Hackers and Crackers, Study notes of Information Technology

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HACKERS

And

CRACKERS

INTRODUCTION

To put it in simple terms one may define a HACKER as someone

who identifies the flaws in the security systems and work to improve

them. While a CRACKER maybe someone who unethically exploits

the highly sensitive information and uses the flaws in the security

systems to his advantage.

The crackers usually breach the internet security and without

paying royalties gain the access to various software. The hackers

on the other hand are the internet security experts who may even

be hired for locating and identifying the loopholes in the internet

security systems and fix these loopholes and flaws.

The hackers use their knowledge to help security systems and the

crackers use their knowledge to break the laws and disrupt security.

DIFFERENCE

HACKERS CRACKERS ·0 A hacker is a person intensely interested in the arcane and recondite workings of any computer operating system. Hackers are most often programmers. As such, hackers obtain advanced knowledge of operating systems and programming languages. They might discover holes within systems and the reasons for such holes. Hackers constantly seek further ·1 A cracker is one who breaks into or otherwise violates the system integrity of remote machines with malicious intent. Having gained unauthorized access, crackers destroy vital data, deny legitimate users service, or cause problems for their targets. Crackers can easily be identified because their actions are malicious.

CRACKERS-

1. Script Kiddie Script Kiddies don’t really care about hacking into systems and stealing things. They simply copy code and use it for a virus, SQLi or something else. Script Kiddies will never hack for themselves, they will just download some overused software (such as LOIC or Metasploit) and watch a YouTube video on how to use it. A very common Script Kiddie attack would be a DOS (Denial of Service) or DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service), where they flood an IP with so much useless information that it collapses, preventing other people from using it. 2. Packet Monkey On the Internet, a packet monkey is someone who intentionally inundates a web site or network with data packets, resulting in a denial-of-service situation for users of the attacked site or network. Packet monkeys typically use tools created and made available on the Internet by hackers

3. Waret doodz

Warez d00dz get illegal copies of copyrighted software. If it has

copy protection on it, they break the protection so the software

can be copied. Then they distribute it around the world via

several gateways. Warez d00dz form bad group names like

RAZOR and the like. They put up boards that distribute the

latest ware, or pirate program. The whole point of the Warez

sub-culture is to get the pirate program released and

distributed before any other group.

HACKERS vs CRACKERS

There is a common view that the hackers build things and the

crackers break the things. These are basically two entirely different

terms. They may seem similar but there are differences between

how the two actually work. While hackers have an advanced

knowledge of the computer related security crackers usually are not

as skill full as hackers. Very few of them are skilled enough to

create their new software and tools. So they generally rely on

certain not so reputed, in fact the disrepute websites to download

several automated programs to execute their deed. Hackers try to

counter the potential threats that the crackers pose to the computer

and internet security across varied networks. Crackers always know

that their activities are illegal and they are breaking the law so they

tend to cover up their tracks.

However the professional hackers being competent enough and

quite skill full with their work, potentially restore the security set ups

across the corrupted networks and they help in catching the

specific crackers. Although most of the crackers are less skilled yet

which he isn’t. He is the creator of the actual system that we all use to navigate the Internet in order to access particular files, folders, and websites. He got his start with electronics at a relatively young age. When he was a student at Oxford University, Berners-Lee managed to build a computer from scratch using a soldering iron, TTL gates, an M processor, and parts from an old television. Later, he worked with CERN and developed an in house system that allowed researchers to share and update information quickly. This would be the seedling idea that eventually grew into the hypertext protocol for the World Wide Web. Black Hat Hackers-

1. Kevin Mitnick The U.S. Department of Justice called him the “most wanted computer criminal in U.S. history” — that’s how notorious he was. Kevin Mitnick’s story is so wild that it was even the basis for a featured film: Track Down. What did he do? After serving a year in prison for hacking into the Digital Equipment Corporation’s network, he was let out for three years of supervised release. But near the end of that period, he fled and went on a 2.5-year hacking spree that involved breaching the national defence warning system and stealing corporate secrets. Where is he now? Mitnick was eventually caught and convicted with a five-year prison sentence. After fully serving those years, he became a consultant and public speaker for computer security. He now runs Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC. 2. Julian Assange Julian Assange began hacking at the age of 16 under the name “Mendax.” Over four years, he hacked into various government, corporate, and educational networks — including the Pentagon, NASA, Lockheed Martin, Citibank, and Stanford University.

What did he do? Assange went on to create WikiLeaks in 2006 as a platform for publishing news leaks and classified documents from anonymous sources. The United States launched an investigation against Assange in 2010 to charge him under the Espionage Act of 1917. Where is he now? Assange is currently holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, fearing extradition to the United States

3. Anonymous Anonymous may be the most well-known “hacker” of all time, yet also the most nebulous. Anonymous is not a single person but rather a decentralized group of hackers with no true membership or hierarchy. Anybody can act in the name of Anonymous. What did they do? Since its debut in 2003, Anonymous has been credited for attacking several notable targets, including Amazon, PayPal, Sony, the Westboro Baptist Church, the Church of Scientology, parts of the dark web , and the governments of Australia, India, Syria, the United States, among dozens of others. Where are they now? Anonymous continues its hacktivism to this day. Since 2011, two related hacking groups have spawned from Anonymous: LulzSec and AntiSec Conclusion

We can thus conclude to say that the Hackers break into the

security systems for the sole purpose of checking the holes in the

system and works on rectifying these while as the Cracker breaks

into the security system for criminal and illegal reasons or for

personal gains. The white hats perform the security tests according

to a legal contract. The black hats do not follow any such

agreement. They do so to violate the security of the systems. While

a cracker keeps the knowledge of any vulnerability n a security

system to himself and uses it to his own advantage, the hacker

does so in order to aware the concerned company or an individual

about the possible breaking that could lead them to considerable

losses at the hands of the Crackers. So basically we can go on to

References- https://www.educba.com/hackers-vs-crackers/ https://www.educba.com/hackers-vs-crackers/ http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p= https://eduladder.com/viewquestions/2471/What-are-the-3-types-of-hacking https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/packet-monkey http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/W/warez-d00dz.html https://www.bridewellconsulting.com/the-bridewell-of-knowledge/7-types-hackers- know/