This is our world now… the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn’t run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore… and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge… and you call us criminals. We exist without skin colour, without nationality, without religious bias… and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it’s for our own good, yet we’re the criminals. Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.
― The Mentor

Hacking…

Years ago…

Hackers of yesterday had only to rely on knowledge and skill to implement their attacks. Years ago, they actually were real hackers. They had to work hard and build their tools (Hardware, software but even soft skills as social engineering)

Today..

You still have this category of person but now you also have people with little to no experience who can launch attacks from websites with open source software. ‘’Script Kiddies’’ fit into this category

Hacking – Chapter 1 – What is a hacker?

In a cyber-security world, the person who is able to discover weakness in a system and managed to exploit it to accomplish his goal referred as a Hacker, and the process is referred as Hacking.

According to The New Hacker’s Dictionary,  a hacker can be defined as:

1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary.
2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming.
3. A person capable of appreciating hack value.
4. A person who is good at programming quickly.
5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it.
6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example.
7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.
8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence ‘password hacker’, ‘network hacker’. The correct term for this sense is cracker.

What is a hacker?

A hacker is not necessarily a bad guy.

Actually with time categories emerged. Categories created by hackers themselves. Oh yeah you will find people who argue continuously about these categories but you know we (Humans) are a social species and we like to be part of a group.

Now, Have a look on these categories.

Script Kiddie

Script Kiddies are the persons who use tools , scripts, methods and programs created by real hackers.  In a simple word, the one who doesn’t know how a system works but still able to exploit it with previously available tools.

White Hat Hacker

White Hat hackers are the ”good” guys who do the hacking in a purpose of defense.  The main aim of a White hat hacker is to improve the security of a system by finding security flaws and fixing it.  They work for an organization or individually to make the cyber space more secure.

The term “white hat” in Internet slang refers to an ethical hacker. This classification also includes individuals who perform penetration tests and vulnerability assessments within a contractual agreement.

Black Hat Hacker

Black Hat hackers are the ”bad” guys , cyber criminals , who have malicious intent.  The hackers who steal money, infect systems with malware,  etc are referred as BlackHat hackers.  They use their hacking skills for illegal purposes.

Black hat hackers are also referred to as the “crackers” within the security industry and by modern programmers.

GreyHat hackers

The hackers who may work offensively or defensively, depending on the situation. Hackers who don’t have malicious intentions but still like to break into third-party system for fun or just for showing the existence of vulnerability.

Hackers are not criminals

These ”colours” represent the behaviour of a person and can be compared with alignment which is a categorization of the ethical (Law/Chaos axis) and moral (Good/Evil axis) perspective of people.

I like this comparison  you can find in some popular Role Playing Games.

Alignment Chart

Law implies honor, trustworthiness, obedience to authority, and reliability. On the downside, lawfulness can include closed-mindedness, reactionary adherence to tradition, judgmentalness, and a lack of adaptability. Those who consciously promote lawfulness say that only lawful behavior creates a society in which people can depend on each other and make the right decisions in full confidence that others will act as they should.

Chaos implies freedom, adaptability, and flexibility. On the downside, chaos can include recklessness, resentment toward legitimate authority, arbitrary actions, and irresponsibility. Those who promote chaotic behavior say that only unfettered personal freedom allows people to express themselves fully and lets society benefit from the potential that its individuals have within them.

Someone who is neutral with respect to law and chaos has a normal respect for authority and feels neither a compulsion to follow rules nor a compulsion to rebel. They are honest but can be tempted into lying or deceiving others if it suits him/her.

Good implies altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings. Good characters make personal sacrifices to help others.

Evil implies harming, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil creatures simply have no compassion for others and kill without qualms if doing so is convenient or if it can be set up. Others actively pursue evil, killing for sport or out of duty to some malevolent deity or master.

People who are neutral with respect to good and evil have compunctions against killing the innocent but lack the commitment to make sacrifices to protect or help others. Neutral people are committed to others by personal relationships.

In the next chapter I will talk about the skills a hacker needs. And believe me it is a long journey to master it but it is sooooo interesting 🙂 Knowledge is power and there is no place like 127.0.0.1!