Monday, October 31, 2011

Hacking

The real meaning that most do not associate the word hacking with is ‘the ability and desire to understand the inner mechanisms through which different components of computer programs work.’ Not necessarily referring to hackers whose intentions are to gain access to personal information for their own malicious reasons, hacking into a computer system can be necessary for security. One may hack a computer system in order to set up protection against viruses or potential malicious acts of hacking. In fact, there are different names associated with certain hackers which are used to identify what type of hacker they are. Black hat hackers (also referred to as crackers) are those who hack a computer system for their own enjoyment or to prove their own computer skills. Blue hat hackers are those outside computer security consulting firms that are used to bug test a system prior to its launch, looking for exploits to be closed. Gray hat hackers are those who are borderline legality. White hat hackers are most commonly referred to those who break security, possibly working with manufacturers or owners, to improve weaknesses in a security system.  Script kiddies refer to hackers who have little to no computer skills, only following other hackers’ approaches without fully understanding the steps they take to move throughout a system. Hacktivists are the rarest type of hacker and refer to those who utilize technology to announce a political message.
            There are multiple steps to take in order to prevent those hackers who have bad intentions from accessing your information such as implementing a firewall which is a barrier that keeps hackers and viruses out of the computers networks by only allowing certain data authorized by the system to pass through. Developing a corporate security policy will help to keep information secured and will require a password consisting of both letters and numbers to make it less obvious, to open any saved information. Passwords should be changed frequently in attempts to limit the hacker’s ability to gain possession of that functioning password. You can also install anti-virus software to protect your network from any viruses that can potentially leak private information. Ideally, servers should be configured to push virus updates out to clients periodically and all employees should have knowledge of viruses and avoid opening any incoming mail from unknown senders. It is also important to know that keeping your system up to date can be essential to keeping your operating system from being hacked. Through doing this, you will already have knowledge of updated versions of any anti-virus or any other type of protection from harmful software to enter your system. Free versions of these kinds of software can usually be found online and installed to your computer for free. Another thing to keep in mind is when installing any type of software is to enable only essential features. Any features enable that may not be used frequently on this software could be a potential threat. When a feature is less likely to be updated regularly, it can present a larger security threat that could potentially leak information or allow others access. Testing your systems ability to prevent hacking is a good way to notify yourself of how updated your system is with protected modes. Conducting a vulnerability test will do just this. It is a cost-effective way to evaluate your current security system. This test will highlight flaws and limitations in the program and also can offer expert advice.