Cybersecurity: Offensive/Defense

They do.

Just one of many examples (in the USA) is Title 18 Section 2703 (aka Electronic Communications Privacy Act)

BTW

It would be fairly easy (we have the technology) to send an electronic impulse (I am way over simplifying this) down stream and fry a hacker's computer.

So, network security types see the hack (or the trail of the hack) and send an electronic impulse back down the trail and destroy the hard drive of the hacker.

There are a few problems with this.

1. This electronic impulse might also damage or destroy every computer in the stream. So one can imagine a scenario where a hacker went through a couple banks networks, a few business networks, some university networks, then "attacked" a government facility.... and the response could take out the computers of the banks, businesses, universities... not the best idea.

2. It is so easy for hackers to just get new computers and start again, so frying their computers has very limited value.

A legal investigation that catches a hacker and puts him/her in jail has more long term results.

I think you would just fry the local exchange. DOnt quote me on that.
CHeap way of upgrading your phone lines though.
COnnect the two wires together (years since Ive wired a phone line so cant remember which two wired it is).

One of the wired is live, that sends the current down the phone line. And burns out the exchange. BT or Virgin, then build a new echange, lay a new line, with the fastest speed.

Obviously everyone on your street will be pissed.

Yeah true. But again, without wikileaks will they still have the incentive to do so?

And there is the cloud as well. Plus its quite easy to get a virtual machine somewhere and remotley access it and upload info to it.

Glad that was solve while I was away. I feel like I just watched an episode of Scooby Doo.

Really?

Is that what you were doing when you were away?

No but I got that feeling.

Yes.

Whenever people discuss cyber security I feel like I have been in a cartoon about a talking dog.

Glad I'm not the only one.

I believe both the NSA and Wikileaks are a necessary evil and keep one another in check.

I think there should be much stricter laws against hacking in general however targeting unofficial intelligence groups like the NSA or Wikileaks.

Laws more proactive against hacking than those against piracy.

Hacking can sabotage others on an individual basis; bullying and destroying a person's lucrative efforts are the first two crimes which come to mind. Novels & games in progress (not yet backed up) can be destroyed or easily plagiarized and sold to large development teams who can race the intellectual property to completion before the original author can manage to get their work copyrighted.

The truth of the matter is that it is easier said than done.
Sure Script Kiddies can probably be traced more easily, but they dont really know what they are doing, they just download files and run them, to be fair some of the software avaliable online for free is quite effective.

But if you get a Grey Hat or Black Hat who knows what they are doing and actually of knowledge of Operating Systems, Servers and Networking, they are going to be harder to trace, if they are actually detected.

At the end of the day, any computer system is designed and implemented by a human being. White Hat or White Hat does not take into account knowledge or skill, it is jut a statement really of are you a force for good or a force for bad.

Ironically, a lot of the skilled White Hats used to be Black Hats.

How is this different from any other criminal activity?

PS
It really isn't that hard to track Black Hats. As with all criminal investigations, it just takes time.

Black Hats get caught on a regular basis.

I dunno to be honest. I was watching a documentry and it actually stated that a lot of cyber crime goes un reported. If abig company admits it was hacked, it is going to lose stock value. Also the Sys Admin would have to admit that they messed up.

And then I dont know if you have ever been on TOR, deepweb, darknet, whatever you want to call it, but things like Credit Card Numbers are currency.

There are a lot of Botnets out there, being utilised for various tasks and roles, which have not been shut down, nor have the creators and controllers been apprehended.

Yes. Lots of cyber crime goes unreported.

To put it in perspective;

In the USA: "More than half of the nation’s violent crimes, or nearly 3.4 million violent victimizations per year, went unreported to the police between 2006 and 2010, according to a new report published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)."

But, sticking with hacker related activity. Essentially there are:

1. Computer viruses (which are really very much different from hacking). When most people say that their email was "hacked" typically it was not actually "hacked". They just down loaded a virus. Sometimes it is a bot that collects specific data... but normally it is not a true "hack". It may or may not be illegal and if illegal may or may not result in a prosecution... it depends on the specifics of the virus.

2. electronic/computer scanning of networks, which (in the USA) is almost never a crime;

3. electronic/computer probing of networks, which (in the USA) is almost never a Federal crime;

Note: Even though governments (for example the USA's Department of Defense) frequently call #2 and #3 "attacks" they are not "attacks" and are almost never illegal.

4. and then there is hacking, which (in the USA) is a crime... BUT, depending on the circumstances, might not reach the threshold for prosecution.

5. There are many affiliated crimes (again in the USA) like collecting passwords, pin numbers, user IDs, names, etc.... these are often done by bots and are criminal in nature... depending on the exact circumstances, and where the data was obtained.

6. And finally, the physical theft of data that does not use the internet in anyway (like what wikileaks typically does) ... which are not hacking.