Technology

Almost all the aspects of life today - education, communication, security, trade - depend on computer technology. However, there is always the fear of adopting this technology as institutions and individuals fear that their private information can be accessed by hackers. The big question therefore is whether hacking is ethical or unethical How can individuals and organizations be sure that their information in the internet is safe or unsafe However, hacking may be ethical or unethical. The difference between ethical and unethical is the intention of the hacker. Unethical hacker aims at developing a program that steals information or destroys other systems while an ethical hacker aims at sealing the loophole in the existing systems to avoid unethical hacking.

Introduction
In the rise of explosive growth in information technology, many changes in the society have resulted in the increased dependence of computers and internet by the world societies. Today, people trade on the internet, students can obtain a wide range of academic materials from the worldwide web and individuals can collaborate in a mission while far thousands of miles away from each other, manufacturers and organizations can make themselves known through the internet. Although the invention of computers has been the greatest development in the modern society, just like any other development, it has a dark side. Hacking and cracking has been the greatest problem facing the use of computer by the modern society. Everyone in the world including government agencies, corporate organizations and individuals are nervous of becoming part of the global village because they fear that criminal hackers can get into their websites servers and change their logos, access their email addresses or credit card numbers or even plant a software that revels their secrets on the web. System hacking has been an issue as communication and information technology continues to develop. It has been the most unethical issue touching on the use of internet and computer technology in general. Since it is not possible to control the vice, promoting ethical hacking to identify and correct security in the systems is the best approach. To any positive thinker, hacking and cracking is unethical since it identifies all loopholes in the security of the system and protect the system from criminal hackers.

Ethical and Unethical Hacking
The basic definition of a hacker is an individual who enjoys expanding his or her knowledge in computer systems. A computer hacker is different from a normal user because he or she endeavors to increase his abilities rather than learning basic computer skills. He is more concerned about the programming rather than learning the programs theoretically. Hacking therefore describes the rapidly increasing art of developing new programs or modifying the existing programs using more complex software. As computer technology improves and computer becomes more available to every one in most parts of the world, the focus in the use of computers in research and engineering has changed as people discover the flexibility of the tool. People have written programs that are used to draw pictures or play games and carry out almost all mundane of the modern life. As computers become more and more popular and essential, their cost skyrocketed which created the need to create an access control. When some of the users were denied access to the computers or to some information in the computers, they took this as a challenge and started developing ways of accessing the classified information or the computer. The only way they could do this was to steal the password of other users by gazing over the shoulder or exploring the system to get a loophole on how to evade some rules to access the system. However, the controlled intrusion of unauthorized individuals into the system did not take long before talented individuals intentionally started developing programs that could destroy the files or crash the system. The introducers also devised ways of accessing some secret information from computers.

As some computer hackers developed ways of accessing classified information from computers, the system developers developed more secure program. However, the more the program advances, the more the hackers develop. They would even take destructive actions whenever discovered and their further access denied. The extent of this problem however became unbearable hence a major story in the news calling for action. The hackers were described as the growing unethical act in the use of technology where the individual broke into a computer or brought down a system for fun, to make a profit or with an intention of revenge.

As technologies advances, the users of these technologies are worried about this unethical act which put their systems at risk. However, the problem associated with unethical hacking can be solved by employing ethical hacking practices. The threat posed by unethical hackers and intruders can be accessed by independent professionals who make attempts of hacking the systems. This can be done in the same way different organizations use independent auditors to confirm whether the bookkeeping practices in the organizations are okay. In this case, the ethical hackers would develop a program that is similar to an unethical intruders program and target the same system. While the unethical intruder will destroy the system or steal the information or both, the ethical hacker will evaluate the vulnerability of the system to intrusion and come up with a solution to that vulnerability. This independent and ethical hacking has been in use for a very long time in analyzing the security of the system. The method was used in analyzing systems in the United States Air Force where the Multics operating system was considered better than other systems in convectional terms although it was also vulnerable to security sabotage.

Before the invention of computer networking and the internet, unethical computer hacking was not a major ethical issue. Information was only considered vulnerable in the military establishment. However, it has become a major issue in the modern computer use because of the unavoidable computer connectivity. It was first revealed by hackers that they can use their techniques to gather any information in the early 1990s. They claimed that they had systems that could be used to compromise the security of information circulated through the internet. However, their program were not created to damage the systems or steal information but to increase the security of information in the internet. For this reason, these hackers claimed to have examples of how the attack could be carried out as well as how it could be prevented.

There are ethics that any ethical hacker should however adhere to otherwise he or she will be considered a computer criminal. An ethical hacker should by trustworthy in all aspects of his life. In the process of evaluating the system of the client for security threat, the hacker may come across some information which is considered top secret. Ethics requires the hacker to treat the information as a secret otherwise the information may get into the wrong people who may be unethical hackers. Publicizing the secrecy of the system may be problematic since unethical hackers will find easer ways of breaking into the system. The clients system is therefore on the hands of the hacker which requires the ethical hacker to be trustworthy with the information obtained about the target systems. The information obtained in the evaluation, the programs used in the assessment as well as the development of counterattack programs is very sensitive and must be treated with the security it deserves. Otherwise, slight dishonesty where the hacker mishandles the information either willingly or unwillingly may be very risky to the target system.

For an ethical hacker to effectively analyze the system as well as propose and develop ways of protecting the system from unethical hacker, the hacker should be equipped with the relevant skills. The hacker should be equipped with computing and programming knowledge, system installation and maintenance and proper knowledge on security of these systems. Having these skills and knowledge is essential in the evaluation of the system for possible threat and aids in making the appropriate report to the client. Other than the skills and knowledge, ethical hackers need to take their time in their evaluations and be persistence. This is centrally to a hacker in an entertainment movie who breaks into a system within no time. The case is also true for unethical hackers who are also known to be very persistent and patient. Both ethical and unethical hackers may take up to several weeks while monitoring the system for possible opportunity for attack. It is not easy to automate the process of evaluating a system for possible attack and is therefore a very tedious job which may time to analyze. The evaluation may require a hacker to work outside the normal working schedule as he seeks to find the loopholes in the system. An ethical or unethical hacker will take more time to investigate the weakness of an unfamiliar or a new system. For this reason, a hacker attempts to keep up with the advancement of computers and security systems.

In my own view, ethical hackers and unethical hackers have similar characteristics. They are both equipped with knowledge and skills on computers and networking. However, the difference is their intentions, though both of them coexist as they try to out do the other. An ethical hacker must be well aware of the knowledge and skills the unethical hacker has in order to evaluate the clients systems for possible attack. On the other hand, if unethical hackers are left behind in terms of knowledge by the ethical hackers, they are no longer significant. Computer hacking is however not a crime like any other. In several occasions, the ethical hacker sometimes acts as an unethical hacker. The task of the ethical hacker in reducing the vulnerability of the system is even harder compared to normal crimes. The ethical hacker will therefore try to evaluate the target system and come up with what a hacker can see in the system, what the hacker will do with the information obtained on the system and whether it will be easy to detect an intruder into the system.

Conclusion
Hacking of systems started in the first days of computer use. Whether hacking the system is ethical or unethical depends on the intentions of the hacker. An ethical hacker will hack the system to evaluate the system for possible attack and make appropriate recommendations while an unethical hacker aims at either bringing down the system or stealing the information on the system. However, the two hackers use the same techniques.