|
|
|
Lecturer: Harjinder Rahanu |
| hacking definition |
| The computer ethicist Duncan Langford views hacking as an emotive term.
He states that back in the 1960s and 1970s hacking was used to describe
an individual working with computers who was technically gifted. In these
infant times for computing there was perceived to be no implication that
someone known as a computer hacker would act illegally. However,
the social and computing environment has greatly changed since, and as
tends to be with language, the use of the term hacker ‘expanded and
its definition broadened’.
Langford (1995) argues that despite historical claims his definition
of hacking is
|
| definition of a hacker |
In The Hacker's Dictionary (Forestor and Morrison, 1990) the
authors outline at least seven different definitions of a hacker:
|
*There are five principal values comprising the Hacker Ethic:
return to the top of the page |
| psychological profile of a hacker |
| ‘Typical actions taken by hackers include breaking into both public
and private databases, sometimes just to see if it is possible, sometimes
for more serious reasons, for example, altering grades in a school computer
or altering credit rating. Information on how to accomplish these and other
tasks is sometimes posted - anonymously, of course - to specialist bulletin
boards. Serious hackers may use a succession of computers as staging posts,
to route a continuing series of attacks on different systems. The book
Cuckoo's
Egg, by Clifford Stohl describes how military computers in the USA
were attacked by hackers in Germany through a whole series of staging posts.
It is obviously much more difficult to trace an attack made in this way
to its source’ (Langford, 1995)
A recent PriceWaterhouseCoopers study revealed that 59 percent of all
companies with Websites experienced one or more security break-ins during
1997. Moreover, this figure is probably too low because many of these incidents
usually go unreported. One of the more notorious and widely publicised
security breaches happened to the New York Times on September 13,
1998. Their website server was invaded by a group of belligerent hackers
who posted pornographic material and printed this threatening message for
all to see: FIRST OFF, WE HAVE TO SAY . . . . WE OWN YOUR DUMB ASS.
To answer the question as to why do hackers hack and offer explanations for the behavouir described above, clearly some amount of intellectual challenge may be involved. Analogous to solving an elaborate crossword, the guessing of passwords and inventing means of bypassing file protections poses intriguing problems that some individuals will go to enormous lengths to solve (Forestor and Morrison, 1990). In other instances, hacking has involved acts of vengeance, usually by a disgruntled employee against a former employer. For others, hacking represents a lifestyle that rests upon severe social inadequacy among otherwise intellectually capable individuals - so called computer nerd syndrome. |
| Computer Nerd Syndrome
The computer nerd syndrome particularly affects male adolescents between the ages of 14 and 16. For psychologists such as Sherry Turke of MIT, hackers are individuals who use computers as people substitutes, basically because computers do not require the kind of mutuality and complexity that human relationships tend to demand. Other researchers at Carnegie-Mellon University have provided evidence that partially supports this view: Sara Kiesler and her co-workers have investigated the social psychology of computer mediated communication and found that this medium removes status cues such as sitting at the head of a table, body language, and provides a kind of social anonymity that changes the way people make decisions in groups. Their investigations into computer conferencing and electronic mail highlighted that group decision making discussions using this medium exhibited more equal participation and a larger coverage of issues. However, despite this, the limited bandwidth of the computer screen,
i.e. its lack of feedback in the form of body language, etc. often causes
users to seek substitutes for it. For example, in the absence of any other
non-verbal mechanisms to communicate their emotions, electronic mail users
often substitute depiction of their face to represent how they are feeling
or how their message should be interpreted. The following collection of
keyboard characters are often used to represent a smile, a wink and a sad
face respectively: |:-)
|;-)
|:-(
|
| hackers: democratic versus totalitarian state, inc. the political philosophy of Confucius |
| Democratic versus Totalitarian State
It is argued that for the sake of balance a truly democratic society should possess a core of technically gifted but recalcitrant people. Given that more and more information about individuals is now being stored on computers, often without our knowledge or consent, is it not reassuring that some citizens are able to penetrate these databases to ascertain what is going on? Thus it could be argued that hackers represent one way in which we can help avoid the creation of a more centralized, even totalitarian government. Indeed, at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster in the former Soviet Union, hackers from the Chaos Computer Club released more information to the public about the developments than did the then West German government itself. All the information was gained by illegal break-ins carried out in government computer installations. Hacking as the potential to cause enormous harm by utilizing resources that have tremendous power. Yet we should not forget that there are other, equally powerful and much older ways in which similar powers can be unleashed (Forestor and Morrison, 1990). Leaks to the press, espionage of all kinds and high quality investigative journalism, for example, such as that which uncovered Watergate and the Iran-Contra affair, have the power to break a government's control of information flow to the public, and can even destroy corporations or governments that have been shown to be guilty of unethical or criminal activities. |
| Political philosophy of Confucianism
There is a remarkable parallel between Confucius and Plato, both of whom were deeply immersed in philosophizing about the ideal state in which justice would be administered by a wise and virtuous ruler, and in which the concept of the common good, benevolently supervised, would form the governing consideration. They differed to this extent, that whereas Plato advocated the principle of guardianship whereby a ruling class would be educated and fashioned to rule the state without fear of contradiction in their just rule, Confucius considered the populous as an intelligent and critical check against wrong tendencies in government. Confucius' theory of government was at once paternal and democratic. The ruler is father of his people, and his right to rule is the order of nature. He is moreover responsible in detail for the welfare, both material and moral, of his people. On the other hand, the highest source of wisdom is the people themselves - they know what is good for them - vox populi, vox dei. His humblest subject is the ruler's equal, and revolution against tyranny is a duty. Thus it could be argued that hackers represent the humblest subject whose duty is to revolt against the tyranny of a totalitarian state. The hacker, in the true sense of Confucianism, helps avoid the creation of a more centralized and totalitarian government. This relates to the third principle of the Hacker Ethic in promoting decentralisation. |
| George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four
George Orwell, novelist, essayist and critic famous for his savagely angry satirical novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four. His distrust of authority and all political parties inspired Nineteen Eighty Four, an elaborate satire on modern politics prophesying a world perpetually laid waste by warring dictators. The novel above all pictures the horrors of totalitarianism pursued to the limit, the very horrors that hackers help avoid. |
From an Ethical Perspective
|
| hackers: security consultants |
| Security Consultation
In many instances the breaching of systems can provide more effective security in future, so that other, presumably less well intentioned, hackers are prevented from causing real harm. Given the possibility of terrorist acts becoming more and more technologically sophisticated, perhaps we can also look to hackers as a resource to be used to foil such acts and to improve our existing security arrangements. Forestor and Morrison (1990) highlight that ‘to some extent this is already happening: in the US, convicted hackers are regularly approached by security and intelligence agencies with offers to join them in return for amelioration or suspension of sentences. Other hackers have used their notoriety to establish computer security firms and to turn their covertly gained knowledge to the benefit of commercial and public institutions.’ return to the top of the page |
| worms, trojan horses and time bombs |
| Some individuals, often describing themselves as hackers, anonymously release destructive software known (because of both the manner and ease with which they spread) as computer viruses. |
| Trojan Horse
The term comes from Homer's Iliad. In the Trojan War, the Greeks presented the citizens of Troy with a large wooden horse in which they had secretly hidden their warriors. During the night, the warriors emerged from the wooden horse and overran the city. In computers, a Trojan horse is a program in which malicious or harmful code is contained inside apparently harmless programming or data in such a way that it can get control and do its chosen form of damage, such as ruining the file allocation table on your hard disk. A Trojan horse can be considered a virus if it is widely redistributed. |
| Logic Bomb or Time Bomb
A program which is triggered to act upon detecting a certain sequence of events or after a particular period of time has elapsed. For example, a popular form of logic bomb monitors employment files and initiates systems damage, for example, erasure of hard discs or secret corruption of key programs, once the programmer's employment as been terminated. A simple variation on the theme is to have a logic bomb virus, that is, a virus that begins to replicate and destroy a system once triggered by a time lapse, a set of pre-programmed conditions coming into existence, or by by remote control using the appropriate password. |
| Virus
A virus is a piece of programming code inserted into other programming to cause some unexpected and, for the victim, usually undesirable event. Viruses can be transmitted by downloading programming from other sites or be present on a diskette. The source of the file you're downloading or of a diskette you've received is often unaware of the virus. The virus lies dormant until circumstances cause its code to be executed by the computer. Some viruses are playful in intent and effect ("Happy Birthday, Ludwig!") and some can be quite harmful, erasing data or causing your hard disk to require reformatting. |
| Vaccine or Disinfectant
Vaccine or Disinfectant software is a class of program that searches your hard drive and floppy disks for any known or potential viruses. The market for this kind of program has expanded because of Internet growth and the increasing use of the Internet by businesses concerned about protecting their computer assets. Here are three of the most popular anti virus programs. You can download free trial copies from their sites. Some vaccines are general purpose programs which search for a wide range of viruses, while others are more restricted and are only capable of identifying a particular virus type. Other forms of virus protection include isolation of the infected system(s), use of non-writable system discs so that viruses cannot copy themselves there and testing of unknown software (particularly public domain software downloaded from bulletin boards) on a minimal, isolated system. |
| Worm
A worm is a type of virus or replicative code that situates itself in a computer system in a place where it can do harm. There are viruses (such as Melissa) that don't ‘worm themselves in’ to a place where they can do much harm and simply replicate themselves by e-mail to many computers. Like most computer viruses, worms usually come in Trojan horses. Worms tend to exist in memory and are non permanent, whereas viruses tend to reside on disc where they are permanent until eradicated. In addition, worms are network orientated, with 'segments' of the worm inhabiting different machines and being cognizant of the existence of the other segments in other nodes of the network. Worms actively seek out idle machines and retreat when machine load increases. |
| Tempest
The term refers to the electronic emissions that computers generate as they work. With the right equipment, these transmissions can be monitored , stored and analysed to help discover what the computer was doing. return to the top of the page |
| legal constraints: computer misuse act, 1990 |
| Historical perspective
‘It had long been assumed in the UK that hacking was illegal; but in 1988 the House of Lords eventually decided to the contrary. Concern following this decision led to the Law Commission Working Paper on Computer Misuse. This paper, after a general examination of the problems, made several specific recommendations for changes in the law. In 1989the Tory MP Emma Nicholson promoted a Private Member's Bill to combat hacking but later withdrew it, following Government promises to legislate. However, despite these promises, no official Government measures were taken. In 1990 another private member, Michael Colvin, introduced a second private bill on computer misuse. Although this bill incorporated recommendations from the Law Commission paper, the penalties recommended by the Commission were greatly increased. The Bill eventually became the Computer Misuse Act in August 1990.’ (Langford, 1995) |
The Act introduces three new criminal offences:
|
| International Computer Crime (Jurisdiction)
The Act attempts to cover international computer crime. An individual can be prosecuted in the UK under the 1990 Misuse Act as long as there is at least one 'significant link' with the UK. For example, ‘hacking into a computer in Milan from a computer terminal in London is illegal, as is hacking into London from Milan. Interestingly, using the UK as a staging post is also illegal under the Act - breaking into the Pentagon from Milan via a UK university is illegal, and could result in UK prosecution, even if the hacker had never been in England.’ (Langford 1995) return to the top of the page |
| legal constraints: the computer fraud and abuse act |
| ‘The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), was last amended in late
1996, is evidence that the US legal system has began to take the issue
of unauthorised access more seriously. The provisions of the act protect
the confidentiality of proprietary information and make it crime to "knowingly
access a computer without or in excess of authority to obtain classified
information". The statute also makes it a crime to access any "protected
computer" without authorisation and has a result of such access to defraud
victims of property or to recklessly cause damage. Protected computers
include those used by the government, financial institutions, or any business
engaged in interstate or international commerce. Thus, trespass is a federal
crime if one does so to pilfer classified information, to perpetrate fraud,
or to cause damage (for example, to destroy files or disable an operating
system). The only strict trespass provision of the statute protects computers
used on a full time or part time basis by the government from unauthorised
access, even if no damage is done and no information is stolen.’
‘All the states, with the exception of Vermont, have also enacted their
own computer crime statutes, which, in some cases, go beyond the scope
of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Specifically, most state laws make
unauthorised use of computers a crime regardless of the circumstances.’(Spinello,
2000)
|
CORNWALL, H (1985)
The Hacker’s Handbook
Century Communications
FORESTOR, T. AND MORRISON, P. (1994)
Computer Ethics: Cautionary Tales and Ethical Dilemmas in Computing
London: MIT Press
HSU, L.S. (1975)
The Political Philosophy of Confucianism
London: Curzon Press
LANGFORD, D. (1995)
Practical Computer Ethics
London: McGraw Hill Inc.
LANGFORD, D. (1999)
Business Computer Ethics
Addison-Wesley, pp. 116-118.
SPINELLO, R. (2000)
Cyber ethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace
Jones and Bartlett Publishers
|
|