@chaski Said
2. electronic/computer scanning of networks, which (in the USA) is almost never a crime;
Im sure we have all booted up Wireshark and scanned a network out of interest. OK, maybe not all. But all those who are geekily orientated. Without intention of actually accessing the network.
Then you have things like Wi-Spy. I have done wireless site surveys for work reasons, I have picked up other networks, but Im not breaking any laws.
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3. electronic/computer probing of networks, which (in the USA) is almost never a Federal crime;
No comment
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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.
I wouldn't call it an attack. But if I were accused of acyber attack and there was evidence of me probing out possible vulnerabilities (ie logs) then it could be used as evidence.
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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.
This depends on what your definition of hacking is. Im going to stick with "unauthorised access" here, as White Hats although they hack, it is normally part of a security audit and they have permission to do so.
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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.
Yeah this isn't necessarily hacking but are normally techniques used by hackers.
Interesting point. Botnets and malicious software. It is only criminal once it is deployed (viruses) and used (Botnets). However to the best of my knowledge it is not illegal to actually posess a copy of the code itself. Same with a lot of tools used by Hackers. If these tools and software were made illegal, then how would we defend and test our systems against attacks??
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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.
Yeah I agree Wikileaks do not technically do anything wrong. But the act of aqquiring the information is still against the law. To me its still the same as someone going to my bank getting my details and getting someone to publish them on the web, but that's my view.
I know that when donations to wikileaks was stopped, the banks in question and paypal got a lot of attacks by Anonymous. Like I have said before, I think Anonymous have talented people, but messing with peoples businesses (and therefore livlihoods) and messing with peoples banks is something I disagree with especially when it comes down to defence of publishing stolen data and what I would personally call Treason.