Five Common Misconceptions About Hacking

As we walk in the 21st century, it is quite
inevitable that the term "hacking" has become
a part of our colloquial vocabulary. Now based
on this, there will be two people, those who
know hacking and those who don't.
Furthermore, the later can be divided into
people who don't give a damn to what hacking
might be and individuals who resort to
Hollywood to get an idea.
Both these sets of people have false
impressions of what hacking really is. So here
is a quick read on five common
misconceptions about hacking:
Hacking is illegal
If you think hacking is illegal then obviously
you haven't heard of "ethical hackers." Of
course, there are people who "hack" with evil
intentions, but they are the YIN to the YANG,
which are ethical hackers.
Hacking is knowledge. Hackers analyze code
to figure out where its weak points are. Now if
you exploit them, you are a bad guy, and if you
fix them, then you are a good guy.
Think of it like this: who is the villain; the
person inventing the bomb or the person
dropping the bomb?
Hackers are generally teens or
people in their 20s
Well Hollywood isn't wrong showing kid
hackers. Here are brats who hack stuff just to
get a "congo bro" online. But that is not the
entire demography of hackers.
Ethical hacking isn't done by kids in a
corporate office; they are handled by adults.
Again hackers who steal information just to sell
them aren't fooling around in a playground.
Hackers are a coordinated, organized and
professional group.
You can hack a mainframe over the
internet
We have seen it multiple times where
Hollywood creates some dilemma by getting
vital information by hacking into a mainframe.
The scene might be thrilling, but mainframes
CAN'T be hacked like that.
You can't hack the CIA's website and get
confidential records and internal details.
Similarly, you can't hack some government
website to get all the nuclear launch codes.
People who built these sites are not idiots.
Such sensitive information is well hidden and
can't be accessed by the public.
Mostly these kinds of hacks, if they would ever
happen, require an inside job; someone who
works inside CIA or the government's defense
section.
Hacking can be stopped by security
software
Even if you have great security software, you
are not safe if some sensitive information gets
into the hands of the person who wants to
hack you.
More than software, the weakest links in your
line of defense is you yourself. Hackers will
mostly use flattery, tricks, and lies to trick you
into getting the info they need or get access to
your key system.
For example, hackers will call you
impersonating an authority from your bank to
get some vital details. There is no way he can
get this info without you telling it to them. Now
if you fell for their deceit then you have got
hacked, literally.
All hackers are specialized in the
same knowledge
There are various areas of expertise for a
hacker to work in. Different hackers have
different skills and that too of different levels.
Some are good with only particular
technologies while some have different
purposes.
They can be reverse Engineers who are
cracking software or someone with excellent
TCP/IP stack knowledge. Hacking is a diverse
field of education.
Conclusion:
Hope you have now become a little more
enlightened about the world of hacking, and
perhaps more interested. Now that your
misconceptions about hacking are cleared out,
remember hacking is not rocket science; it is
just when your passion for computers meets
your creativity. So if you want, you can
become a hacker too.
And since you now understand how hacking
works, in general, you should now be able to
protect yourself more.