Cyber-Crime In My Life-time

We Are Legion.....Expect Us!

By far the most significant impact of cyber-crime that I have seen in my lifetime is hacktivism. Hactivism, like activism- where civil and human rights groups use all means possible to champion their causes, involves the use of the Internet by hackers to send out serious targeted messages to governments, to individuals and groups that try to gag the Internet, to overall bad leadership and bad policies. Most importantly, hacktivist demand the freedom of the cyberspace.  In today's society technology plays a crucial role and is used as a new cultural vehicle, and even an aggregation element or carrier to express dissent against the policies of government and private companies. In recent years and months our world has seen the abilities of individuals and collective groups to use their skills in computers against authoritarian regimes and greedy and unprincipled corporations. These individuals are known as hacktivist. The term hacktivist was first coined in 1996 by a member of the Cult of the Dead Cow hacker collective named Omega. Per Wikipedia- If hacking as illegally breaking into computers is assumed, then hacktivism could be defined as the nonviolent use of legal and/or illegal digital tools in pursuit of political ends. Groups of hacktivist are considered as uncontrollable variables in the cyber-space capable of surprising us with striking operations worthy of the most skilled cyber army.

What do I expect to change in the next 5 years?

Considering that the Internet world is profoundly changing due to the continuous acts of hacktivism, I think that hacktivist represent one of the major cyber threats. Because the attacks of these groups produce the same effects of those perpetrated by cyber criminals or governments to offend strategic objectives, cyber protests must be taken into serious consideration in cyber strategies for the defense of a nation at whole. Hactivist all over the world are coming together and they understand that the world is now facing unbridled dependence on oil, overpopulation, and climate change. These crucial sign posts are signaling the end of secure first-world capitalism as we have known it ( In my opinion ). It is clear that the established social order is facing a radical, impending, massive, long needed change, and Hacktivist are continuing to learn their systems, control and manipulate their systems, and have been, and continue to be willing to even shut their systems down when they feel there is a need. The most striking and haunting part of it all is that it doesn't matter whether it is ethical or legal, all that matters in the eyes and minds of the hacktivist is that they feel there is a need to carry out assaults on systems. According to a study published by Verizon, Data Breach Investigations Report, hacktivist stole almost twice as many records as ordinary cyber-crime from organizations and government agencies in the last year. ( Here I must add that not anywhere in our textbook's section on cyber-crime did I notice reference being made of hacktivist/hacktivism; however, needless to say: To tamper with, destroy, or otherwise manipulate someones computer system without his/her express consent is considered an illegal act. ) 

What are the steps I take to protect myself?

1. Limit the amount of personal information that I give out to anyone on the web
2. Use a unique and strong password mixing alphabets, numbers and symbols ( not using the same password across multiple sites )
3. Change my passwords online regularly
4. Keep updated security software and system updates
5. Don't click on unknown URL's nor open attachments in anonymous or suspicious emails

On a larger scale, I'm personally one of those who believes in the freedom of the Internet but on a somewhat different level than a hacktivist. I feel that people should have the freedom to carry on and conduct their activities in cyber-space safe and secure from attacks of all sorts and therefore I've made ethical hacking/penetration testing my career path. I'm one of the guys who believe people should make it a mandatory obligation to test their computer systems with fire and ice, hell and snow....before the bad guys do.