The Ethics of Cybersecurity by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030290535
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

9.2.1 Hackers in the Early Days

In the 1960s and 1970s, typical hackers were not really driven by malicious intent. They were often supportive of strong (ethical) values, broader than computer security issues, such as democracy or freedom of speech. At the same time, computers, not to mention networks, were still in an early stage of development. The economic weight of computer related business was trifling in comparison to today’s influence of GAFAMs2 in the global market. Criminal opportunities were limited. Early hackers were often students with special programming skills. They were dreaming of a world where information would be free and openly shared, a world where hackers would belong to a fair community and would collaborate to build a better and more secure digital environment. They could be enthusiastic and appreciative about the aesthetic and the inherent beauty of an optimal programming code (e.g. using the least amount of memory). They were playing pranks and challenging each other, hoping for peer recognition. Cracking the passwords of their institution was not seen as an illegal activity (and usually was not illegal at that time), but as a playful challenge with no malicious intent. They were adept at the so-called hacker ethic—including sharing information, mistrusting centralised authorities, and using computers to make a better world—which is not to be confused with what is called ‘ethical hacking’ nowadays. We sometimes refer to these early hackers as adherent to the programming subculture, or as true hackers.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.