Monday, February 6, 2012

"Anonymous" hackers: cyber rebels?

Hackers are cyber rebels.

They brazenly penetrate "secure" computer systems and access e-mail communications of banks, law enforcement agencies, corporations, and credit card companies demonstrating their vulnerability.

Recently Anonymous, an amorphous collective of hackers, released audio segments of communication between Scotland Yard and the FBI. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/anonymous-hackers-strike-15516681?tab=9482931&section=1206840&playlist=2521702

The group has launched cyber attacks across the world closing down the government website in Sweden, breaking into Greece's Justice Department, and accessing personnel data at police stations in Boston, Syracuse, and Salt Lake City.

Their video taunt, "Expect Us."

Ironically, I am reading, Ghost in the Wires, My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick with William L. Simon (Little Brown and Company, August 2011), now reformed and
a security consultant, co-author of two bestsellers, The Art of Deception and The Art of Intrusion.
Prior to his crossover from the dark side of hacking--into organizations such as Microsoft and Pacific Bell--Mitnick was pursued by the FBI and was one of U.S. Marshall's "most wanted."

Nonetheless, Mitnick served a total of 26 months--on three separate occasions--for breaking into phone company systems and downloading data and stealing files and manuals.

Today he heads Mitnick Security Consulting and speaks around the country about scams and security risks.

All of this makes me wonder. Just how safe are our personal histories, financial data, or personnel files? Personally, I think it is naive to think that any information is safe from hacking, whether benign or malicious. This is the price we say for continually emerging computer technologies.

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