Why people decide to become hackers and some of the famous hackers that have gotten into trouble with the government

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie
Published on: 10/10/2016
 
 Introduction

Basically, hacking is all about gaining electronic access to an unauthorized system, either to effect malicious or good conducts (Alex, 2013). Malicious conducts do cause damages to the user affected, while good goods are normally effected to repair the damages. Thus, hacking can be both good and bad depending on the underlying purpose for such activity.

Why do people decide to be hackers?

Naturally, there are numerous reasons why people decide to become hacker, but these reasons can be grouped into three as discussed below.

1.      Hacking for fun – some of the hackers attempt to penetrate services, computers or network systems basically for personal satisfaction gained from such. At some point, people might conceive the idea that they need to prove something to friend or peer groups, and only effect hacking decision just for such purpose (Bric, n.d.).

2.      Hacking to steal – another reason why people become hackers is to steal money and information from their intended victims. The larger share of hacking efforts does fall within this group. This makes banks and big companies basic targets for such malicious activities, although smaller corporation or even certain individuals are also considered targets at some point (Bric, n.d.).

3.      Hacking to disrupt – another reason why people become hackers is to disrupt the services offered by a company, creating chaos and being a nuisance to the company. These groups are normally trying to make a statement with their hacking skills, showing the company their level of security inadequacies, or to show overall disapproval for the company or its business (Bric, n.d.). Some good example of hacking groups that make headlines are anonymous and Lulzsec.

Pros of being a hacker

Just like the reasons, there are also numerous benefits for becoming a hacker, and some of these benefits are discussed below.

1.      Job and employment – considering the threats of malicious activities, numerous corporations across the world are also seeking the services of hackers (for counter measures and cyber espionage) (Computer Hope, n.d.). Thus, becoming a hacker does provide some level of job security, especially as hackers represent important aspect of the company’s security (meaning that they are less likely to be sacked by the company.

2.      Personal protection - besides the need to get employed, people can also become hackers just to protect themselves from such threats and this is one of the reason. As a hacker, the person is in better position to detect malicious activities and apply counter measures to ensure that they are not victimized (Computer Hope, n.d.).

3.      Fame – majority of the successful hackers are very famous and this is also one of the benefits of being a hacker. The person can be able to develop new programming codes that will be continually used (even after the person is gone), helping cement the hacker’s name and legacy (Computer Hope, n.d.).

Cons of being a hacker

To be a hacker is not easy and it actually comes with numerous challenges which include:

1.      Potential exposure to threat – most at time, hackers are victims of both physical and electronic threat. The physical threats ca include government regulations that determine how they undertake their jobs and subsequent consequences that can occur in the case that they fail to undertake the job as designated (Regis Univrsity, n.d.). The electronic threats come from their fellow hackers, who try to revenge on them or at least prove to them that they are minor to their capabilities.

2.      Requires huge investment – being a hackers does demand that the person continuously learn new codes in order to be fit for new challenges that the person might face. As such, huge financial and human resource investments are required and this is not something everybody can afford (Regis Univrsity, n.d.). At some point, hackers might need to work 24 hours straight, or spend weekend outsides of their homes in order to protect the system under their care.

Famous hackers that have gotten into trouble with the government

Considering that majority of the hacking related activities are geared towards inflicting some level of damages, it is not surprising to note that many of them have gotten into problem with the law. Some of these hackers and what happened to them are as highlighted below. 

Jonathan James is one of the famous hackers in the world and he was known as comrade in the internet. He received prison sentence for different hacking activities in the United States – an act he conducted while he was just a teenager (Lee, 2012). At just the age of fifteen, he successfully hacked into different networks that include that of Bell South, Miami-Dade, NASA and the US department of defense. In his hack in the NASA network, he downloaded source codes to understand how the international space station worked (Lee, 2012). The total value of this download was equated to $1.7 million. After his hack, NASA actually had to shut down its network for three weeks in order to investigate the extent of such breach, costing them a total of $41,000. In any case, the story of James had a sad ending as a number of high profile companies fell victim to massive malicious attack networks in 2007 and while James did deny being involved, he was still considered a suspect and investigated. Due to this, he committed suicide in 2008 on the ground that he believed he would be convicted of crimes that he never committed (Lee, 2012). 

Kevin Mitnick is another hacker that have had a compelling and interesting hacking fame, and the US Department of Justice actually refereed to him as ‘the most wanted computer criminal in the history of the United States.’ His case was so wide that it served as the foundation for two major films (Lee, 2012).

Following the completion of a full year sentence in the prison for hacking into the networks of Digital Equipment Corporations, Kevin was released on supervision for three years. However, as the period of his supervised release was nearing end, he disappeared and conducted numerous hacking attacks for 2 ½ years that involved breach of the warning system of the national defense and hijacking corporate secretes (Lee, 2012). He was eventually caught and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. Once he had completed the service, he started a consulting film and became a public speaker on computer security. Presently, he is the owner of Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC (Lee, 2012).

Albert Gonalez is another hacker that did pave his way to internet fame, and this started when he collected more than 170 million ATM card numbers and credit cards in the course of 2 years. That is a figure that is more than half of the USA population, a significant threat to entirely all Americans and the world at large.

Gonzalez began his attack as the leaders of a hacking grown that is known as ShadowCrew. This group actually went ahead to steal more than 1.5 million credit card numbers, selling these card numbers online for the purpose of making profits. In records, ShadowCrew were known to have forged passports for fraudulent purposes, as well as cards for health insurance, and birth certificates that they used to effect identity thefts, resulting to more than $4.3 million in damages to the victims of their attacks.

However, the big money didn’t come until Gonzalez had to hack into TJX Corporation’s database as well as the database of Heartland Payment systems where these corporations stored the credit cards of their consumers. However, his days were up in 2010, when he was finally caught and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. 

Kevin Poulsen is another hacker that have gained fame and he is also known as “Dark Dante,” and his gained 15 minutes of fame by making use of is detailed knowledge about the telephone system. At a point, he was known to have hacked into the phone lines of radio station and fixed himself as the wining caller, which earned him a brand new Porsche. In accordance with the media, he was referred to as the “Hannibal Lecter of computer crime.”

As his days marched on, he was successful to earn his way into the most wanted list of FBI following his attack on federal systems and decision to steal wiretap information. As the case might be, he was later captured in a supermarket and sentence to 51 months in prison with a fine of $56,000. Following his release, he changed his ways and started working as a journalist and is presently a senior editor for Wired News. At a point, he offered helping hand for the law enforcement agents towards identifying 744 sex offenders on MySpace. 

References

Alex, A. (2013, 5 10). Why do people become malicious hackers? Retrieved from Space Works: https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/334941-why-do-people-become-malicious-hackers

Bric, C. (n.d.). 6 Reasons Why Hackers Want to Hack Your Website. Retrieved from Cloud Bric: https://www.cloudbric.com/blog/2015/10/6-reasons-why-hackers-want-to-hack-your-website/

Computer Hope. (n.d.). http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001530.htm. Retrieved from Computer Hope: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001530.htm

Lee, J. (2012, 6 1). 5 Of The World’s Most Famous Hackers & What Happened To Them. Retrieved from Make Use Of: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-of-the-worlds-most-famous-hackers-what-happened-to-them/

Regis Univrsity. (n.d.). Why Do People Hack? Retrieved from Regis Univrsity: http://informationassurance.regis.edu/ia-programs/resources/ia-update/why-do-people-hack