Hackers have a number of reasons for breaking through network security. Some do it just for the challenge, others for information, some for fame and some for honing their programming skills. Whatever the reason, hacking causes damage to the computing devices of individuals and businesses, sometimes resulting in millions of dollars lost.

Financial Losses

Every year, reports of hacked businesses reveal staggering financial losses as a result. In 2011, Sony lost $170 million due to a hack of their PlayStation system. Also in 2011, CitiGroup lost $2.7 million and AT&Tlost $2 million as a result of hackers. The cost of patching the holes in security, repaying customer losses, addressing lawsuits and weathering shutdowns of their systems contributed to those huge numbers. Even for an individual who loses his credit card information to a hacker, however, the cost of repairing damage and tracking down the culprit can be significant.

Loss of Information

Hacking often results in a loss of data due to files being deleted or changed. Customer information and order information can be stolen and deleted, or a leak of top secret information could cause real-world security issues. Servers at the Pentagon, FBI, Interpol and NASA have all been compromised at various points in the past ten years. Sometimes, these hackers even post information from these governmental organizations online, which could in theory cause unrest between countries.

Decreased Privacy

When hackers gain access to your computer, they can see everything. Since much of the personal, professional and financial parts of our lives have moved online, we risk losing much more than money or information. Because of the Internet, privacy is limited, usually by choice. A hacker with access to your email, social networking accounts and personal photos can very quickly destroy that privacy.

Damaged Reputation

Companies that get hacked have a bigger problem than just paying for the initial damage costs and lawsuits. Reputation damage can be devastating to a company's fortunes. If a bank has been compromised multiple times, customers are less likely to give them their personal information. The same goes for retailers who lose information to hackers. These companies lose business over time because of damaged or weakened reputations. Individuals with stolen identities as a result of hacking have a similar reputation problem when it comes to their credit ratings.

What are hackers?

Hackers are people who try to gain unauthorised access to your computer. This is normally done through the use of a 'backdoor' program installed on your machine. You can protect yourself from these by using a firewall and a good up-to-date anti-virus program. You would normally get such a backdoor program by opening an E-mail attachment containing the backdoor program. It is normal for such a backdoor program to send out more copies of itself to everyone in your address book, so it is possible for someone you know to unintentionally send you a malicious program. A few backdoor programs can work with any e-mail program by sitting in memory and watching for a connection to a mail server, rather than actually running from within a specific mail program. These programs automatically attach themselves to any e-mail you send, causing you to unintentionally send out malicious programs to your friends and associates.

Why do hackers hack?

To a hacker, breaking into someones computer is simply a challenge. They may not specifically intend to do damage to the computer. The thrill of simply gaining access is often enough. Hackers often try to show off their skills to the world by hacking into government computers, or as revenge against another user or agency. Hackers are indeed as the stereotype depicts them as; young males with a thirst for knowledge. Despite rumours, all hackers do not wear nerdy glasses.

What damage can a hacker do?

This depends upon what backdoor program(s) are hiding on your PC. Different programs can do different amounts of damage. However, most allow a hacker to smuggle another program onto your PC. This means that if a hacker can't do something using the backdoor program, he can easily put something else onto your computer that can. Hackers can see everything you are doing, and can access any file on your disk. Hackers can write new files, delete files, edit files, and do practically anything to a file that could be done to a file. A hacker could install several programs on to your system without your knowledge. Such programs could also be used to steal personal information such as passwords and credit card information. Some backdoor programs even allow a hacker to listen in on your conversations using your computer's microphone if one is attached!

Types of hackers

Hackers often can be characterized by their motives. The following are the more common types of hackers and the motives they cite:

Pranksters: These hackers are the mischief-makers of the bunch whose intention is merely to be a nuisance. They are the equivalent of individuals who pull fire alarms or make phony bomb threats. Copycat hackers would also fall into this category.

Fame seekers: This group hacks seeking attention or notoriety. Using a code name, these individuals target high-profile sites such as Yahoo!, eBay, or NASA to achieve bragging rights among their peers.

Educational: Students justify hacking into systems by saying that they are honing their programming skills.

Criminals: When bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he replied: "That is where the money is." Stored data or "data at rest" is more profitable to steal than data moving over the Internet. Why steal one credit card number at a time when you can steal tens of thousands to millions with one break-in? This happened to CDUniverse and RealNames. Pacific Bell had to have more than 60,000 customers change their passwords after hackers stole them.

Index
Study Guide What are hackers? Hackers are people who try to gain unauthorised access to your computer. This is normally done through the use of a 'backdoor' program installed on your machine. You can protect yourself from these by using a firewall and a good up-to-date anti-virus program. You would normally get such a backdoor program by opening an E-mail attachment containing the backdoor program. It is normal for such a backdoor program to send out more copies of itself to everyone in your address book, so it is possible for someone you know to unintentionally send you a malicious program. A few backdoor programs can work with any e-mail program by sitting in memory and watching for a connection to a mail server, rather than actually running from within a specific mail program. These programs automatically attach themselves to any e-mail you send, causing you to unintentionally send out malicious programs to your friends and associates. Why do hackers hack? To a hacker, breaking into someones computer is simply a challenge. They may not specifically intend to do damage to the computer. The thrill of simply gaining access is often enough. Hackers often try to show off their skills to the world by hacking into government computers, or as revenge against another user or agency. Hackers are indeed as the stereotype depicts them as; young males with a thirst for knowledge. Despite rumours, all hackers do not wear nerdy glasses. What damage can a hacker do? This depends upon what backdoor program(s) are hiding on your PC. Different programs can do different amounts of damage. However, most allow a hacker to smuggle another program onto your PC. This means that if a hacker can't do something using the backdoor program, he can easily put something else onto your computer that can. Hackers can see everything you are doing, and can access any file on your disk. Hackers can write new files, delete files, edit files, and do practically anything to a file that could be done to a file. A hacker could install several programs on to your system without your knowledge. Such programs could also be used to steal personal information such as passwords and credit card information. Some backdoor programs even allow a hacker to listen in on your conversations using your computer's microphone if one is attached! Types of hackers Hackers often can be characterized by their motives. The following are the more common types of hackers and the motives they cite: Pranksters: These hackers are the mischief-makers of the bunch whose intention is merely to be a nuisance. They are the equivalent of individuals who pull fire alarms or make phony bomb threats. Copycat hackers would also fall into this category. Fame seekers: This group hacks seeking attention or notoriety. Using a code name, these individuals target high-profile sites such as Yahoo!, eBay, or NASA to achieve bragging rights among their peers. Educational: Students justify hacking into systems by saying that they are honing their programming skills. Criminals: When bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he replied: "Thats where the money is." Stored data or "data at rest" is more profitable to steal than data moving over the Internet. Why steal one credit card number at a time when you can steal tens of thousands to millions with one break-in? This happened to CDUniverse and RealNames. Pacific Bell had to have more than 60,000 customers change their passwords after hackers stole them. What constitutes hacking? computer fraud is the legal term for a large part ofwhat most consider hacking. Another form of hacking is the illegal seizure and unathorized use of credit card numbers. Growth hacking is the process of rapid experimentation across marketing channels and product development to identify the most effective, efficient ways to grow a business. With growth hacking (like every marketing trend) theres the good, and then theres the bullshit. Growth hacking promises a cheat code for scaling, but once the code expires, your company still sucks at the game. The Top 4 Pitfalls of Growth Hacking 1. Growth hackers are individual contributors, not team players. Growth hacking often attracts people who enjoy being individual contributors and arent team players. Instead, they learn skills they can execute on their own. This translates into pioneering projects with little regard for other business units within the organization. For example, Were going to launch this program. Its going to generate 10,000 new followers. Thats great. Have you talked to operations to make sure your company can handle 10,000 new followers? Most often, the answer is no. Growth hackers prefer flashy tactics, and thats not how great teams are built. 2. Growth hacking tactics measure outputs not outcomes. Beware of articles claiming: The quick and easy way to increase your social media following by XX% How to 100X your something in two months. Most growth hacking tactics measure outputs instead of outcomes. Say you run a campaign to gain free trial signups for your SaaS product. What are you going to do with 100 new free trial signups? How many of those 100 become paying customers? How do those free signups drive revenue? Growth hacking articles focus on how you 20X, 40X or 100X something, without explaining how it adds value. Marketing goals should always align with revenue goals. Growth hacks rarely consider outputs in terms of generating revenue for your company in the long term. 3. Growth hacking tends to require gray-area tools. Growth hacks often rely on gray area tools that are potential security and privacy risks. Be wary of free tools that only require your username or authorization with your Twitter token. If youre not paying for the product, then you are the product, and the cost of using the free tool is your data. Furthermore, Facebook and Google are smarter than you. Since most growth hacks are essentially exploits, its only a matter of time before the platform youre exploiting cuts you off. Whatever vulnerability the tool uncovers through Twitter, Facebook, or Google will be fixed in a matter of minutes or days. Fortune 100 companies have teams of engineers dedicated to fixing these problems. 4. Growth hacking promises quick wins. Growth hacks are appealing to founders because they dont require long-term planning. Of course, its tempting to put off creating a marketing plan and budget and instead upload your Twitter followers into a sketchy tool to generate 100 leads. However, this is intellectually lazy and doesnt set your company up for sustainable growth.

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