Hacking

Figure 1: Girls spreading secrets in school

     Imagine keeping all of your biggest secrets in one place that allowed anyone to steal or gain access to all of the information, and use the information in anyway they choose. These thieves take your secrets and spread them around the school allowing everyone, including your crush to know all your personal thoughts (Figure 1). I'm sure your parents have warned you about the internet and all the dangerous activities that have come because of it. In today's day in age the internet hides many "bad people" who steal important information from a variety of people, companies, and corporations. These "bad people" are known as hackers and they gain access to information illegally. The internet allows for these hackers to steal information easily and use the information in any way they choose. Hacking is considered a criminal activity and is punishable by jail time (2).

 What is Hacking?

Figure 2: A hacker, hacking into a computer

Hacking can be considered a hobby or job for people who use it to help people, companies, and corporations. They use their skills to help prevent the criminal hackers from stealing any important information that would cause a problem within their lives or jobs (3). Also, hacking is most commonly  known for its negative effect on the people, companies and corporations it steals from. Those hackers are considered the criminal hackers and they steal or gain access to unauthorized information through computer systems(2)(Figure 2).

 The Bad

Preventing these hackers from stealing your information is a lot harder than just putting your secrets in a new hiding spot that no one will find. Hackers can access information through different devices on a computer. The criminal hackers are the bully's in school who would steal your most personal secrets and let the whole school know what they are. Hacking is more commonly known as a criminal act but, there are also good sides to hacking(4). The criminal side to hacking are the events you see on TV, where people loose money because of them. Maybe you have heard your parents talk about how they have to be careful when using their credit cards, because that is a common way hackers can gain access and information about people. Most recently, Target had an incident involving a hacker around the holidays so as a precaution they warned everyone to be careful when using their card at any Target store (3).

The Good

Hacking is beneficial to some companies and corporations, because it saves them from loosing money and information to hackers(5). The good hackers are similar to your best friend who helps you secure your secrets so no one will ever find them and steal them. The good hackers are similar to your best friend who finds out who stole your secret information and helps you try to keep it hidden better next time.

Figure 3 Coding

Skill
Hacking is a skill that is most commonly done by teens and young adults. To most people it starts as a hobby because they enjoy the act of cracking codes (1). Many people who become hackers are very smart and have a technological skill that they use to break into different systems(1). The process of hacking involves a technique called coding which is a complex variation of letters and numbers that create everything on your computer. Coding looks like the picture in Figure 3.

References

  (1)Chabrow. E. (2015). 7 levels of hackers. Retrieved from http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/lulzsec-senate-sony-hackers-profiled-a-3751/p-2
(2)Hinders, D. (2015, March 20). What is hacking?, [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-computer-hacking.ht
(3) Motivations of Hacking [Illustration]. (2013). Retrieved from http://hackmageddon.com/tag/2013/

       (4) National Conference of State Legislators. (2014). In Computer crime statutes. Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology/computer-hacking-and-unauthorized-access-laws.aspx

       (5) Yankun, Z. (2014). Computer network security threats and security technology research. Advanced Materials Research, 971-9731440-1443.
ffff  [Figure 1 girls spreading secrets in school] (2013). Retrieved from pixshark.com: http://pixshark.com/bullying-in-schools.htm
      [Figure 2 a hacker, hacking into a computer] (2015). Retrieved from Sodahead:http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/man-gets-18-years-in-prison-for-hacking-neighbors-wifi-fair-or-foul/question-1970305/?link=ibaf&q=&esrc=s
      [Figure 3 Coding] 2015. Retrieved from The hacker news: http://thehackernews.com/2015/01/pastebin-wordpress-website-hacking.html