Delaware State University

Black Hat Hacking Research Paper

Gilbert Rivera
English 102-1
Mrs.McCray
April 20th, 2015

There is a lot of controversy about what hacking and hackers truly do. There are a variety
of actions hackers are involved in, some good, some bad; but throughout the years, they have
gotten a bad reputation. Hacking groups, such as the well known, Anonymous, have been
around for quite a while and have a mixture of negative and positive thoughts about them. There
are several ways that hacktivists use their skills in this line of work.
Hacking has been around for a long time, both black and white hat hacking. Black hat
hacking is used to describe, or distinguish, the bad side of hacking. White hat hacking is used
for the, good, side of hacking, which is used to improve anything it is used for. Hacking seems
to have originated in the 1960s at MIT. The word hack comes from it's Tech Model Railroad
Club which referred hacking as the rerouting and reworking of the trains in order to improve
their overall performance and work differently (Trigaux, web) . Even then, hacking was used to
improve whatever it was used for, but over time, it became something which is now frowned
upon because it fell into the the wrong hands and minds. The first well known hacker was a man
named John Draper who in 1971 was able to make long distance phone calls at no cost, because
of his ability to reproduce the tones phone companies used to activate calls. All this was possible
because of a toy whistle he had acquired, by the use of this whistle he was able to make all the
calls he wanted at the expense of the phone company, which is pretty clever.
Hacking gained a lot of reputation over the first years it was being noticed, but what
really made it well-known, was the movie WarGames which depicted the story of a hacker
who almost began World War III by misuse of a simulation. With the huge boost in awareness by
the public, hacking began to become more utilized in several different ways. For example, in

1987 when a teenager almost took down the US' entire phone network by using nothing but his
computer. This really gave hacking a bad reputation because, of course, there would have been
massive mayhem if the hacker had successfully took down the phone service of the entire
country. Many people loved the idea of becoming a hacker because they found that they could do
a lot of good if they became experienced at it, but with all the misdeeds that have been
committed by hackers over time, it was very likely for them to get in trouble with the law.
For years, the United States has tried to stop the hacking from going on. According to
Beveren, cyberpunks develop through the flow of experience and are more skilled (Rennie,
1). The government is aware of how skilled these hackers are and as the years go by, they also
understand that these hackers are only getting better and better. Security in the cyber
environment is currently being addressed through an increasing level of cyber
policing. (Rennie, 2). Cyber security is increasing all over the hacking community, but that does
not mean that it is working. The fact that the government puts in so much effort to stop hackers
and still remains unsuccessful shows the people that, if used for bad intentions, hacking can
become a real problem. This is why people support the good kind of black hat hacking, which is
basically exposing the corrupt. People would rather see the corrupt government being exposed
than having their personal files reached and exposed.
The popularity of black hat hacking has spread all over the world, and it has even spread
to todays youth. School districts are getting tough with students hacking into school
computers to change grades, poke through files, or just pit their high-tech skills against district
security (Stover, 3). School districts now fear that their own students will hack into their

systems and change grades, records, or anything else that theyd wanna access. This puts
everything at risk because a student can go through high school getting bad grades, but when its
time to get his final transcript, he can have all As, and thats only because of his skill to hack.
Hacking is definitely not an easy subject to learn, so this shows the time and effort an individual
puts into this craft. Although some students and parents complained that criminal charges were
an overreaction, school officials say they were given no choice (Stover, 4). Even though parents
don't want to see their kids do time in jail, hacking can be such a serious matter when it is used
for corruption. Examples have to be made in order to raise awareness on the issue.
There have been many groups and people who have been involved in black hat hacking
throughout the years since its rise. A good example is Anonymous, who are well- known for
being the biggest group of hackers who partake in various black hat hacking to liberate the
hidden information and secrets of the government. Apart from being black hat hackers, they are
also advocates for society to stop being blinded and rise against their oppressors, which is the
government. Many people admire this part of Anonymous, as well as their other actions, because
they are trying to give spark to something bigger than their selves. With all of the things the
government has taken from our society, things that people rightfully deserve, they really needed
people who were able to inspire others to rise to the occasion and fight the oppression. Another
hacker who was prosecuted for his involvement in black hat hacking is Gary McKinnon. He
made it a habit to bust into the military database and try to uncover untold secrets and things that
have been withheld from the public such as UFO sightings, government plans, and other
confidential information (Trigaux, web). With the amount of power a hacker can have at the tip
of his fingers, people wanted to find out untold secrets that should be known by society. Tons of

people understood that black hat hacking is not bad, yet it is the person who commits the action
that is either bad or good.
In 2011, Lulz Security, a hacking group of six people, was able to gain massive attention
by the type of attacks they performed on various companies. They successfully took down a CIA
website and arranged attacks on various other companies for their own reasons. Their attack on
Sony was a devastating one as many people had their information exposed to the hacktivist
group and surely many had their information used for various ill motivated actions. Hackers,
such as these, are the reason why hacking has gotten such a bad reputation in the past years.
Regardless, if they get caught, others who see them as role models will continue their actions and
continue the legacy. People preferred to support Anonymous because they make their actions
known to the public and actually try to take a stand against the ones who try to take away the
rights of the people.
Many people on the opposite side of hacking get really nervous about the idea of
someone hacking into their personal information. Our results show that hackers perceive a
statistically significant lower likelihood of getting caught (Young, 1). This would make any
person nervous because it informs them that if an individual has the proper skills of hacking,
they will never be caught and this puts a persons personal information more at risk. One would
definitely feel more safe knowing that there are ways to stop hackers from doing what they do,
but in reality, the skill of the hacker might be too advanced to stop. The Anonymous group has
been hacking into government files for so long, but they have yet to be brought down because of
their skill level. Though black hat hacking can be looked at as a bad thing, it can also be looked

at as a good thing. Black hat hacking can serve for what a good samaritan would do. They
involve themselves in certain personal missions to expose corruption to the people, and this way
the people will be aware of what is going on in their society. Being aware of whats going on
gives people the perfect amount of closure.
In retrospect, one can say that black hat hacking is not bad at all. There are many ways
people could benefit from a hack. The type of knowledge and insight one can gain from hacking
is one of the most priceless rewards which can be acquired. Whether it is for personal or societal
gain, the information one can uncover from the depths of the internet is worthwhile when it
comes down to insight. In a hypothetical situation, if a person is in debt and cannot get out of it,
if someone were to hack the network and erase all the money he/she owes, they will no longer be
in debt. So besides the numerous actions which are committed by hackers labeled as bad, there
are quite a few hacktivist groups whose actions have lead to something very good for others.
Many people would agree that if one is going to hack something, they must have a deeper
meaning and purpose as to why they are doing so. If one were to hack something, it would be to
help someone in need or help get themselves out of a bad situation, yet it ends up harming the
corporation that it is used against because they lose money or other valuable things. The key
difference between black hat hacking and hacktivism is the fact that hacktivists intend to do good
with their actions and help their society, rather than gain personal assets and valuables like black
hatters do. Those who are involved in black hat hacking are those who seek personal gain and
that is what lots of people are against.
The key thing that should be noticed about many hacktivist groups is they are trying to
help their society. Anonymous rebels against the government as a way to show people that

they should not be afraid of standing up and taking a stand no matter what. The hacker who
broke into the military database was trying to acquire information people deserve to know.
People like this are not bad and should not be labeled as such. If you have something good
driving your actions, then you will never be bad. The only thing which seems wrong is they are
technically stealing information. Potential future hackers should know that people should find
comfort in the fact that there are some people trying to show them the truth. A group like
Anonymous is trying to guide the people to find the truth for themselves and fight it in order to
acquire a better and less lie infested future. In the end, it is all a matter of perception and how
one looks at it.

Work Cited Page

Young, Randall. "Hacking into the Minds of Hackers." ProQuest Research Library. ProQuest,
Fall 2007. Web.
Rennie, Lara. "An Advanced Model of Hacking." ProQuest Research Library. ProQuest, Oct.
2007. Web.
Stover, Del. "Students "Hacking" School Computer Systems." ProQuest Research Library.
ProQuest, Dec. 2005. Web.
D'ovidio, Rob. "The Evolution of Computers and Crime." ProQuest Research Library. ProQuest,
Feb. 2007. Web.
Trigaux, Robert, A History of Hacking, (2000) http://www.sptimes.com/Hackers/
history.hacking.html