Canty 1

Jeremiah Canty
Ms. Caruso
UWRT 1103
9/27/15
Hackers in todays society
Hackers in society; Beneficial? Or Detrimental? The role of hackers in society and why
they do what they do is a much skewed subject. Some are seen as helpers and heroes, while
others are seen as terrorist and rebels, but it all depends on which side of the glass youre on. On
one side of a double sided mirror you and the people around you see you as a hero of sorts or an
activist fighting off oppression. On the other hand people or companies on the other side see you
for what they think you are; people just trying to make a quick buck or just to be remembered by
others. Theyre other reasons why they hack, for instance the people that participate in bug
bounties usually do it for the quick buck, but sometimes they could be doing it for good moral
reasons and trying to help others, but you could never tell by their actions alone. Whos to say
really if theyre good or just fighting for notoriety, because in the end isnt that what we all want
to be, remembered?
In a particular case, the Washington Post, USA Today, and other top news reporters,
covered a story around Christmas time 2014. An attack on gaming systems, Xbox Live and PSN,
was made by a hacking group called Lizard Squad. Soon after the attack one of the three alleged
hackers that took part in this was caught and revealed. Julius Kivimaki, a seventeen year old
hacker along with another member and a thirteen year old hacked the systems, in order, reveal
how reliable the security account networks really were. In a post interview with Sky News Julius

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stated that the attack was, not for notoriety, but simple to expose the systems for not paying
enough money for their protection of their customers credit cardshe said, I mean I can't
really be (inaudible) feel bad. I might have forced a couple of kids to spend their time with their
families instead of playing games. ( Smith) and costing the game system companies money;
which was their initial plan. In a way I can see his point, but is he doing it for himself or others
first; because he also said, "Mostly to raise awareness - to amuse ourselves (Smith). It isnt
clear whether he has chosen to be infamous or a hero, but he isnt alone when it comes to
hacking for a cause.
In another situation, as written in the NY Times, writer Nicole Perlroth reported on the
following day of the attack, September 8th, 2014 that Home Depot reported to the public that
there was a successful attack on their identity security. During the security hack over 60 million
credit cards had been stolen. Experts closely related to the subject opted out of being publicly
known, but they gave information on the matter stating that the attacks on Home Depot were
based on the United States role in the conflict in Ukraine (NYT 3). To look further into the
matter Arthur J. Amchan, Mclean writes on the various ways on how the United States is
introducing on foreign conflicts. In this particular case with Ukraine, by supplying weapons to
Ukraine to help their fight against Russian aggression. This is sound ground for why criminals
in Eastern Europe (Perlroth 4) would send malware into an American retailer company to
corrupt their public relations with their customers.
Though thru all of these there are benefits to hacking. For one sometimes hacking is
needed for our own national security reasons and used to fix and track missing things. In
contradiction to awful perception of hacking conveyed by some of the hacker groups; there is
some good to hacking as well. Ethical hackers is another word for them. An ethical hacker is a,

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computer and networking expert who systematically attempts to penetrate a computer system or
network on behalf of its owners for the purpose of finding security vulnerabilities that a
malicious hacker could potentially exploit. , but just like the hackers with malicious intent the
ethical hackers, wouldnt mind a little compensation and recognition for what theyve done.
(Margaret Rouse 1)
According to the Associated Press, within the last couple of weeks hackers, Jordan
Wiens and his anonymous accomplice, took up United Airlines on its bug bounty. A bug bounty
is a program that multiple companies who are trying to increase their companies internal website
security, that contains valuable information. In this situation two hackers received a million air
miles as compensation to finding errors in the companys security code. If you were unsure
where this amount could take you, USA today says it can take you on several first class trips to
Asia or 20 round trips in the U.S. or about twenty five thousand dollars (Wired.com). Later on
Jordan was interviewed by, Bloomberg Businessweek and asked what we he do with his
winnings he said, Go on trips around the world with my family. In the interview though he
merely gave a surface explanation of the state he was in post hack, but what had he actually
solved. This is where the real question in this situation comes from. What was said next by,
United Airlines spokesman Luke Puzenberger, was also peculiar as well; he stated, Were
confident that our systems are sure. Whats odd is that the actual problem was never reported,
so the coding flaw was not released to the general public or why if the systems were secure why
did the two hackers each receive a million air miles, which is the greatest amount received from
the program, for aiding a secure system?
So really; who is the hero and the villain here. Are we all just damsels in distress put
there by the invention of the internet itself or by the people who are nefarious enough to

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bamboozle the generally ignorant public? It boils down to which side of the glass youre on and
at which time. Society changes and evolves do to globalization and other factors, but in todays
technology based society, hackers impact society tremendously in both beneficial and
detrimental ways.

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Works Cited
1. "Hackers Get 1 Million Miles for Telling United about IT Security Gaps."
<i>Usatoday</i>. The Associcated Press, n.d. Web.
2. "Bug Bountyy." <i>Wikipedia</i>. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.
3. Zetter, Kim. "United Airlines Pays Man a Million Miles for Reporting Bug."
<i>Wired.com</i>. Conde Nast Digital, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.
4. Perlroth, Nicole. "Home Depot Data Breach Could Be the Largest Yet." <i>Bits Home
Depot Data Breach Could Be the Largest Yet Comments</i>. N.p., 08 Sept. 2014. Web.
02 Oct. 2015.
5. "PSN and Xbox Live Hacked." <i>Forbes</i>. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.
6. Easybib.com
7. Video: https://www.google.com/url?
sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=14&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CGkQtwIwDWo
VChMI3IDjoLmdyAIV0X-SCh2OFQVj&url=https%3A%2F%2F2.gy-118.workers.dev/%3A443%2Fhttp%2Fwww.youtube.com
%2Fwatch%3Fv
%3DfPX8yCBdIZ8&usg=AFQjCNGm4RFawkmBByY51akdWZvcKdwi5w&sig2=IDz
HjUw-FrCapWSARzE6UQ