster I'd say. If it happened to me personally, I would be greatful! But thats just me...

[XychiX]

Originally posted here by R0n1n
I have a question for you,

If a burgular were to find your front door open, and

1) Come inside your house
2) Find all the open windows, your lack of a safe, money in drawers etc..
3) Notify you
4) but not take anything

Would you be upset?

(just playing a little devils advocate)

He MR Devils Advocate... this is what the cops in holland do sometimes... look around the house for weak spots and leave a note ....

they won't look in Drawers en for a safe but they do check the house from the outside.

I believe lot's of admins would be happy with such a advise but it keeps beeing illegal! so even white hat hackers should look the're backs!

[tampabay420]

XychiX-
| I think that's neat about the Holland Police- you say "from the outside" , right?
| I'm not too sure how happy i'd be if the cops broke into my house, just to tell me how it can be done. but as long as the intruder doenst log in... i'm fine with it :-)
| so, i guess (these white-hats) they just runa vuln scanner on your network and tell you what it found...

[MrBert]

Trespassing is still not right. It is no worse that coping copyrighted software. If i were just to walk into peoples homes and buisnesses whenever i wanted I would be arrested here in the states. The rules may be diffrent elsewhere. but the problem occurs when you bring the international scene into it. if you hack a US site or anywhere else from a country that does not have hackin rules. it is hard to police the world. with out a global goverment. I do not want one governing body so i am really torn.