50 years ago, famous comic book writer, Stan Lee, created the famous quote, “With great power, there must also come great responsibility” (Lieber). This phrase speaks of the control one must exercise when in possession of power, which so many historical figures like Hitler and Napoleon failed to do. However, no longer is a person required to hold a high-level of leadership to possess an unbelievable amount of power over others. The rising notoriety of computer hackers is forcing society to decide on how to handle them. Currently, computer historians refer to today’s modern period as the Information Age, which is defined as “an age in human history characterized by the shift from the Industrial Revolution to an economy based on information computerization.” (Rouse). With this being the case, hackers have become an issue to the security of businesses, governments, and banks. However, there are those who have taken the responsibility to stand against this digital threat and specialize in the testing of an organization's information systems through means of ethical hacking to increase online security. While society may view hacking as a criminal act, our culture would benefit more from teaching programmers to hack ethically in a safe and controlled environment as a counter to threatening hackers.

Laws and regulations that define are outlined in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The act defines that “any intentional access to a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access, and thereby obtains information from any protected computer” (CFAA). So, any form of entering a person’s device without permission is considered illegal and indicates a hacker’s objective. The first appearance of hackers was in the 1960s and was formed from a group of MIT students, which without the internet, could not cause any real damage to anyone. Most of the hacking that took place was through social engineering which it defined by Google as “(in the context of information security) the use of deception to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential or personal information that may be used for fraudulent purposes”. After the invention of the internet, hackers became increasingly dangerous with access to any computer connected to the web. Since then, most people lack the knowledge and skills to protect themselves from a hacker. Many have fallen to common methods such as phishing emails, social engineering, and use of malicious Wi-Fi access points. A better understanding of hacking would inform common people of ways that they can avoid many of these traps. 

Because of multiple factors, hackers are a pleading threat to society. The first being their advance knowledge of programming and their ability to think critically. These critical thinking skills are what separates them from the average programmer. By thinking outside the box, they can find faults in security and use them to take advantage of a system’s defenses. The next factor is the American culture which so saturated in technology. Because of this, there is an ever-growing playground for hackers. There are Bluetooth and wireless devices are on every corner, and if not properly protected, can lead to devastating consequences. Lastly, hackers usually have a strong motivation behind their career choice, causing them to not give up easily or listen when simply told to stop. This makes hackers an unstoppable force and a threat to our society. As long as technology is around, hackers will never cease to exist for there will always be imperfections in security systems and unprotected devices.

Malicious hackers whose goal is to destroy, modify, or steal data are referred to as black hat hackers. In a recently reported news article: a group of black hats hacked Russia’s Central Bank and stole around $34 million US dollars’ worth of Russian currency. The actions of black hats are devastating and cruel to those who they affect and are a constant threat to the economy of targeted countries. So, if black hats can carry out these kinds of disasters, then why should hacking be encouraged?

The author of the article only focused on these hacker’s criminal nature rather than acknowledging their profound skilled to hack into a government bank without leaving a trace to their identity. The individuals who use their skill in hacking to combat these criminals are known as white hat hackers. The primary goal of white hat hackers is to make systems and applications more secure to keep the black hats out. Recently, the Pentagon compensated white hats for every bug that they could uncover on their website which allowed the Defense Department to plug 138 vulnerabilities in their systems (Dickstein). The Pentagon’s Defense Department use of a criminal type of approach to find holes in their security is a noteworthy approach. While most would assume that hacking could only be damaging, this article shows the benefits that such talent can bring to society. 

Many times, security experts miss holes in their defenses because they are not able to think as critically as a hacker would, making them oblivious to any flaws in their system. However, “security experts who choose think more like hackers are equipped with the knowledge to search for the same security holes that hackers would look for” (Arcuri). Because of this, we should train our software developers and programmers in ethical hacking. Sadly, most colleges do not require ethical hacking courses for their future developers and security specialist. This means that people in charge of keeping your data safe may have never been trained in security to begin with. Therefore, a reform in how developers are trained is needed or else our technology will never improve in security. More often than not, people adopt and develop new technology without considering the potential security risks. This can lead to repeating past panics such as when hackers discovered that pacemakers could be wirelessly hacked because no one thought to encrypt the signal from the device. Looking back on it, avoiding the situation seems elementary but somehow this got passed through security inspection. Examples like these show how encouraging these developers to think like black hats can even save lives.

As far as teaching hacking goes, first schools need to stop discouraging the talent and treat it like it has value, because it does. The NSA Chief, Keith Alexander, made his first appearance at DefCon back in 2012. DefCon is an international hacker convention hosted in Las Vegas so everyone interested in the trade can show of their latest project. Chief Alexander described this convention to be “The world’s best cyber community”. He reached out to them with a job opportunity saying, “‘In this room … is the talent our nation needs to secure cyberspace,’ he told the audience. ‘You folks understand cybersecurity. You know that we can protect the networks and have civil liberties and privacy, and you can help us get there’”. If the National Security Agency can see value in hackers, then schools should too. Good hackers are sought out by industries and even the government to help test their own security systems or even collect information from countries overseas. This talent is valuable and should be put to better the security of our country as a whole, not be brushed under a carpet, “At the very same time that we are constantly hearing about the need for talented hackers in industry and government, young computer security enthusiasts are perceived as hoodie-wearing miscreants who must be stopped. The cognitive dissonance is deafening.” (Gervais). 

In some cases, hacking is the only means of protecting countries from their own government. Such as when the Egyptian government acted to completely kill the internet in their country, a group of hackers called Telecomix fought to protect the people. Before this event, they were helping Egyptians get past internet censorship by means of Morse code and ham radio but when the internet was totally shut down, it got personal. They used twenty-year-old dial-up access infrastructures in Europe and opened three hundred lines for the Egyptians. “Hackers are perhaps the only ones still capable of challenging overreaching governments and data-hoarding corporates on their own playing field. To me, that represents hope” (Elazari). They have a way of promoting and growing social, political, and military influence. In a way, hackers are what prevents the classic novel 1984 from ever realistically happening in our society because they will be the firsts ones to stand up if they are unhappy with their current treatment “Indeed, for years, hackers have been on the wrong side of the fence, but in light of what we know now, who is more watchful of our online world?” (Elazari). No matter which side they are on, they help protect better protect the world in one way or another.

However, there is always the chance that an educated hacker could use his new-found knowledge for his own personal gain. When someone has the power to change their final grade in a class or add a few zeros to their bank account, the temptation can lead to serious crimes. While a salary can serve as an incentive for them to stray away from malicious actions, it may not quench the greed of a black hat. However, even the actions of a black hat can ironically improve security. Whenever a security hole is found, it forces the experts to evolve and improve. Such as when a man by the name Barnaby Jack realized that ATMs could be fooled into uncontrollably shooting hundreds of bills from the machine, “Sometimes, you have to demo a threat to spark a solution” (Barnaby). In a way, hackers, both white and black, serve as an immune system for the internet. They find new exploits in the body and fix them which improves the overall security and immunity. In a way, society needs black hats so that there is someone who’s constantly forcing improvements and evolution in our security making it stronger with every reform.

Of course, we cannot have a world filled of black hats or else there’s no one to make the improvements. For this situation, there is not much hope to convert them to the white hat industry. However, by introducing those interested in cyber security and programming to ethical hacking early in their development, they are kept from taking out their negative impulses out on society, “We’ve created an atmosphere in which promising hackers are actively discouraged from learning and therefore are likely to end up on their own without any guidance to keep them out of trouble” (Gervais). Creating security experts should be a process that is present from the very beginning of their college education. By making ethics the root of their training, it becomes engrained into their career and straightens their path. 

Ethical hacking is the best defense against black hats because to ultimately guard against a hacker, one must think like a hacker. Our society should also encourage training hackers because “Simply telling an aspiring hacker ‘don’t hack, end of story’ works about as well as any other abstinence-only approach. Curiosity works, but information protects.” (Gervais). Creating a safe environment for people to learn to hack along with educating them with facts and teaching responsibility can introduce them to the white hat industry. Society would then have a better chance of acquiring better trained hackers then the black hat community and over-all cyber security would increase.
