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Cyber-crime

Ramblings

from the wrong-side-of-the-net dept

Tue, Feb 8th 2000 9:38am — Ryan
There was an interesting article yesterday in forbes about a guy who's life was ruined through being targeted by a cyber hacker gang. It made me think about the very real dangers of cyber gangs, if disgruntled youths begin to use the net as their next battle ground people's online identities could begin to get trashed, are we going to start seeing digital bodyguards ? Hackers that go out and are essentially bounty hunters and protect your online identity if its tampered with. What about turf wars, will certain hacker gangs begin to claim certain websites as their own, destroying the digital turf of their rivals (and probably anyone else who's account is held by that site). I know that this is mostly speculation but the net is a little like the "wild, wild west", we have yet to see truly effective policing and I'm wondering how dangerous cyber criminals of the future may become to both business and individuals (especially when the leaders of these gangs get more organised).
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  • identicon
    Snuff, 8 Feb 2000 @ 6:42pm

    That statement is a little bold.

    I have 3 problems with the above article. Firstly, the 'disgruntled youths' statement. Not all hackers are 'disgruntled youth,' this is a stereotype. There are many middle-aged hackers. This statement is without thought. Secondly, the 'wild wild west' mambo jambo. Come on, there are some good hackers but most get caught, and if people started taking over sites, somebody would certainly notice and report it. Thirdly, people do get arrested for this stuff. We're talking hackers, not guys with guns taking over. If they get arrested who will control their 'turfs?' This article is ridiculous and without effort.

    =-Snuff-=

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike (profile), 8 Feb 2000 @ 7:03pm

      Re: That statement is a little bold.

      While I'll agree that what Ryan said was a bit bold, I don't think it's fair to say it's "ridiculous and without effort." He was just making a point and trying to create some discussion around it. That said, for the most part, I agree with you. I think the net has gone well well past any "wild west" stage. While there will always be people trying to do "bad things" (and all this recent talk of "cyberterrorism" is an example) I believe that security measures will also get stronger and stronger. While it's good that some people are paranoid, as they help create the latest and greatest safety and privacy systems, people who fear an "end of world" type scenario seem a bit off to me.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Ryan, 9 Feb 2000 @ 6:28am

      Re: That statement is a little bold.

      I agree that some of the stuff that I mentioned was a little overhyped (although not without thought) but I also think your living a little bit in the dark Snuff, most of the little cyber crimes are never uncovered. A few of my techie friends like cracking sites just for fun (and breaking entry codes, etc, etc) although most of the time they never do anything damaging. Now, imagine if you were to offend them and they made a concerted effort to target you, they could steal money out of your bank account (which happened to a friend of mine) or ruin any online business you have. I respect hackers because I remember going onto chat sites and getting "nuked" by 13 year old kids a few years ago (getting nuked by someone results in your computer crashing and all unsaved information being lost), the funny thing is they were just playing then and didn't mean it in a bad way. I suggest you check out one of the many hacking sites, perhaps pick up a virus, credit card number generator or a program to break into some one's computer files (all of these are easy to pick up on the net). Do you still think I was being "without thought"?

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]


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