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Hacking Assignment Draft

The document summarizes the evolution of hacking across multiple generations from the 1960s to the present. It describes how hacking began as a hobby among enthusiasts at MIT to modify model train sets and early computer systems. Over time, hacking grew to involve phone phreaking, the rise of personal computers, and the emergence of criminal hacking motivated by financial gain or political purposes. The document compares key aspects of hacking across generations such as typical activities, ethics, motivation, available tools, and levels of collaboration among hackers.

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Prosunjit Biswas
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
52 views6 pages

Hacking Assignment Draft

The document summarizes the evolution of hacking across multiple generations from the 1960s to the present. It describes how hacking began as a hobby among enthusiasts at MIT to modify model train sets and early computer systems. Over time, hacking grew to involve phone phreaking, the rise of personal computers, and the emergence of criminal hacking motivated by financial gain or political purposes. The document compares key aspects of hacking across generations such as typical activities, ethics, motivation, available tools, and levels of collaboration among hackers.

Uploaded by

Prosunjit Biswas
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Generation of hacking:

A hack has always been a kind of shortcut or modificationa way to bypass or rework the standard operation of an object or system. This term was originated with model train enthusiasts at MIT who hacked their train sets in order to modify how they worked. Several of these same model train hackers later applied their curiosity and resourcefulness to the then new computer systems being deployed on the campus [1]. But soon after, hacking was not limited in its original motivation as we will see that over generations hacking was used for different purposes and in different motivation.

Generation Zero:
Although, this generation is sometime missing in literatures or reports, some news / reports mentioned them. This generation started with tuning in on police or military radio signals to listen what was going on. Most of the time these neo-hackers were simply curious information junkies, looking for interesting pieces of information about government or military activities. The thrill was in being privy to information channels that others were not and doing so undetected [3].

Generation 1:
First generation of hacking is typically in the 1960s. This generation started with some enthusiastic students at MIT who hacked their train sets in order to modify how they worked. In many cases, the shortcuts and modifications produced by these student hackers were even more elegant than the professional programs they replaced or circumvented. In fact, the most elegantand enduringhack from this period is the UNIX operating system, developed in the late 1960s by Dennis Ritchie and Keith Thompson of Bell Labs[1]. Hacker Ethics : Hacker ethics for this generation include [4] 1. Access to computers and anything which might teach you something about the way the world works. This access should be unlimited and total. 2. All information should be free. 3. Mistrust authority - promote decentralization. 4. Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus criteria such as degrees, age, race, or position. 5. Hackers can create art and beauty on a computer. 6. Computers can change your life for the better.

Second Generation:
The second generation of hacking occurred from around the mid 70s up until the mid 90s. In the first stage of this generation, a particular type of hackers evolved who focused on telephone systems. These hackers, known as phreakers, discovered and exploited operational characteristics of the newly set up electronic telephone switching network that enabled them to make long distance calls free of charge. One important characteristics of this phone phreaking is that it drew attention of many people towards this type of hacking. Another important aspect of second generation hacking was introduced by the inception of turnkey personal computers by Radio Shack, IBM, Apple, and others. It helped more

people, other than the hardcore hobbyist and professional, interested in exploring and hacking computer system. Inception of Exploitation: Some really interesting things happened in this generation. A divide was formed within the hackers community during late 1980. One group of hackers no longer wanted to be benign in nature with the potentiality and power they have to control over individual or network computers. These new breed of hackers directed their knowledge and tenacity toward distinctly criminal pursuits, including the distribution of pirated commercial software, games, and viruses and worms that could virtually shut down systems. The dark side fragmented even further as several groups formed electronic gangs driven to tap into the sensitive information housed within large institutions, like government and educational research centers. Popularity of Hacking Culture: During the last ages of 2nd generation, hacking earned a great popularity among the young generation. Different media coverage (News paper, Television, websites) and some commercial movies (Sneakers 1993, Hackers 1995, The Net -1995 and others) increased the popularity of computer hacking. During this time personal computer began to be more easily available. All these things together helped increasing the popularity of Computer hacking during the 2nd generation.

Third Generation:
We can designate 3rd generation of hacking from the mid 90s to date. Today, all of the attributes of hackings (eg. type, target, damage, etc) have been changed for planting a big malicious attack except some novice attempts. Nowadays, hackers no longer hack for fun, show down, or acquisition of knowledge. Rather, today they are more organized, often associated with a criminal group to mount attack on a specific target. Although, technologies are in a more mature state today, hackers are also more fledged than before. Now, there exist many recognized tools and techniques available on the internet which helps hackers to be more accurate and successful in their attack. Some interesting changes in the type of attack along with the characteristics of 3rd generation hacking are as follows. Silent Attack: Once attacks were made visible, clear and disruptive to the victims. But now, this trend has been shifted toward non-disruptive criminal attacks, driven by the desire for monetary gain rather than personal glory. One example of this type of attack is making target of medical data particularly the data of cancer or AIDS patients. These medical records are being targeted because there are so many medical charges inherent in the treatment of these illnesses, making it easy to add additional charges to the extensive list of legitimate ones [5].

Client-Side Attacks: Today's cyber hackers are shifting to a methodical, low-key approach, seeking the best possible return on investment. Because of this trend, client-side attacks have proven fruitful for cyber criminals. This is also true that clients are an easier target than servers [5]. Wired and Wireless Network attack: Today, wireless network ( eg. wifi, wimax) begins to replace the old wired network which makes hacking one step forward. Now hackers do not need to access the physical wired network. So, attacking on vulnerable wireless medium is an important characteristic of the 3rd generation hacking. Purpose of Hacking: Once the purpose of hacking was very obvious. While in the 1st generation, the purpose was to identify security hole in computer system, in the second generation the motivation was mainly having personal benefits, most of the cases financial benefit. But In the 3rd generation, we see that hacking has been for other purposes besides only financial benefits. In one report by PCWorld [6], it mentioned different events where the purpose of hacking was political benefit rather than financial benefit. The report found the majority of defacements "were of a political nature, targeting political parties, candidates and government departments, often with a very specific message related to a campaign. Others have a cultural aspect, mainly Islamic hackers defacing Western Web sites."[6] Table I shows a comparison of various aspect of hacking among different generations.

Next Generation of hacking:


This is a interesting question whether we have reached the next generation ( 4th generation) of hacking. The answer to this question is really tricky. The answer is in between yes and no. In fact, we are in some point where we are waiting for a big paradigm shift. But to be more specific, to take one side, I would rather say, we have not yet entered to the new generation because I think the next generation of hacking may bring more than what we have experienced so far. In the following paragraphs I will speculate how hacking can be in the next (4th) generation. Target Device: If we look for different generations, we can see that the targeted devices for hacking have been changed over generations. Hacking started with Radio devices and has gone through telephone System, personal computer, Intranet and Internet. One point to notice that hackers always tried to attack popular electronic media. So, it is likely that next generation hacker may focus note books, smart devices (smart phone eg. iphone, ipod, PDAs and others) along with personal computers and enterprise servers. It seems to me, the most targeted device in this generation would be our smart phones because of the ubiquity of this smart device. Over years, smart phone would be more flexible and versatile. We will use this device for social networking, web browsing, email checking, bill paying and many other reasons which would comprise of all type of communication (both secure and insecure). This would bring a new opportunity for hacking. Blue tooth network, this time, would be the hotspot for hackers and we would be more vulnerable to hacking because anyone using a smart device would try to connect and

eventually attack another smart device. And it is true that we may not always be watchful to the device we carry all the time with us. Eventually, we may be more vulnerable to hacking. Figure 1 shows how hacking is actually taking place. Table I: Comparison on various aspects of Computer generations. Generation Zero tuning in on police or military radio signals First Generation Phone Phreaking Second Generation Playing and experimenting attacks with malwares. Third Generation Attacking and exploiting the weakness of different organization and computer System. Hackers were badly motivated for personal and financial benefits. Personal Benefit, Organized crime, Political benefit

Typical activities

Ethics

Learn, Discover and hack for better world. information about government or military activities Mostly for Acquisition of knowledge and improving performance. Hacking for personal interest started from here. No available tools Individuals and connected small group,

Hackers were badly motivated for personal benefits. Show down of power, personal benefit

Motivation

Tools Hackers collaboration

No available tools Individuals

Timeline Noted hackers

1940s Name unknown.

Targets System

Radio communication System

1960s Dennis Ritchie Ken Thompson, John Draper, Kevin Poulsen Mainly Telephone network

Available tools and techniques Small & large group Communication over Internet & through conferences. 1970s mid 90s Kevin Mitnik, Mark Abene

Abundant of tools and techniques Collaborating groups, hacker convention, hacker conference etc. Mid 90s to date Many

Target Users

Police , Military

Mostly, Govt. and Business organizations. Mainly server side hacking. Elite or Rich class of Users with access people who user to Internet internet

Govt. and business organization. Both Server side and client side hacking. Almost all users using computer ( also internet)

Figure 1: Hacking in action using smart phone and Bluetooth network Target Media: The targeted media have gone through a lot of changes from first generation of hacking to 3rd generation today. Hacking started with Wireless Radio signal and gone through telephone network, wired network and today reached to wireless (wifi) networks. I think, in the next generation, the hacking media would include blue tooth network along with existing wired and wireless network. Vulnerability: I think in the next generation all the common type of attacks including Eavesdropping, Data Modification, Identity Spoofing, Denial-of-service attack ( our phone may be idle but the caller would get it busy or the mobile network channel would be busy), Man-in-the-Middle attack, would also be played on our smart phones. This would necessarily exploit the existing hacking techniques available today along with new tools and techniques. So, the vulnerability would be much more than today. So, considering the new target of hacking which is the smart devices and considering its impact, it seems to me that 4th generation of hacking will bring different experience to the victim. I think that time hacking would be more common and our vulnerability would be more obvious.

References:
[1] A brief history of hacking - by zuley clarke / james clawson / maria cordell [2] http://www.neatorama.com/2006/08/28/a-short-history-of-hacking/ [3] http://www.indometric.com/a-brief-history-of-hacking/ [4] http://campusactivism.org/html-resource/hackers/section4.html [5] http://disaster-resource.com/articles/07p_096a.shtml [6] http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/160271/study_hackers_still_enjoy_vandalizing_ web_sites.html [7] http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/02/15/026239/Was-This-the-First-Denial-of-Service-Attack

[8] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/06/defcon-hacker-conference-_n_920045.html

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