Hacking

 Alguns assuntos retratados no livro “A Gift of Fire” que achamos relevante,

The Phases of Hacking  Phase One: The early years

•       1960s and 1970s.

•       Originally, hacker referred to a creative programmer wrote clever code.

•       The first operating systems and computer games were written by hackers.

•       The term hacking was a positive term.

•       Hackers were usually high-school and college students. Phase Two: Hacking takes on a more negative meaning.

•       1970s through 1990s.

•       Authors and the media used the term hacker to describe someone who used computers, without authorization, sometimes to commit crimes.

•       Early computer crimes were launched against business and government computers.

•       Adult criminals began using computers to commit their crimes.  Phase Three: The Web Era

•       Beginning in the mid-1990s.

•       The increased use of the Internet for school, work, business transactions, and recreation makes it attractive to criminals with basic computer skills.

•       Crimes include the release of malicious code (viruses and worms).

•       Unprotected computers can be used, unsuspectingly, to accomplish network disruption or commit fraud.

•       Hackers with minimal computer skills can create havoc by using malicious code written by others.

Hactivism…is the use of hacking expertise to promote a political cause.

•       This kind of hacking can range from mild to destructive activities.

•       Some consider hactivism as modern-age civil disobedience.

•       Others believe hactivism denies others their freedom of speech and violates property rights. 

The Law  Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA, 1986) •       It is a crime to access, alter, damage, or destroy information on a computer without authorization.

•       Computers protected under this law include:

–        government computers,

–        financial systems,

–        medical systems,

–        interstate commerce, and

–        any computer on the Internet. 
USA Patriot Act (USAPA, 2001) •       Amends the CFAA.

•       Allows for recovery of losses due to responding to a hacker attack, assessing damages, and restoring systems.

•       Higher penalties can be levied against anyone hacking into computers belonging to criminal justice system or the military.

•       The government can monitor online activity without a court order. 

Catching Hackers… requires law enforcement to recognize and respond to myriad hacking attacks. Computer forensics tools may include:

•       Undercover agents,

•       Honey pots (sting operations in cyberspace),

•       Archives of online message boards,

•       Tools for recovering deleted or coded information. Computer forensics agencies and services include:

•       Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT),

•       National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC),

•       Private companies specializing in recovering deleted files and e-mail, tracking hackers via Web site and telephone logs, etc..