Security hacker

Naming

Longstanding controversy surrounds the meaning of the term "hacker". In this controversy, computer programmers reclaim the term hacker, arguing that it refers simply to someone with an advanced understanding of computers and computer networks, and that cracker is the more appropriate term for those who break into computers, whether computer criminals (black hats) or computer security experts (white hats). A 2014 article noted that "the black-hat meaning still prevails among the general public". The subculture that has evolved around hackers is often referred to as the "computer underground".

Classifications

In computer security, a hacker is someone who focuses on the security mechanisms of computer and network systems. Hackers can include someone who endeavors to strengthen security mechanisms by exploring their weaknesses and also those who seek to access secure, unauthorized information despite security measures. Nevertheless, parts of the subculture see their aim in correcting security problems and use the word in a positive sense. White hat is the name given to ethical computer hackers, who utilize hacking in a helpful way. White hats are becoming a necessary part of the information security field.

Subgroups of the computer underground with different attitudes and motives use different terms to demarcate themselves from each other. These classifications are also used to exclude specific groups with whom they do not agree.

Cracker

Eric S. Raymond, author of The New Hacker's Dictionary, advocates that members of the computer underground should be called crackers. Yet, those people see themselves as hackers and even try to include the views of Raymond in what they see as a wider hacker culture, a view that Raymond has harshly rejected. Instead of a hacker/cracker dichotomy, they emphasize a spectrum of different categories, such as white hat, grey hat, black hat and script kiddie. In contrast to Raymond, they usually reserve the term cracker for more malicious activity.

According to Ralph D. Clifford, a cracker or cracking is to "gain unauthorized access to a computer in order to commit another crime such as destroying information contained in that system." These subgroups may also be defined by the legal status of their activities.

White hat

A white hat hacker breaks security for non-malicious reasons, either to test their own security system, perform penetration tests or vulnerability assessments for a client, or while working for a security company that makes security software. The term is generally synonymous with ethical hacker, and certifications, courseware, classes, and online training covering the diverse arena of ethical hacking have been developed.

Black hat

A black hat hacker is a hacker who "violates computer security for little reason beyond maliciousness or for personal gain". The term was coined by Richard Stallman, to contrast the maliciousness of a criminal hacker versus the spirit of playfulness and exploration in hacker culture, or the ethos of the white hat hacker who performs hacking duties to identify places to repair or as a means of legitimate employment. Black hat hackers form the stereotypical, illegal hacking groups often portrayed in popular culture, and are "the epitome of all that the public fears in a computer criminal".

Grey hat

A grey hat hacker lies between a black hat and a white hat hacker, hacking for ideological reasons. A grey hat hacker may surf the Internet and hack into a computer system for the sole purpose of notifying the administrator that their system has a security defect, for example. They may then offer to correct the defect for a fee. Grey hat hackers sometimes find the defect in a system and publish the facts to the world instead of a group of people. Even though grey hat hackers may not necessarily perform hacking for their personal gain, unauthorized access to a system can be considered illegal and unethical.

Script kiddie

A script kiddie (also known as a skid or skiddie) is an unskilled hacker who breaks into computer systems by using automated tools written by others (usually by other black hat hackers), hence the term script (i.e. a computer script that automates the hacking) kiddie (i.e. kid, child an individual lacking knowledge and experience, immature), usually with little understanding of the underlying concept.

Neophyte

A neophyte ("newbie", or "noob") is someone who is new to hacking or phreaking and has almost no knowledge or experience of the workings of technology and hacking.

Blue hat

A blue hat hacker is someone outside computer security consulting firms who is used to bug-test a system prior to its launch, looking for exploits so they can be closed. Microsoft also uses the term BlueHat to represent a series of security briefing events.

Hacktivist

Hacktivism (or hactivism; a portmanteau of hack and activism) is the use of computer-based techniques such as hacking as a form of civil disobedience to promote a political agenda or social change. A form of Internet activism with roots in hacker culture and hacker ethics, its ends are often related to free speech, human rights, or freedom of information movements.

Organized criminal gangs

Groups of hackers that carry out organized criminal activities for profit. Modern-day computer hackers have been compared to the privateers of by-gone days. These criminals hold computer systems hostage, demanding large payments from victims to restore access to their own computer systems and data. Cyber theft and ransomware attacks are now the fastest-growing crimes in the United States. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies facilitate the extortion of huge ransoms from large companies, hospitals and city governments with little or no chance of being caught.

Attacks

Hackers can usually be sorted into two types of attacks: mass attacks and targeted attacks. They are sorted into the groups in terms of how they choose their victims and how they act on the attacks.

A typical approach in an attack on Internet-connected system is:

1. Network enumeration: Discovering information about the intended target.
2. Vulnerability analysis: Identifying potential ways of attack.
3. Exploitation: Attempting to compromise the system by employing the vulnerabilities found through the vulnerability analysis.

In order to do so, there are several recurring tools of the trade and techniques used by computer criminals and security experts.

Security exploits

A security exploit is a prepared application that takes advantage of a known weakness. Common examples of security exploits are SQL injection, cross-site scripting and cross-site request forgery which abuse security holes that may result from substandard programming practice. Other exploits would be able to be used through File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), PHP, SSH, Telnet and some Web pages. These are very common in Web site and Web domain hacking.

Notable intruders and criminal hackers

Notable security hackers

• Andrew Auernheimer, sentenced to three years in prison, is a hacker whose security group Goatse Security exposed a flaw in AT&T's iPad security.
• Dan Kaminsky was a DNS expert who exposed multiple flaws in the protocol and investigated Sony's rootkit security issues in 2005. He spoke in front of the United States Senate on technology issues.
• Ed Cummings (also known as Bernie S) is a longstanding writer for 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. In 1995, he was arrested and charged with possession of technology that could be used for fraudulent purposes, and set legal precedents after being denied both a bail hearing and a speedy trial.
• Eric Corley (also known as Emmanuel Goldstein) is the longstanding publisher of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. He is also the founder of the Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conferences. He has been part of the hacker community since the late 1970s.
• Susan Headley (also known as Susan Thunder), was an American hacker active during the late 1970s and early 1980s widely respected for her expertise in social engineering, pretexting, and psychological subversion. She became heavily involved in phreaking with Kevin Mitnick and Lewis De Payne in Los Angeles, but later framed them for erasing the system files at US Leasing after a falling out, leading to Mitnick's first conviction.
• Gary McKinnon is a Scottish hacker who was facing extradition to the United States to face criminal charges. Many people in the UK called on the authorities to be lenient with McKinnon, who has Asperger syndrome. The extradition has now been dropped.
• Gordon Lyon, known by the handle Fyodor, authored the Nmap Security Scanner as well as many network security books and web sites. He is a founding member of the Honeynet Project and Vice President of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.
• Guccifer 2.0, who claimed that he hacked into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) computer network
• Jacob Appelbaum is an advocate, security researcher, and developer for the Tor project. He speaks internationally for usage of Tor by human rights groups and others concerned about Internet anonymity and censorship.
• Joanna Rutkowska is a Polish computer security researcher who developed the Blue Pill rootkit and Qubes OS.
• Jude Milhon (known as St. Jude) was an American hacker and activist, founding member of the cypherpunk movement, and one of the creators of Community Memory, the first public computerized bulletin board system.
• Kevin Mitnick was a computer security consultant and author, formerly the most wanted computer criminal in United States history.
• Len Sassaman was a Belgian computer programmer and technologist who was also a privacy advocate.
• Meredith L. Patterson is a well-known technologist and biohacker who has presented research with Dan Kaminsky and Len Sassaman at many international security and hacker conferences.
• Kimberley Vanvaeck (known as Gigabyte) is a Belgian hacker recognized for writing the first virus in C#.
• Michał Zalewski (lcamtuf) is a prominent security researcher.
• Solar Designer is the pseudonym of the founder of the Openwall Project.
• Kane Gamble, sentenced to 2 years in youth detention, who is autistic, gained access to highly sensitive information and "cyber-terrorised" high-profile U.S. intelligence officials such as then CIA chief John Brennan or Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Customs

The computer underground has produced its own specialized slang, such as 1337speak. Writing software and performing other activities to support these views is referred to as hacktivism. Some consider illegal cracking ethically justified for these goals; a common form is website defacement. The computer underground is frequently compared to the Wild West. It is common for hackers to use aliases to conceal their identities.

Hacker groups and conventions

The computer underground is supported by regular real-world gatherings called hacker conventions or "hacker cons". These events include SummerCon (Summer), DEF CON, HoHoCon (Christmas), ShmooCon (February), Black Hat Conference, Chaos Communication Congress, AthCon, Hacker Halted, and H.O.P.E. Local Hackfest groups organize and compete to develop their skills to send a team to a prominent convention to compete in group pentesting, exploit and forensics on a larger scale. Hacker groups became popular in the early 1980s, providing access to hacking information and resources and a place to learn from other members. Computer bulletin board systems (BBSs), such as the Utopias, provided platforms for information-sharing via dial-up modem. Hackers could also gain credibility by being affiliated with elite groups.

Consequences for malicious hacking

India

Netherlands

• Article 138ab of Wetboek van Strafrecht prohibits computervredebreuk, which is defined as intruding an automated work or a part thereof with intention and against the law. Intrusion is defined as access by means of:
  • Defeating security measures
  • By technical means
  • By false signals or a false cryptographic key
  • By the use of stolen usernames and passwords.

Maximum imprisonment is one year or a fine of the fourth category.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, offences relating to malicious computer hacking are defined by the Compuer Misuse Act (1990). The Act makes the following four behaviours illegal:

• Unauthorised access to computer material, with a penalty of up to six months in prison and/or a £5000 fine.
• Unauthorised access to computer materials with intent to commit a further crime, with a penalty of up to five years in prison and/or an unlimited fine.
• Unauthorised modification of data, with a penalty of up to five years in prison and/or an unlimited fine.
• Making, supplying or obtaining anything which can be used in computer misuse offences, with a penalty of up to ten years in prison and/or an unlimited fine.

United States

18 U.S.C. § 1030, more commonly known as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, prohibits unauthorized access or damage of "protected computers". "Protected computers" are defined in 18 U.S.C. § 1030(e)(2) as:

• A computer exclusively for the use of a financial institution or the United States Government, or, in the case of a computer not exclusively for such use, used by or for a financial institution or the United States Government and the conduct constituting the offense affects that use by or for the financial institution or the Government.
• A computer which is used in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or communication, including a computer located outside the United States that is used in a manner that affects interstate or foreign commerce or communication of the United States;

The maximum imprisonment or fine for violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act depends on the severity of the violation and the offender's history of violations under the Act.

The FBI has demonstrated its ability to recover ransoms paid in cryptocurrency by victims of cybertheft.

Hacking and the media

Hacker magazines

The most notable hacker-oriented print publications are Phrack, Hakin9 and 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. While the information contained in hacker magazines and ezines was often outdated by the time they were published, they enhanced their contributors' reputations by documenting their successes.

Hackers in fiction

Hackers often show an interest in fictional cyberpunk and cyberculture literature and movies. The adoption of fictional pseudonyms, symbols, values and metaphors from these works is very common.

Books

• The cyberpunk novels of William Gibson – especially the Sprawl trilogy – are very popular with hackers.
• Helba from the .hack manga and anime series
• Merlin of Amber, the protagonist of the second series in The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny, is a young immortal hacker-mage prince who has the ability to traverse shadow dimensions.
• Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
• Alice from Heaven's Memo Pad
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks
• Hackers (anthology) by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Films

• Antitrust
• Blackhat
• Cypher
• Eagle Eye
• Enemy of the State
• Firewall
• Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
• Hackers
• Live Free or Die Hard
• The Matrix series
• The Net
• The Net 2.0
• Pirates of Silicon Valley
• Skyfall
• Sneakers
• Swordfish
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• Terminator Salvation
• Take Down
• Tron
• Tron: Legacy
• Untraceable
• WarGames
• Weird Science
• The Fifth Estate
• Who Am I – No System Is Safe
• Johnny English Strikes Again

TV series

• Mr. Robot

Non-fiction books

• The Art of Deception by Kevin Mitnick
• The Art of Intrusion by Kevin Mitnick
• The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll
• Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick
• Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy
• The Hacker Crackdown by Bruce Sterling
• The Hacker's Handbook by Hugo Cornwall (Peter Sommer)
• Hacking: The Art of Exploitation Second Edition by Jon Erickson
• Out of the Inner Circle by Bill Landreth and Howard Rheingold
• Underground by Suelette Dreyfus

Tools

Depending on the targeted device or software, a variety of tools to assist in hacking a system are available.

• Kali Linux - Linux-based OS and tools focusing on network penetration testing
• Ghidra - open-source software decompiler
• IDA Pro - proprietary software decompiler
• SoftICE - proprietary software debugger (legacy)
• Nmap - open-source network inspection tool