Why Hacking is good for Computer Security

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Why Hacking is good for Computer Security

• Andrew Paterson

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• Contents of presentation
• Definitions of Hacking
• What do people perceive as hacking?
• Good hackers, Bad hackers.
• Why Hacking is good for Computer Security.

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• Definitions of Hacking
• Dictionaries definition
• To write or refine computer programs skilfully.
• To use one's skill in computer programming to
  gain illegal or unauthorized access to a file or
  network hacked into the company's intranet.

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• What do people perceive as hacking?
• People think hacking is someone who writes a
  malicious program or gaining unauthorised access
  to a computer system.
• Are the media to blame for putting words into
  the peoples heads?
• Media attention grew because of group of hackers
  such as 414s and Kevin Mitnick.
• The hacking community have grown frustrated by
  the medias coverage on hackers.

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• Good Hackers, Bad Hackers (1)
• Good hackers are the people who build things,
  solve problems and sharpen their skills.
• Great hackers generally insist on using open
  source software, this gives them more control.
• Good hackers are categorised as white hat
  hackers, as they are ethical in what they do.

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Good Hackers, Bad Hackers (2)

• Bad hackers are more commonly known as crackers,
  by hackers.
• Categorised as black hat hackers.
• Their purpose is to break into computer
  systems/networks to expose security holes.
• They use methods such as Port Scanning, Denial
  of Service attacks and Sniffing.

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• Why Hacking is good for Computer Security?
• Hackers who work for companys are called
  Samurais or white hats.
• Have a clearly defined code of ethics, will
  often attempt to work with companys to improve
  discovered security weaknesses.
• Hackers who work to deliberately design and code
  more secure systems.

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Thank you for your time. Any Questions?