Defining hacker
When first
starting out to discover the beginning of hackers and perhaps ancient forms of
what we now call “hacking,”
I shouldn’t have been surprised to find that the word hacker was first
considered a positive term. Like so many other words in the English language,
the word hacker has transformed from its first meaning of “chopping with heavy
irregular blows” to a positive meaning of a “computer genius” and then a
negative application we here almost daily in the news. As a matter of fact, the
word hacker holds multiple meanings. Today, the negative definition from dictionary.com is the
most common application meaning “a computer user who attempts to gain
unauthorized access to proprietary computer systems.” So whether you use hack,
hack, or hack, be sure your context makes the meaning clear.
Element of surprise
Now for a
little hacker
history . . .
Throughout
history, using the element of surprise through deception or during times of
peace is nothing new. Many times, the element of surprise is used in the dark
hacker’s works of data exploitation.
One of the
most famous elements of surprise is the story of the Trojan Horse. While many
believe the war is based on an actual war, the giving of the ginormous horse
has been greatly exaggerated over the years. Yet, the story intrigues us and is
not much unlike today’s dark hacker that gets beyond the defenses to pillage
and plunder, making off with valuables and leaving things in ruins.
In Rome A.D.
410, a group of rebellious slaves along with with Alaric I and Visigoths kept
Rome under a three day siege. The group of intruders made their entrance by
coming right through the main gate, completely unexpected and bold, much like
the Chinese hackers. Rome was taken by surprise from this bold, front door
attack and bruised significantly.
Not so long
ago, one of our founding fathers made that famous trip across the Delaware on
Christmas night. You guessed it, General George Washington conducted a surprise
attack on the British sponsored, German Hessian army troops. Victory was
clinched and the element of surprised successful.
The historical
events containing elements of surprise could go on and on, from Pearl Harbor to
9/11 the list is endless. I am not here to prove that these elements of
surprise used were either ingenious or heinous but rather to show that the
element of surprise has been used since the beginning, and dark hackers of
today are no different.
Modern day hackers
The first
recorded dark hacking takes place in the 1870s where a group of teenagers were
banded from the brand new technology, the phone system. It continues throughout
history from John Draper placing a long distance phone call for free by
mimicking the tone that tells the phone to open the line to Kevin Mitnick
listening in on emails between MCI and Digital Equipment security officials.
The list is ever growing and includes countries all over the world. The dark
hacker is here to stay in this digital age, and there are many that have used
this cyber genius to create defenses to protect the knowledge and personal
information from the dark hackers.
Let’s hear from you
What are some
other events in history, whether ingenious or heinous, that contain the element
of surprise.
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