Computer hacking threats and national security vulnerabilities

Hacking

year-old Bloomington man was indicted on charges of hacking into a computer at a nuclear weapons laboratory in California. Benjamin T. Breuninger, who goes by the computer nickname "Konceptor," was arrested at his apartment at about 7 a.m. Monday by agents from the FBI and the U.S. Department of Energy. He was released on $25,000 bail. Breuninger accessed a computer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory between Nov. 2 and 13, said Minneapolis FBI Special Agent Paul McCabe. Breuninger didn't reach documents that would threaten national security..."(Chanen, September 2000)

As stated in the news story, an individual was accused of hacking the system of one laboratory in California that is assigned to ensure safety of the weapons of mass destruction - the nuclear weapons. The man was allowed to bail himself out for a grand amount as the trial continues. However, this does not erase the fact that a single and civilian individual is able to get access with the system that is supposed to be strictly for the government-authorized persons only.

The news tell that the national security was not being threatened of what had happened but who knows what kind of information this person was able to dig into?

This is the extent of how hacking can cause damage. Computer hacking is indeed a big threat to small groups of people and up to the level of national security. If one person can get accessed with the data and information that is not intended for public viewing or for the authorized people only, chaos, confusion among people and various more other damages will surely happen.

What is computer hacking and how is it being done? Who are the people behind this 'hacking business'? Is hacking illegal? If so, how can it be prevented? These are few of the questions raised concerning hacking. These are the very information that this paper intends to find out.

Computer Hacking Defined

Computer hacking, as defined in many journals and peers review, is an activity that involves some degree of violation on the privacy of others. It may also involve damaging computer-based properties like files, web pages and/or software. Because of this, the impact of hacking also varies. It may be just invasive and annoying at some point, but on some extent, it can also be perceived as illegal (Stone, 1999).

Hacker/s" is the term that used to describe the people behind computer hacking. There is also varying perceptions for the hackers. As for the media and the general public, hackers are the "computer criminals," while on the mind of the computer experts, hackers are just the "clever programmers" who may have neglected the idea of computer security (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_hacking,2006)

Generally, a hacker is the person who finds happiness and satisfaction in exploring the details of programmable systems and knowing how to stretch their very capabilities, in contrast to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. A hacker has the ability to programs computer information, data or software in an enthusiastic or obsessive manner (Stone, 1999).

But however different the definitions or descriptions of the hackers is, there is one common denominator among them, and that is the idea that the hackers certain things to computer programs with or without the permission of the authorized owner.

Hackers live in two basic principles (Stone, 1999):

Hackers believe that sharing of information is good and that it is their ethical duty to share their expertise by writing free software and facilitating access to information and to computer resources whenever possible.

Hackers believe that cracking of the system for fun and exploitation is ethically OK as long as the cracker commits no theft, vandalism or breach of confidentiality.

History of Computer Hacking

Hacking started on the early 1960s. The first few people who started hacking were the computer professionals who adopted the word "hack" as a synonym for computer work executed with a certain level of craftsmanship. Eventually, the noun hacker" was applied to define the skilled computer workers (Hannemyr, 1999). When the 1970s came, various techno-hippies emerged. They were considered as the grassroots activists because they believed that technology was power, and as computers were the supreme manifestation of the power of technology, they believed that they should be put into the hands of the people... " (Hannemyr, 1999)

Back then, these activities did not consider or refer to themselves as 'hackers'. The term was only thrust upon them on the year 1984 when they a publicist, Steven Levy, wrote about them and coined them as the 'Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution' (Levy, 1984). This prompted the first ever Hacker's Conference hosted by the Point Foundation and the editors of the Whole Earth Review. It should be noted that these computer activists or hackers at this time were already desperately wanting for the computers and the computer systems to be designed in a manner that it will be useful and accessible to citizens. In the process these computer activists cum hackers pioneered the public access terminals, computer conferencing, and personal computers (Levy, 1984).

On the later years of the 80s, computer hacking was redefined. This was prompted by the emergence and eventually increasing cases of computer underground activities.

It was during this time when 'hacking' was defined as the means of breaking into or sabotaging a computer system and a "hacker" was the perpetrator of such illegal activities (Levy, 1984).

From its very history, it is clear that computer hacking started from a productive initiative of a certain groups of people. These people, who pride themselves to be called as the computer activists only wanted to fully utilize the power of computers which they believed would benefit the majority. For them, the use of computers must not be limited to just few groups of individual. For them, computers can be used in a variety of ways which would surely enhance the quality of living of the people.

However, this line of thinking gradually changed as the years go by. These so called computer activists started having underground operations. The people, who are now termed as the "computer hackers" manifested some greediness on what they and the computers can do. They started minding others business. Because of their ability to create programs, they have been so obsessed in digging more and more information and sharing these to the public. These computer hackers have started going over the boundaries the divide the public and the government and/or private trust.

Common Methods of Hacking

There are different ways and approaches used in hacking. Some of the most basics are (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(computer_security),2006):

Security exploitation, which is normally done on a series of prepared application. This is a way of taking advantage of the known weaknesses of the targeted computer system of program.

Packet sniffering, which is the application that is used to capture TCP/IP data packets. This can be for positive use, but this can also be done maliciously and intends to capture passwords and other data without proper authorization.

Root kit is a form of toolkit that is used to hiding the fact that a computer's security has been concealed. Root kits is usually use to replace system binaries thereby making it impossible for the legitimate user to detect the presence of the intruder on the systems

Social engineering which is normally done through compelling other people to provide some form of information about a system, often under false pretenses.

Trojan horse is a kind of program that is fully designated to 'act' as if it is a legitimate program or software but actually is or does other things. This can be used in setting up a 'back door' in a computer system that allows the intruder or illegitimate user to return later and gain full access over the program or system.

Computer virus, like the human virus, is self replicating thereby able to spread out in the entire computer system. This then inserts copies of itself into other executable code or documents which normally result for the computer to behave incorrectly.

Worm is usually like a virus that can replicate itself. The only difference between a virus and a worm is the fact that worms are not able to create multiple copies of itself. Instead it propagates through the entire computer networks.

Issues Concerning Hacking

There are a number of issues concerning hacking. These issues are categorized on various points-of-view such as the education, the government and the public sector.

On the Government and Private Sector

Computer hacking is illegal at some point. However, there are some government and private businesses activities which would require them to hack certain information that will benefit themselves. Like for example in the government where in there are specialized agencies which main task is to hack information from the non-allied countries to track their negative activities (Stone, 1999). This may sound illegal and unethical, but the impact of such activity is benefiting to a large number of populace.

Hacking of information is said to be one of the very reasons why terrorism acts, suicide bombing plots and other deadly threats are detected. By getting into the computer system of some people who are suspects for various crimes, their plans of hurting more people are identified. This act of computer hacking, in turn, has saved many lives.

But the issue here is, if the government itself has been doing some computer hacking activities, however nationalistic it may sound, why prevent other people from doing the same thing? How can the government totally imposed illegalizing or banning the computer hacking activities if they, too, are utilizing it?

In terms of private owned businesses, there are a number of reports disclosing that private companies also have computer hacking activities which is aimed at detecting the plans and programs of their competitors (Stone, 1999).

The income of the private business is determined if they will remain at par, if not ahead, over their competition. The companies, therefore, would find any means possible to ensure that the products or services they are providing the people will remain in demand. Management of these companies will also make everything possible just to ensure that they are ahead when it comes to planning and execution as compared to their competitors. But they will not be able to do so if they do not have any idea of the plans and strategies of the competitors. Hence, computer hacking becomes necessary.

So, again, if computer hacking is illegal, or will be illegalized, will these privately owned companies be penalized also? Of course, they will not be admitting that they have computer hacking activities in their businesses, so does that means that only the small grouped individuals will be charged for committing illegal computer hacking activities even if there are bigger companies who tend to do it also?

Minimizing or Preventing Hacking

Here are suggested ways on how to minimize potentials of computer hacking. This includes:

Establishing, particularly in the schools, clear and acceptable policies for and against hacking, and defining appropriate and inappropriate actions to both students and staff who will be detected doing unauthorized hacking activities. These students, and even the public, must also be well-informed about the consequences of various hacking actions and even on the possible penalties of interacting and forming online relationships with anonymous individuals who claim to be proficient in invading others' privacy (Stone, 1999).

Using of filters and other security tools such as (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(computer_security),2006):

Maintaining a firewall in the computers, privately owned or not. A 'firewall' is a piece of hardware and/or software that serves as preventive 'wall' in a networked environment. This limits communications forbidden by the security policy.

Having an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) that helps detect unwanted manipulations to systems.

Maintaining Anti-virus software that may consist of computer programs which will help identify, prevent and eliminate computer viruses and other malicious software

Using computer encryption system that is used to protect various messages from the eyes of other or unintended people. Having an encryption can be done in different ways (such as switching the characters around, replacing characters with others, or removing characters from the message).

Maintaining authorization security in the computer system. Authorization controls access to a computer by the use of specialized or personalized authentication systems. These systems can help protect either the whole computer - "such as through an interactive logon screen - or individual services, such as an FTP server."

Having a vulnerability scanner and port scanner. These tools are used to check computers on a network for known weaknesses and ports available to access a computer over a network in a very speedy manner. This way, the movement to and from the computer can be traced on a regular manner thereby preventing other unauthorized access to the system..