CS404 Ethics and Computers in Society: Book Inspired Post: The Cuckoo's Egg

Doing something just because “you can” may provide a rush of excitement, or pride in one’s accomplishments, but can ruin the lives of millions. If you think I am talking about dangerous stunts, bank robbery, etc., you are wrong. I am talking about hacking. Hacking! Sounds like a child’s game, but, in reality, people can steal confidential information, money, and even personal identities. Hackers can pry into personal affairs and make them public, or even break into top-secret government defense systems. People’s lives can be ruined, and all it takes is a nerd sitting in his apartment thinking how funny he is. It is not funny, nor is it ethical.
Any ethical person would desire a criminal to be locked up behind bars. Thieves who rob convenience stores are often considered to be scum, poor, and desperate, which could be true. On the other hand, hackers are often viewed to be brilliant and skilled, which is outrageous and totally false. Hackers are the convenience store thieves of the computer world. Hacking gives them a false sense of achievement and intelligence, making them sad and desperate individuals lacking real achievement. I cannot understand how any individual can enjoy breaking into others’ personal information and exploiting it. History has taught us, though, that there will always exist those who desire evil. Hackers should feel guilty for all the pain and loss they cause their fellow men. Robbery is robbery any way you look at it. We must be prepared to protect ourselves from hackers everywhere.
People need to learn how to protect their personal information; governments need to keep secrets secure. We must educate ourselves on how hackers work, and how to prevent such attacks. It surprises me to learn how simple and obvious some peoples’ passwords are. Technology can easily iterate through a dictionary to find which password one may be using. We have an ethical responsibility to help those around us learn what passwords and protection are sufficient. If we fail to learn for ourselves how to protect sensitive information, and fail to educate others, we will fall to malicious attacks, and possibly lose everything.