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Anti hackers?

ronki23

Well-Known Member
If you get anti hackers or people working in IT support / security then why did they choose to do the right thing instead of taking the easy way out and being hackers themselves?
 

dybmh

דניאל יוסף בן מאיר הירש
It's against my morals. I wouldn't break into your house; I wouldn't hack your accounts.
 

Kooky

Freedom from Sanity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_hat_(computer_security)

A white hat (or a white hat hacker) is an ethical computer hacker, or a computer security expert, who specializes in penetration testing and other testing methodologies that ensure the security of an organization's information systems.[1] Ethical hacking is a term meant to imply a broader category than just penetration testing.[2][3] Contrasted with the black hat, a malicious hacker, the name comes from Western films, where heroic and antagonistic cowboys might traditionally wear a white and a black hat, respectively.[4] There is a third kind hacker known as a grey hat who hacks with good intentions but at times without permission
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
I was one of those "white hat hacker" types for a few years. There's nothing easy about choosing the dark side. I got to do the same things and got paid well for doing it and there was no risk of going to jail over what I was doing. That's easy to me.

One of my biggest thrills was being given a "PBX" (private branch exchange - business phone system) that was supposed to be secure. A number of hours later, I let out an almighty war whoop when I broke into the computer and got root (administrator) privileges. I also got thanked for my efforts.

Another fun time was teaching a number of system administrators how to respond to an intrusion (UNIX in those days). I spent hours developing tricky ways to maintain access after detection which I won't describe here. But one thing I did was to hide messages inside programs as a challenge to the students. The best student was a clerk who wanted to be a sysadmin and the class a couple of us taught was very helpful to him.

I also got to work with corporate security chasing an intruder who had access to sensitive information. It was real life cops and robbers.
 

ronki23

Well-Known Member
I was one of those "white hat hacker" types for a few years. There's nothing easy about choosing the dark side. I got to do the same things and got paid well for doing it and there was no risk of going to jail over what I was doing. That's easy to me.

One of my biggest thrills was being given a "PBX" (private branch exchange - business phone system) that was supposed to be secure. A number of hours later, I let out an almighty war whoop when I broke into the computer and got root (administrator) privileges. I also got thanked for my efforts.

Another fun time was teaching a number of system administrators how to respond to an intrusion (UNIX in those days). I spent hours developing tricky ways to maintain access after detection which I won't describe here. But one thing I did was to hide messages inside programs as a challenge to the students. The best student was a clerk who wanted to be a sysadmin and the class a couple of us taught was very helpful to him.

I also got to work with corporate security chasing an intruder who had access to sensitive information. It was real life cops and robbers.


Hypothetically why would they bother if they could just hack for money ? Obviously it's very wrong so what drives the anti hackers to play by the rules and fight them ?

Policemen are attracted by the pay
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
If you get anti hackers or people working in IT support / security then why did they choose to do the right thing instead of taking the easy way out and being hackers themselves?
If I had the money, I would gladly pay one to delete my Facebook account entirely.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Hypothetically why would they bother if they could just hack for money ? Obviously it's very wrong so what drives the anti hackers to play by the rules and fight them ?

Policemen are attracted by the pay
Some care about the law. Some don't want the risk. It's the same as "why doesn't everyone just rob others"?
 

Heyo

Veteran Member
Hypothetically why would they bother if they could just hack for money ? Obviously it's very wrong so what drives the anti hackers to play by the rules and fight them ?

Policemen are attracted by the pay
Penetration testers are well paid. It may be less than using ones skills for extortion but there is also much less risk.
And then there are those (white hat) hackers who risk prosecution and don't extort money but just expose the security hole. What do they get?
 
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