Professor: Cyber Criminal Is Not A Full Hacker

Hackers are often portrayed as evil geniuses, but a better description of who is talented, albeit sometimes mischievous, craftsman. They also play a key role in society by things safer else to think about problems and systems. That suggests Kevin Steinmetz , professor of sociology, anthropology and social work at Kansas State University.

Hacking is according to him, more than breaking into computer networks and security systems. "Hackers are often portrayed as criminals who steal in the dark money. Hacking is much more than that. It can also consist of the development of free and open source software." The professor is concerned with the study of the hacker culture and digital crime. In his latest research on the question of what is a hacker and what it means to hack.

"If there's one thing that they have taught me is to not be afraid to bend the rules or an idea on its head and put things challenging," said the professor in an interview about his research the Wichita Eagle . "We need to encourage people to think differently and to draw the status quo in doubt." Part of both hacking and craftsmanship consists of finding and solving problems. Hacking also has many similarities with craftsmanship. Steinmetz designates the self as a technological craft passing boundaries.

Hacking has evolved over the years. Yet hackers engaged in security currently getting all the attention, according to the research of the professor. The reason that security at the moment is so popular is because here play all interesting problems, says a hacker who spoke Steinmetz. The research also shows that hacking is no longer associated with the subculture where it originally came from. Namely people who are interested in technology and computers. Hacking is now used in a variety of domains. The media usually about hackers who are guilty of cyber crime, breaking into networks and steal credit card information.

However, this stereotyping fog that hacking is more to the process than the end result. Without craftsmanship is someone who commits crimes with digital may therefore not a hacker. "If people are engaged in this type of behavior because they want only final results, my research shows that they can not be regarded as a complete hacker" said Steinmetz. "They need to embrace the qualities of a professional, someone who loves his job and goes up here." The research of the professor was published in the British Journal of Criminology.

Researcher Publishes File With 10 Million Passwords

A researcher has published a file of 10 million passwords and usernames in order to improve the security of passwords. According to researcher and security consultant Mark Burnett gives his "carefully selected" dataset insight into user behavior.

Yet he hesitated to make the file public. Following the sentencing of Barrett Brown, the self-proclaimed spokesman for Anonymous. He received a sentence of 15 months because of the link to a file with stolen data. It was here that stolen data was already public. In his own case Burrnett fear not to be arrested. Indeed, he has no intention to commit fraud or facilitate unauthorized access to systems.

Therefore, he has removed as much as possible identifying information, including the domain of the e-mail addresses. In addition to the variety of data sets and the data will not be traced back to one company. Also keywords like company names removed, leading to the possible source of a data breach may indicate. The same applies to information that can be traced back to an individual. The now published passwords, which were collected over a period of 15 years, according to the researcher also mostly "dead passwords".

Yet he publishes them because this is a topic largely ignored and understanding password use can offer. Most researchers, however, would be afraid to publish passwords and usernames together because the two are an authentication feature together, making them a potential threat to be prosecuted. Furthermore Burnett has been download includes a disclaimer, which is necessary for it.