By: Christopher Douglas
Last month, modems from the brand MikroTik were hacked and encoded with a virus which allows hackers to spy on the modems’ users (Khandelwal, 2018). People across the world are losing not only credit card information to these hackers, but social security numbers and other, more important information as well. Masses of people losing their private information is an all too common story that will continue to be told, but who does the telling? When you read the word hacker, what image does it conjure? A sweat-stained 28-year-old plopped down in front of a Cheeto-dust laden computer in his parents’ basement, giving himself unlimited V-bucks in Fortnite? An evil villain dressed in black, typing faster than what is feasible? Interestingly enough, neither is a hacker.
According to professor Vlad Jecan, hacking culture originated in the 1960s, and it had positive impacts on the developing computer culture (Jecan, 2011, p. 96). Hackers helped detect problems in code written by burgeoning computing businesses and would report their findings back to the company. The first malicious code was the “Morris Worm,” created in 1988 by a teenager (Jecan, 2011, p. 97). His computer virus inspired hundreds of copycats and began what is colloquially known as “cracker” culture. “crackers” are the “black-hat hackers” that use their knowledge for evil (Jecan, 2011, p. 97). They are opposed by the “white-hat hackers” who use their expertise to promote goodwill and charity. These separate factions exist today, but our knowledge of hackers is clouded by what we see in the media.
According to Professor Sebastian Kubitchsko, “governmental institutions in particular tend to use hacking as a catch-all term to describe almost any computer-related crime and tend to portray hackers as antisocial, possibly dangerous individuals, who attack systems, invade privacy and even threaten national security” (Kubitschko, 2015, p. 389). This widespread stereotype of what a hacker is causes laymen to view hackers negatively, even though the name hacker inherently means they use their expertise for good. NUS Hackers, a blog/website started by and for hackers, claims the following when asked why they do what they do:
“There are two answers to this question. The first - the simple one - is that we do it because it’s fun. Hackers take pleasure in building things…We enjoy creating things for people to use (or really just creating things that we think are cool, and then showing them off to our peers) …The more complicated answer is that we think a hacker culture is the most important element one can have in a tech community. That’s an audacious statement to make… It implies that without a hacker culture, you can’t foster superb technological innovation” ("Why We Do What," n.d.)
This insight offers a basic glimpse into the charitable notions of the white-hat hacker culture. Media biases turn hackers into terrorists, but clarifications must be made on behalf of the people who do good work under the moniker “hacker.” As a result of the Russian interference in the 2016 elections, “the Defense Department offered the first-ever federal bug bounty program last year…The agency allowed more than 1,400 hackers to take aim at its public-facing websites without fear of punishment, and the effort resulted in 138 legitimate vulnerabilities being reported” (Roose, 2017). The white-hats are doing their patriotic duty. They have earned the right to be freed from the shackles of media stereotypes.
References
Jecan, V. (2011). Hacking Hollywood: discussing hackers’ reactions to three popular films.
Journal of Media Research, 2(10), 95-114. Retrieved from Communication and Mass Media Complete database.
Khandelwal, S. (2018, September 3). Thousands of MikroTik Routers hacked to eavesdrop on
network traffic. Retrieved September 4, 2018, from The Hacker News website:
https://thehackernews.com/2018/09/mikrotik-router-hacking.html
Kubitschko, S. (2015). Hackers' media practices. Convergence, 21(3), 388-402. Retrieved from
Communication and Mass Media Complete database.
Roose, K. (2017, August 2). A solution to hackers? More hackers. Retrieved September 7, 2018,
from New York Times website: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/technology/a-
solution-to-hackers-more-hackers.html
Why we do what we do. (n.d.). Retrieved September 4, 2018, from NUS Hackers website:
https://www.nushackers.org/why/
Chris, this is a really solid effort. Your prose is well-written, highly engaging and still manages to be funny. Also, nice job setting up your discussion of hackers by prefacing it with a historical background. In general, you make effective use of your sources and the result is a well-informed piece.
ReplyDeleteI've got just a few minor points for next time. Ensure your title is capitalized and your name is separate from the body of your text. Next, make sure to include your word count (not including references) at the bottom of your post.
Well done,
DP
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI agree with David's comments regarding some minor formatting issues. You should consider working with him to improve this aspect of your work.
More substantively, there's plenty to recommend about your post. For instance, you've identified and incorporated several academic sources into your writing. That's as it should be. And as David observes, you have a distinctive voice. Equally important, you've done a fine job of "nuancing" our understanding of hackers. All good!
However – and this is no small point – you rely too heavily on other people's words, especially for such a short post. After all, we want to hear your thoughts on these themes.
In other words, you should be far more judicious in your use of quotations in all of your writing. So be more selective and get more comfortable summarizing and synthesizing source material, rather than simply restating someone else's words.
26/30 pts.