Group 4 Task 2: Hacking

Group 4:
Naif Albwali
Amina Abdul-Hamid
Ghadah Khojah (GL)
Muhammad Aldossary

A hacker is a person who accesses computers (hardware or software) and network systems without permission often with the aim of exploiting existing codes and resources for personal or even commercial use and more. While there are hackers who help organisations secure their systems against future attacks and finding other security holes to patch, there are others who do it for fun and some for exploiting the hacked system to steal money or information. An example of a hacker is Jonathan James (also known as c0mrade) who downloaded $1.7 million dollars worth of software which controlled the International Space Station's life sustaining elements, and intercepted thousands of electronic messages relating to U.S. nuclear activities from the Department of Defense. He said in an interview that he was just playing around and having fun (Rawhack, 2009).

Some of these hackers may be honest people on their daily life but when they are behind their computer they become the opposite. Although confronting their victims might not be an issue, the way of committing a crime does not make it acceptable by any means. There isn’t much difference between a hacker stealing credit card information over the internet and a bank robber who goes to the bank physically and should both pay for their crime even though the former do not pose much of a physical threat. This brings up a very important point; hackers might not steal hard cash and this might reduce their feeling of guilt as was seen during the videos in class where the hacker did not show any remorse.

In conclusion, different people and different cultures have different perspectives on what constitutes a computer crime which is why the government in all countries should have strict laws that clearly define them and punish offenders accordingly so thatr they do not feel the crime they are committing is worth serving the sentence they are given .