Skip to main content

Stolen Information: the Cheeto Dust Fingerprints

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/
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2018 at 9:10 PM

    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.

    I'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

    ReplyDelete
  2. KHSeptember 12, 2018 at 11:40 AM

    Chris,

    I 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.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NO MORE DAISY DUKES

By Colleen Kelly This thematic series has begun to establish that female sexuality is an aspect of the music industry capable of crossing genre barriers. Country music has traditionally been labeled the genre with the least emphasis on female sexuality because of its socially conservative themes (Aubrey & Frisby, 2011, p. 477). I challenge this notion with my assertion that sexuality has always been present in country music but has undergone a change from a form of feminist liberation to a tool to objectify women. In the history of country music, particularly visible in the 1990s, there is a long-standing tradition of female artists using their music to advance feminist ideals and reclaim their sexuality (Berlatsky, 2014). Let me be clear that I am not asserting that these musicians are the long-awaited saviors of women. Rather, these female artists utilized the media to challenge societal norms surrounding gender and sexuality. Shania Twain was not only one of the biggest ...
6 comments
Read more

MEDIA FRAUD

By Duncan West Media fraud is a growing problem in our world today. The Media is very powerful. It can be used to do great things, but there are times it is used for not so great things, like the manipulation of its audience. Media Fraud can be a scam on the internet where someone says they are your buddy and need money and can be as pivotal as faking news. I think the root of this problem is that us, the users, believe anything and everything we see on the internet. People have incredible power via social media but this power can be manipulated. Take this case for instance, “In 2002, the U.S. invaded Iraq based on reports that Saddam Hussein’s government was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction… As of late 2011, U.S. troops are still in Iraq.”(Biegelman, 2013, p. 11) In this instance, even our own president was manipulated through fraudulence.  We have all heard of fake news in broadcasts but this fake news can appear in the form of internet fraud. Fake news is us...
3 comments
Read more

MISREPRESENTATION OF INDIANS IN AMERICAN FILM

By: Graham Jaeger Minorities have always been misrepresented and stereotyped within American media. More specifically, Indians have had a very hard time getting past these false depictions of themselves, especially because of how they are portrayed on television. One show that does a great job of provoking thought on the treatment of how Indian men are represented comes from the Netflix Sitcom titled Master of None . Within this show, they make it clear to the audience that the media heavily relies on a prejudiced view of Indian men. This is mainly because Indian men are often objectified as “weird and amusing” (Pfeiffer, 2016). A lot of times, the media uses these stereotypes about the Indian culture as a joke in order to make the audience laugh. Racism has been around for hundreds of years and will constantly linger for as long as I live because of this exact culture that we live in today. A major problem with racism is how the media portrays Indian men through these stereotypes...
2 comments
Read more