Hackers: Who are they and how can they be stopped

I agree that there could be some problems if the scenario you are describing plays out, I just worry that Cyberterrorism is one of those wonderful things that help create lots of fear which in turn leads to lots of money spent (or misspent) on "security".

Also, I wonder where we draw the line, when is a virus outbreak cyberterrorism? or is this always the case? And when does cracking become cyberterrorism?

I agree with you that leaked source code could lead to more holes and and a huge rise in the number of Viruses and hacks we are seeing, but at the same time much of the source code that could be leaked really isn`t going to be much help to anyone, i.e the code for MS paint etc.. so there are only a few things that would be of real use (RPC, IP Stack etc..) and I fear that the crackers already know quite enough about these to produce exploits.

I would say that the line is crossed when lets say, Airport systems, Certain Goverment systems, public transit is attacked, DDOS'd or whatever. I would say anything that would put the headline, "American Airlines systems hacked by terrorists" or something similar would be considered cyber terrorism. Even if the systems are vending machines and escalators, as long as the media gets a hold of it they would blow it out of proportion and in the end, inflate the success of a terrorist.

I am agreeing with el on this.

Quote:

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A word only means what most people think it means...

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You need to stop bashing and flaming people who misuse the term hacker. It's gone, it's past, it's over with. We can not continue to fight something that will NOT change. Semantics and word definitions are created by what the majority of the people define a word as. If the definition of hacker is changed, then so be it. Find a new word. Use "Network Security Consultant" instead of hacker.

The reason I want to bring this to light, is because while an article may be good (or bad) most old-school hackers will laugh at it and thus never read good information. Why? Because they find it appauling that society would change a word. Now mind you, I understand the importance the word may have on some, but it's time to let it go. Let society alter definitions of words to what fits best. That is, after all, what language is all about. The time has come to let it go. Because if the majority of the world feels and thinks a hacker is the new "cracker", then it is.

sorry for me getting so mad I was haveing a bad day

Soda,

But those systems are unlikely to ever be attacked, most of the systems I have seen that perform those functions are not connected to the net, or if they are then they are behind some serious security and are running on hardened, trusted, operating systems.

I agree though that the media will blow whatever happens out of portion, which creates terror, so yep, its ends up as cyberterrorism.

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According to www.hackers.com, hacking is about 'freedom of speech, freedom of information, ethics and satisfying curiosities.'

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Notice he conveniently left out this site, as well as all of the hundreds of other sites featuring members who claim 'hacker' status and are involved in responsible use of computer technologies for the purpose of privacy, safety, and security. Who does he think designs the computer languages these operating systems are written in? who does he think writes the encryption engines that world governments and corporations alike use to secure confidential data? who does HE think makes malicious hacking so goddamn hard in the first place? US. Without REAL hackers there would be no patches to the security flaws these idiots use to gain entry to computer systems. Without us there would be no encryption for skiddies to TRY to break in the first place, without hackers no security whatsoever would exist because that's what we do. OUR curiousity beckons us to attempt entry just to see if it can be done, and of course if it can we aren't going to keep it to ourselves. THAT would be irresponsible, if noone knows there is a flaw, there is no reason to fix it. THAT is why every security hole found is posted on bulletin boards, public disclosure is both the means and the motive to fix dangerous oversights in operating system security. And by the way, hackers.com, contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker, real hacking is not at all about satisfying curiosities, that is simply a means to an end. That end being ultimately the safety and security of information online. Mine AND yours. I seriously doubt if I were to gain access to hackers.com's site and post all their passwords that they would applaud me for my curiosity and call me a 'tribute to freedom of speech'. some information is meant to be private. And as long as sites like this exist, I have faith they will remain that way.

<EDIT>Leave it to Bryan Glick to think for a second that calling us geeks or nerds is an insult. look around, we've got people wearing shirts that say "I <heart> my geek" and simply "<geek>". geeks and nerds are now revered in today's culture, we have women with perfect vision wearing dark plastic-rimmed glasses to look smart. Smart is in, and the geek/nerd is the cultural epitomy of smart. Sadly for Mr. Glick, being a JACKASS is still very much uncool. </EDIT>

Hacker stratification.
Industry views

Tier I: The best of the best the folks with an IQ high enough to boil water.
* The ability to find new vunerablities
* Ability to write exploit code and tools

Tier II: Have the ability to understand the vunerability
* Are IT savvy
* Intelligent enough to use the exploit code and tools with persicion

Tier III: "Skiddies"
* Inexpert
* Ability to download exploit code and tools
* Very little understanding of the acutal vulnerabilty
* Randomly fire off scripts untill something works.

Source: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...49753?v=glance
It's a good read.
*edit notice hackers.com is always getting a little DOS treatment or somthing as usual. like catch told me they are a bunch of idiots over there. Anytime you ask about why the site was down, the admins get cocky & try to down play it, never a truthfull answer. hackers.com suxors go ask Liquidfish & catch

ya, it's horrendous that hackers.com is ANYONE's window to the hacking community. It would be funny if it weren't so damn sad, It really is pathetic over there. I checked it out once, I probably still have a username, I don't remember, I haven't been back since. I was just blown away by the bombastic veracity of their incompetence, I'm surprised they can even build a website.

good article thanks! but im having trouble reading it can somebody upload the binary

And there forgetting about government employees that do alot of good snooping on neighboors. I have a friend that is a cryptologist for the navy, and they find alot of things by hacking and snooping...its helped protect are country in many ways..not to say everthing they do is good. "What people do with the knowledge they obtain defines who they are" good or bad