Exploring The Dark Side. Review of hacker sites Essay

Exploring The Dark Side. Review of hacker sites - Essay ExampleIndeed, as Gold (2001) argues, there is an rule tendency to perceive of all hackers as intent on the accessing otherwise private information for the purpose of criminal use and profit. Certainly, a not unnoticeable percentage of hacks into corporate databases is motivated by precisely such an intent but an equally significant percentage is motivated by the intent to put out security flaws. The intent to expose, as Gold (2001) contends, is not accompany by an underlying criminal or financial motivation but simply by the determination to prove that the security systems which companies have invested large amounts of money in are, indeed, flawed and easily penetrated by professional hackers. Interestingly, the four sites mentioned appear to evidence Golds (2001) argument.The adept information provided in these sites can be interpreted as hacking guidance information but, more significantly, it directs attention to existe nt security flaws and data vulnerability. In its announcement of a four-day hacker conference, the Cult of the Dead cow effectively evidences that hackers have a constructive role to play in the securitization of information. For example, the mentioned conference announcement is accompanied by a call for papers on network penetration, malware generation and, importantly, network security. The implication here is that hackers are actively involved in the composition of network security flaws, aspects of network vulnerability and information warfare strategies, as based on existent flawed security and suggest strategies for the resolution of these weaknesses and vulnerabilities. As may have been deduced from the preceding paragraph, Cult of the Dead Cow may be perceived of as a positive contribution to information assumption and the fact that this statement may be extended to embrace professional hacker communities per se, is established through a review of I Hack Stuff. The latte r(prenominal) site is extremely informative because it establishes the extent to which data and networks are vulnerable by illustrating how supposedly sensitive and extremely untouchable information, such as decision maker login information, customer lists and websites member databases, including passwords, may all be accessed through a google search. I Hack Stuff provides a long list of the google search name that one needs to enter in order to access this information and upon experimenting with it, I discovered that the information is valid.Certainly, the information which I Hack Stuff provides may be interpreted as an immediate and intolerable ethical violation insofar as it directs novices, or experimenters, towards the location of information which allows for the successful hacking of supposedly secure websites. Taken from another perspective, however, such information may be interpreted as a constructive contribution to data and information assurance. It exposes security fl aws and