Hacking Secret: What Hackers don’t Want You to Know (2015)

CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS HACKING?

ORIGINS

Hacking originated decades ago at M.I.T (which isn’t that surprising when you think about it). Students in the model train club were interested in expanding their knowledge and advancing their skills. As a result, they would ‘hack’ into information just to learn more and just because they could. But, just like everything else, the ‘hackers’ as they called themselves, continued to evolve to test their skills and some of their pursuits were not as innocent. They began to venture into methods of learning information that wasn’t theirs to know.

It began with some mild (though still illegal) pursuits, such as skating around the pay feature for long-distance calling. As time went on and hackers continued to develop their skills, however, they were able to do even more. They were not content with the limited amount of information they were able to gain at and so their skills became even less honorable, delving into the personal information of their targets so that they could improve their own personal situation, it was no longer about the skill and entirely about personal gain and abilities.

DEVELOPMENT OF HACKING

So what is hacking? Hacking is breaking into the information of others through the use of computers and other types of technology. Whenever someone puts their information online they are at risk of having that information stolen (though to be fair information that is not online is also in danger of theft). The information is usually quite difficult to break into (your bank, credit union and other facilities that store your information online really are trying to protect it). The problem is that hackers spend their lives learning how to break into these things.

Hackers like to feel powerful and being able to access something that is supposed to be ‘unbreakable’ is the way they feel that power. Just think about this, if someone told you ‘you can’t pick up that weight. You’re not strong enough,’ what would you do? If you’re like most people you would attempt to pick up the weight because you want to prove them wrong. It’s the same thing with hackers. Some of them want to get rich and so they break into your accounts because they want to steal your money or your identity. All of them do it because they can.

A hacker is able to get into your accounts and your information because they work hard to learn how to do it. And the reason they learn how to do it is because someone told them that they couldn’t. For example, the bank you use may have said their accounts are ‘unhackable’ or that your information is ‘completely secure.’ A hacker takes these statements as a personal challenge and so they do whatever they can to prove those companies wrong. Whether they are also looking for personal gain is irrelevant. They are actually doing it for the power. That’s what makes them feel better about themselves and what they can accomplish.