Hackers are the true defenders of cyberspace Essay

Hackers be the true defenders of cyberspace - Essay Example there is a great divergence in the understanding of the role of cyberpunks in modern cyberspace. While they are often considered to be criminals, breaking into calculator systems to cause damage and engage in personal set ahead most hackers are out there for the exact opposite reasons, to help the cyber-environment, and to do something they love. According to Wikipedia, hacker is extended to mean a person who makes things give way beyond perceived limits through their own technological skill. Hackers, then, strive to im uprise the internet for all users, and not damage or deface what currently exists. Hackers, not crackers (people whose primary goal is financial gain), are the true defenders of cyberspace, in that they work to uncover aegis flaws, attempt to regulate dangerous or immoral content, promote new technology and ideas, and strive to inhabit crackers from damaging critical cyber technology. By describing and proving each of the above concepts related to hackers and the defense of cyberspace, this essay seeks to prove that crackers, not hackers, are the primary threat to cyberspace and that hackers, through their actions and love of technology, strive to and are productive at being the true defenders of cyberspace.All over the world, groups of hackers are gainfully employed as cyber cops, internet security, and computer virus stoppers. Everyday they find cures to hundreds of bugs, Trojan horses, and viruses that crackers and hackers have loosed on the cyber world. At the anti-virus firm Kaspersky, in Moscow, woodpeckers (young hackers) work in twelve hour shifts to protect the internet. In the media, they are called computer programmers. However, their job is to correct code, and to journey into crackers computers to hunt out the source of these security breaches (Johnson 2006). Internet security requires hackers to learn not only how to groom the problems crackers cause, but bes ides how to think like them, to understand not only the how but to a fault the why of what the crackers do. The line between hacker (with a positive connotation) and hacker (with a ostracise connotation) is actually finite. They break into other peoples computers, investigate personal files, and change the internet in thousands of ways. However, hackers only do it out of love for cyberspace, and a need to protect others, and strengthen the security of other peoples systems. Crackers, (the group commonly called hackers in mainstream media) do the same only they do it not just out of love, but also out of a desire for personal gain. For hackers, the need to learn to think like crackers is paramount. They are taught in classrooms how to think and behave like crackers, using the same tools to find a systems weakest points (School 2005). Yet few people would argue that these people are doing damage instead, they are demonstrateing to strengthen security, and are called computer progra mmers by mainstream media. They use the same tools, and do the same actions. The only difference is the eventual goal for hackers, to alter the internet, for crackers, to improve their wallet.Crackers not only go after financial gain for themselves, they also try to hurt others, a new wave called cyber terrorism. Cyber terrorism is defined as cyber terrorism is the premeditated, politically cause attack against information, computer systems, computer programs, and data which result in violence against noncombatant targets by molar national groups or clandestine agents (Federal Bureau of Investigations 2006). Crackers gain entrance into military and government sites, cause damage and defacing the sites. Cyber terrorism is considered one of the greatest new threats, and laws are popping up everywhere requiring imprison time for these offenders. Yet their greatest skill is that of not being findable, at least not by laypersons. Instead, computer programmers are becoming cyber cops , searching out these criminals, and stopping dangerous attacks on data. These cracks into government security can only be