Malicious and bluff-style hacking is challenging trust in online communication, identity privacy, and e-commerce. Governments, corporations, the military, HGOs, and citizens alike are concerned, as they should be. Sometimes it seems like there is no secure computing system anywhere in the world, even as the world moves to more secure cloud data centers. As the authorities go after hackers and catch some, it seems there are many more to take their place and many ISPs to hide or use in their tricks.
So far, looking at the scoreboard, it appears that hackers, cyber terrorists, and rogue nations’ cyber commandos are winning, while users, IT departments, corporations, and governments are losing. Yes, hackers have laid eggs in the faces of some of the major IT security companies and made them look dumb, incompetent, and unable to protect their systems. There was an interesting article in the mainstream media and on MSNBC about how the Lulz Sec hacker group quit and disbanded.
The article on the MSNBC website titled; “Hacker Group LulzSec Says It’s Done: 50 Days of Cyber Shenanigans Including Breaches by PBS, Arizona, Sony, FBI Partners” was quite illuminating and discusses this major turn of events by stating;
“The group has stolen mountains of personal data in a dozen attacks, embarrassing law enforcement around the world while bragging about stunts online. The group’s disbandment comes unexpectedly and is a sign that police investigations are closing in. Rival hackers have joined the hunt, releasing information that could point to the six-member group. One of the six members of the group was interviewed by The AP on Friday and gave no indication that his work was ending.”
Can the hacking groups just give up like that, and the problem is over, yes, maybe, and why not, they’ve won and it’s obvious they have bragging rights. But can a hacker who does it for the sport, loves it and enjoys the adrenaline rush actually quit and never hack again? That, I wonder, would say probably not. But, they could go into computer security and teach authorities a thing or two. It would be nice if they joined the other side, instead of disrupting trust in the Internet.
Of course someone else would come along and replace them if they weren’t hacking. Okay, I think we need a more secure and reliable Internet, and until we get that, we’re not going to have the level or confidence in the system that we need to keep information flowing and e-commerce going. Please consider all this and think about it.
