As if this were not enough, the US software giant Oracle has accused its German rival SAP AG of intruding into its computer system to heist confidential product information, a gruelling lawsuit that is bound to change the entire business scenario. The lawsuit, a major of its kind in todays cut-throat business world, surely calls for a review of our existing security systems.
Hacking Get your Definition Right
Decades back, if a thief wanted to steal your companys records, he would primarily plan to break into your company premises and do away with whatever he wanted unnoticed. However, today, with information technology at its rising peak, all information is now available in electronic format. Stealing this information requires a totally different approach that requires the outsider to bypass the electronic security system to access these records. This approach has been coined as hacking.
At this point, if you had concluded that hacking is an evil that is primarily associated with the large corporate, you are in for a shock. If you had ever been in a situation where your credit card statement showed purchases that you are in no way associated with, the possibilities are that you have become yet another victim of identity theft. Identify theft is a situation where an anonymous person uses your information to buy products or services and makes you liable to pay for it.
And one major cause for identity thefts is unsecured transactions that you conduct on the Internet using your credit card. For all that you know, it is quite possible that you might have a person who is eavesdropping on your computer when you are making these transactions.
As if to add humour, there is yet another category of consumers who always dwell around a thought that they are never going to be attacked. And these consumers constitute the large community of small and medium businesses. These businesses thrive on the idea that they are too small that someone would ever want to heist information from them. But the worst is yet to arrive.
The term hacking primarily refers to the intrusion or an attempt by a third-party or an outsider to the organisation to circumvent the security of a computer network to access information from within. Hackers can bring down your entire network just for the very fun, leave alone stealing your valuable information.
Hackers Who are they
Hackers are a group of capable and highly talented computer programmers. They are perceived to be a set of unethical persons who cause extensive damage to electronic systems and information. Conceived to be sadists by a majority of people around the world, hackers have been responsible indirectly in a negative way for the strengthening of computer security systems in the last few decades.
The Hacker Psychology
This brings out a question for which there is never a single answer. Why will hackers ever want to destroy a computer network A number of reasons have been cited:
- Want of Authority: A young hacker was once caught intruding the sophisticated computer network at NASA. When questioned, the young hacker promptly retorted stating that he wanted authority and hacking gave him a huge sense of pride.
- Stiff Business Competition: At a time when Windows 95 was introduced, Microsoft took the world of computing by storm. At this time, a cult of hackers, introduced the Black Orifice software program that was capable of breaking into any Windows 95 machine anywhere in the world. And all this was done to demonstrate the loopholes in this new product and its vulnerability to attacks.
- Deriving Fun from Destruction: Curador was a young hacker from the rural Wales who made a mockery of the show by stealing and displaying an estimated 26000 credit card numbers on his website. And just for fun.
The Internet Safety First
Whether you like it or not, you need to accept the fact that you are susceptible to attacks any time. For the same reason, it is of prime importance that you secure yourself. It is always a better idea to prevent it than enduring the consequences.
