Hacking...or Cracking...

[Hishandmaiden]

whatever you call it, is it a sin to acquire some knowledge of hacking skills with no intention to really hack into someone else's computer?

Or is it wrong to desire to know more about hacking, even if you will never never use this knowledge?

 

[seebs]

I can't see how knowledge in itself could be sinful - but I get pretty annoyed at hearing it called hacking. Hacking is innovative problem solving; most of us couldn't break into a computer for love nor money.

 

[lithium.]

No it's not a sin to learn how to hack I know how to hack and I have done it before. It's a crime to hacking to computers but it's not a sin to unless you take information or software from the computer that would be like stealing. But learning to hack isn't a crime or a sin.

 

[Hishandmaiden]

Well... because I am curious to learn more about hacking. But is afraid as I think it might be a sin.

 

[lithium.]

Learning to hack isn't a sin or crime, but hacking is a crime. If you take infor or software from a computer you are hacking into that would be a sin and a Big crime. But it's ok to learn how to. You can setup a computer on a network in your house and learn on that.

 

[seebs]

Breaking other people's toys is mean. Learning how computers work is not mean. If you're good with computers, you may start noticing problems with them.

Most of the stuff out there for breaking into computers requires no knowledge, no understanding... You just point it at a network connection and it runs for a while, and then you've busted someone's network and wrecked their day, as they'll now have to go to backups, reinstall systems, and generally shut everything down for a day or more.

Not much learning involved.

 

[lithium.]

Btw there is a difference between hacking and cracking. And a hacker and a cracker. A cracker uses tools that other people have made to do bad things. A hacker will make his own stuff and will not use it to mess up anything. hacker=whitehat, cracker=blackhat. A whitehat is someone who tries to find stuff wrong with computers and tells people to fix them. A blackhat is someone who does things like hacking websites and messing up other peoples computers, and also doing DoS.

 

[Hishandmaiden]

I heard of the differences before, in some computer websites.

 

[l33tace]

It’s all in the intent with what you want to do with the knowledge of it. System administrators and programmers use the knowledge of it to protect systems from being compromised. Government and military agencies us it for various reasons as well. It’s kind of like being a locksmith knowing how to use the knowledge of it for good or ill.

There are a lot of systems called “honey pots” on the net now that are set up to catch hackers so if you are learning it for an honorable reason than learn it in an honorable way. Computer science courses are the best way to start. I recall seeing an add from a government agencie claiming to be giving out college grants for recruitment hackers/counter-hacking reasons.

As for cracking, in most cases it seems rather black hat except for software/hardware companies that attempt counter-cracking. Techniques don’t constantly change in this and the intent is mainly for the redistribution of pirated software. Counter-cracking skills can be acquired by computer science and or electronic engineering. I think the going punishment for getting caught cracking/distributing is 5 years in prison and $100.000.00 dollar fine.

Peace

 

[Hishandmaiden]

Thank you for the information.

 

[l33tace]

Hacking and cracking is not the same. The only similarity is that you can do it with a computer.
White hat hacking is referred to those that deal in counter-hacking and black hat refers to those that use the skill for illegal theft and or illegal service denials or what ever the case.

Script kitties are those that have no/little scripting/programming skill and only run distributed hacking programs to compromise systems. That pretty much defines most of the hackers out there.

Cracking is more of a software black market practice. They fix errors or read write blocks intentionally put there by the programmer to cause a copy to be corrupted/uncorrupted.

As for Rpggal, make sure you know your local laws before you venture into any of this.

Peace

 

[lithium.]

Originally posted by l33tace
Hacking and cracking is not the same. The only similarity is that you can do it with a computer.
White hat hacking is referred to those that deal in counter-hacking and black hat refers to those that use the skill for illegal theft and or illegal service denials or what ever the case.

Script kitties are those that have no/little scripting/programming skill and only run distributed hacking programs to compromise systems. That pretty much defines most of the hackers out there.

Cracking is more of a software black market practice. They fix errors or read write blocks intentionally put there by the programmer to cause a copy to be corrupted/uncorrupted.

As for Rpggal, make sure you know your local laws before you venture into any of this.

Peace

Heh I already said this, but it sometimes helps to repeat or to say it better.

When I used to hack I used to hacking into Unix servers I guess for a while I was a black hat but now I'm a white hat.

 

[datan]

Learning hacking/cracking isn't a sin. Why? To be a good hacker/cracker, you need to really understand how computers work in general really well ie. you need some knowledge of networks, computer architecture in general, some programming knowledge, unix stuff, common security flaws, etc. And when you finally learn all this, you realise that it is how to apply your knowledge ie. you have learnt so much that to hack/crack is really just an application of your knowledge (ie. a subset of the stuff you could do with your knowledge). And yes--I do believe that actually hacking or cracking is wrong and is therefore a sin.

 

[l33tace]

Hmmm… well be careful, Seesaw. They are attempting to associate all hacking as an act of terrorism with all the penalties attached to it. I’m not sure they may be able to possibly distinguish the differences in some cases especially if a white hat hacker is some place where he/she has no permission to be, you see. Keep an eye on this subject; it may get interesting soon enough.

Peace

 

[lithium.]

Originally posted by l33tace
Hmmm… well be careful, Seesaw. They are attempting to associate all hacking as an act of terrorism with all the penalties attached to it. I’m not sure they may be able to possibly distinguish the differences in some cases especially if a white hat hacker is some place where he/she has no permission to be, you see. Keep an eye on this subject; it may get interesting soon enough.

Peace

Yeah I know I only hack when I am trying to find vulnerabilities in software then I call the software owner.

 

[MSBS]

"White Hat" hacking can still cause damage in their attempts to bring to light system vulnerabilities-- for this reason unauthorized system access is still unlawful. Besides that, how are any law enforcement people to know the intentions of the person? Just take their word for it? (really officer, I was just trying to help these people by showing them how easy it is to unlock their car and drive off.......)

That being said, I think there are a few systems online whose sole purpose is to be hacked. Companies will try out new security measures and offer a reward if anyone can hack the system (DoS doesn't count). This way, the company gets to A. show off how effective their security is, B. gets free rigorous testing of their system by some of the best hackers around (trying to get that money), and C. gets the names of talented young computer people so that their HR people can check them out for possible hire. All in all, teaching yourself about computer system security (in addition to some formal education in Comp Sci and Networking) will set you up for a well payed career in network security-- everybody is on the web now, and security is THE big issue.

 

[smurfy2day]

From someone who has been hacked into maliciously, DON'T DO IT.


Most of the people who do it are nothing but troublemakers, so please don't associate yourself with that bunch of goons!

 

[Hishandmaiden]

Even learning?

 

[lithium.]

Originally posted by smurfy2day
From someone who has been hacked into maliciously, DON'T DO IT.


Most of the people who do it are nothing but troublemakers, so please don't associate yourself with that bunch of goons!

That is wrong well for the most part I was no "trouble maker". I just wanted to learn. And it has helped my understand more about computers.

 

[Hishandmaiden]

How had it helped?