In computer news this week, 06/07/2000

Hackers wanted - you can enjoy the challenge of hacking and get paid top dollar while doing it ...

With all the hysteria of the recent Lovebug virus, the word hacker has been appearing again in the news. Seems like we forget about them, until the next big virus scare, and then we remember that there really are hackers out there.

But what really is a hacker, and how do you find them?

The term hacker used to refer to a computer person who was very technically competent and who could make computers do virtually anything. These were the good guys.

Nowadays, the term hacker refers to bad guys who seem dedicated to breaking into computer networks. The news media tends to depict them as unsophisticated young people, angry at the world. But the hacking underground is actually a very sophisticated network of different levels of people with different motives.

So a hacker could be an unskilled high school kid looking to make a name for himself, such as mafiaboy, or it might be a computer professional gone bad.

Where can you find hackers and learn how to hack? There's no sense trying to keep it a secret, with the Internet, you know.

2600.com and Hackers.com are 2 of the bigger sites, although there are hundreds of them. The ad Ijust read for "Hackers wanted - top pay .."- is currently on the hackers.com website.

On these sites you can read and try to understand the Hacker manifesto. But what is more disturbing is that they invite anyone to be a hacker, and then they also provide a complete hacking do-it-yourself education; how-to files, tutorials, and bibliographies.

It doesn't stop here though. On these websites you can then find hundreds of the actual programs that hackers use, download them, learn them, and then begin, as they say, your hacking career, until of course, you get caught, and then you go to federal prison.

We read about 13 year old hackers who have broken into military computers, or who have brought websites such as CNN.com to their knees, and we wonder if these kids are geniuses. No, they're not geniuses. These just kids who found the hacker websites, read the materials, downloaded the programs, and then set off on their own missions.

At Hackers.com, they have this disclaimer on their extensive hacking tools library:

"As a reminder, all of the files provided via this site are for educational purposes only...meaning they are not intended to be used for illegal or malicious purposes.... You're free to download these and use them on your own computer, but once they leave this site, you become responsible for your actions.... Freedom of information and satisfying curiosities are what this site is about. Just don't forget that some of these files, if used improperly, can make you a villain in a day."

Are you kidding me? I can just imagine kids reading that disclaimer and wishing their modems were faster so they can become villians faster.

Geniuses; no, just anyone with a computer and internet access and a desire to be a hacker; that's why it's such a big and ongoing problem.

For Raw Bytes, this is Frank Delaney

POB 222

Spangle, WA 99031

(509) 245-3736

fdspokane@aol.com