Computer Hackers Essay Example For Students

Computer Hackers Essay The meaning of Hacker is one who accesses a computer which is supposably not able to be accessed to non authorised people of the community. Hackers may use any type of system to access this information depending on what they intend on doing in the system. MethodsHackers may use a variety of ways to hack into a system. First if the hacker is experienced and smart the hacker will use telnet to access a shell on another machine so that the risk of getting caught is lower than doing it using their own system. Ways in which the hacker will break into the system are:1) Guess/cracking passwords. This is where the hacker takes guesses at the password or has a crack program to crack the password protecting the system. 2) Finding back doors is another way in which the hacker may get access to the system. This is where the hacker tries to find flaws in the system they are trying to enter. Hacker Kevin Mitnick is alleged to have broken into several major organizationscomputer systems, including those of Sun Microsystems, Motorola, and the Pentagon. Mr Mitnick was ARRESTED on February 15,1995, after an FBI computer expert Tsutomu Shimomura tracked him down. Mitnick, the first hacker ever to have appeared on an FBI wanted poster.With 25 counts of alleged federal computer and wire fraud violations still pending against him, the criminal prosecution of Kevin Mitnick is approaching its most crucial hour. In June of 1999, Kevin was sentenced for certain admitted violations of his supervised release and for possession of unauthorized access codes. The court imposed a sentence of 22 months instead of the 32 months sought by the government. Since Kevin has been in custody since his arrest in February 1995, this sentence has been satisfied. Kevin has experienced years of legal battles over alleged violations of the conditions of his supervised release and for possession of unaut horized cellular access codes. The greatest injustice in the prosecution of Kevin Mitnick is revealed when one examines the actual harm to society (or lack thereof) which resulted from Kevins actions. To the extent that Kevin is a hacker he must be considered a purist. The simple truth is that Kevin never sought monetary gain from his hacking, though it could have proven extremely profitable. Nor did he hack with the malicious intent to damage or destroy other peoples property. Rather, Kevin pursued his hacking as a means of satisfying his intellectual curiosity and applying Yankee ingenuity. These attributes are more frequently promoted rather than punished by society. The ongoing case of Kevin Mitnick is gaining increased attention as the various issues and competing interests are played out in the arena of the courtroom. Exactly who Kevin Mitnick is and what he represents, however, is ultimately subject to personal interpretation and to the legacy which will be left by The United States v. Kevin David Mitnick. Software piracy is the illegal duplication of copyrighted software. Intellectual property includes the results of intellectual activities in the arts, sciences, and industry. The expression of intellectual property can be copyrighted. Inventions are patented. Trade secrets are covered by contract law. Look-and-feel lawsuits can result from mimicking intellectual property. Software piracy is a serious worldwide problem. In fact, many countries have staggeringly high piracy rates countries like Russia, China and Vietnam, just to name a few some even close to the 100 percent mark. The worldwide piracy rate in 1998 was 38 percent, causing losses to the global software industry of approximately $11 billion according to a Business Software Alliance study. Unfortunately the problem is getting worse. In one year, from 1997 to 1998, the problem grew so dramatically that 2.5 million more software applications were pirated. Making Room for Improvement EssaySafe computing once meant only running a virus checker on your files before you gave your floppy disk to your co-worker. Today it means so much more. It means monitoring your computer system, to proactively catch any problems that may be brewing. Today, safe computing means using software that can detect other software and hardware that may be having problems. Tips for Preventing Computer Disasters1.Always close applications that are not in use. 2.Dont leave your computer turned on in sleep mode when you leave the office. Turn it off. 3.Use an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) to give you time to save your work and turn the computer off safely when you lose power. 4.Run a disk utility program every week and act on its warnings. 5.Back up data daily; use more than one source if data loss would mean youd have to close your business. Back up devices do fail so be sure to check the integrity of the data every couple of weeks. And make sure you TEST the restore function of your backup software periodically. 6.Run a virus program in the background at all times. 7.Upgrade your virus application every 30-60 days. New viruses are created every day. Practice Safe Computing Commercial Software, Shareware, Friends, and Internet Downloads beware of Bonus software or free gifts Unknown or questionable sources Scan everything ! Email attachments beware of Unexpected attachments Email from unknown senders Promises that are too good to be true Senders who tells you to ignore virus warnings Subject lines or file names that are risqu or otherwise enticing Macros no matter the source. Use POP3 email client (e.g., Eudora, Pegasus, Zmail) Fewer features mean fewer opportunities for virus programmers Use MS Works, Star Office, or Word Perfect in lieu of MS Word. Less popular programs have fewer viruses. Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 97 (and 2000) have built-in macro virus protection:. Write protect the global template normal.dot. Only Word documents or templates can carry viruses: text files and RTF files cannot. However, one can simply rename a *.doc file with the *.rtf extension to fool some anti-virus programs. Set your anti-virus scanner to check all file typesat least add *.rtf and *.txt. Bottom line, Use Anti-Virus Software Bibliography:N/A