N.J. man gets two years jail for AOL spam scam

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A difficult distinction

Not that I'm always right, but I'm usually more inclined to make such distinctions between "ethical" and "unethical" hackers. I realize that, at one time, "hackers" were just enthusiasts who wanted to expand their horizons and that of their computers; but these days, hacking is generally the term used when discussing anything that deals with a computer's inner workings and network security. Marc Maiffret, Chief Hacking Officer for eEye Digital Security, probably would still have described himself as a "hacker" back when he was a bad guy.

When I think of "cracker," I think of one of two things: 1) Someone who cracks passwords and encryption, either for the purpose of stealing sensitive information or for software/media piracy. 2) A white person who makes racial slurs.

Generally speaking, a majority of cybercriminals are in fact "crackers." But without "unethical hackers," the less savvy crackers wouldn't have MPack, Storm worm, or other such sophisticated, mutated malware. They wouldn't be able to build huge botnets to send out spam, pump and dump stocks, launch Denial of Service attacks, and steal entire databases of personally identifiable and financial information.

Just a couple years ago, all you needed was a basic firewall, antivirus, and antispyware to block unwelcome visitors, disinfect e-mail attachments, and remove adware and tracking cookies. It's because of savvy on the part of the bad guys that we have the problems we have today. And the savvy ones behind all this are hackers, not crackers.

Posted by: santuccie   Posted on: 11/06/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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