Hacking Arena

Is Hacking Always Bad?


Although the history of hacking is relatively unknown to most of the public, it's quite interesting to read about it. It doesn't matter if you aren't a computer expert or a system administrator of a big corporation. Computers are as much part of our history as airplanes and cars, and it should be common knowledge to know how they came to be. It's the only way you can understand the effects of computer hacking in our life.

History of Hacking

Hacking is not limited to computers. The real meaning of hacking is to expand the capabilities of any electronic device; to use them beyond the original intentions of the manufacturer. As a matter of fact, the first hackers appeared in the 1960's at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and their first victims were electric trains. They wanted them to perform faster and more efficiently. So, is hacking always bad? Not really. It only depends on how to use it. But it wasn't until a group of these hackers decided to exert their knowledge in the computer mainframes of the MIT.

During the 1970's, a different kind of hacker appeared: the phreaks or phone hackers. They learned ways to hack the telephonic system and make phone calls for free. Within these group of people, a phreaker became famous because a simple discovery. John Draper, also known as Captain Crunch, found that he could make long distance calls with a whistle. He built a blue box that could do this and the Esquire magazine published an article on how to build them. Fascinated by this discovery, two kids, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, decided to sell these blue boxes, starting a business friendship which resulted in the founding of Apple.

By the 1980's, phreaks started to migrate to computers, and the first Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) appeared. BBS are like the yahoo groups of today, were people posted messages of any kind of topics. The BBS used by hackers specialized in tips on how to break into computers, how to use stolen credit card numbers and share stolen computer passwords.

It wasn't until 1986 that the US government realized the danger that hackers represented to the national security. As a way to counteract this menace, the Congress passed the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, making computer breaking a crime across the nation.

During the 1990's, when the use of the internet widespread around the world, hackers multiplied, but it wasn't until the end of the decade that system's security became mainstream among the public.

Today, we are accustomed to hackers, crackers, viruses, Trojans, worms and all of the techniques we need to follow to combat them.


Profiles of Famous Computer Hackers
 
As it was mentioned before, the history of hacking is intermixed with the history of computers. Many of the famous computer hackers of the past are the billionaires of today.


The most known hacker is Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft. Considered the richest person in the world for more than a decade, he became the most successful entrepreneur of the computer industry. His beginnings go back to the 1970's when he designed computer programs for the computer platforms of that era, and ended with the introduction of Windows in the world of personal computers.

After some time away from the media attention, Steve Jobs came back with the introduction of several new products in Apple. The most known of them is the iPod, which has revolutionized the music industry around the world. Jobs started nearly at the same time that Gates, founding Apple and introducing to the market the first home computer, the Apple II. Rate this Article

Although Linus Torvalds was known among the hacker community as the hero who created Linux, the open source operating system, it hasn't been until recent years that people started to wonder if there was another option apart from using Microsoft's operating system.

Profiles of Bad Hackers

Unfortunately, there are as many bad hackers as productive hackers. One of the most famous black hackers is Kevin Mitnick, who broke into the computers of several organizations, including Fujitsu, Motorola, Sun Microsystems and Nokia. He was imprisoned and even today can't use a computer due to a judicial restriction.

Another famous hacker is Vladimir Levin, a mathematician who led a group of Russian hackers and stole ten million dollars from Citibank. Until this day, no one knows how they did it.

Jonathan James case is a bit more complicated. He was the first juvenile from the teen hackers of the USA to be prosecuted for computer hacking. But that didn't stop him. Later, he was able to access the computer systems of NASA and the US Department of Defense. Finally, he was imprisoned.

Fraud for Sale

Years ago, before the coming of the internet, hackers around the world caused a lot of mayhem in organizations. But now that they have a potential market of hundreds of millions of persons, their options are almost limitless. That's why online fraud is considered one of the cancers of the internet. The only way to protect from it, is becoming an anti hacker ourselves, maintaining up to date with the most basic knowledge: firewall, antivirus, antispam, constant operating system updates and taking care of suspicious websites.



The effects of computer hacking in our history can't be denied. It is here and it won't disappear. But the most interesting thing about the history of hacking is that it was expected to happen. You only need to check old science fiction books to find it.