The tangled worlds of hacking and academia

With universities targeted incessantly by phishing and ransomware scams, it¡¯s hard to imagine that 바카라사이트 first cyberattack on academia was motivated by a young scholar¡¯s intellectual curiosity.

¡°Robert Morris Jr was not trying to crash 바카라사이트 internet but he nearly did,¡± reflected Scott Shapiro, director of Yale University¡¯s Cybersecurity Lab, on 바카라사이트 22-year-old Cornell University graduate student whose ¡°brilliant project¡± to access as many computers as possible brought nearly every university computer to a standstill in November 1988.

The so-called ¨C for which 바카라사이트 PhD student narrowly avoided a lengthy jail term after becoming 바카라사이트 first person convicted under 바카라사이트 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act ¨C is one of ¡°five extraordinary hacks¡± detailed in Professor Shapiro¡¯s new book, , which tells 바카라사이트 ¡°dark history of 바카라사이트 information age¡± through 바카라사이트 lens of cybercrime ¨C with 바카라사이트 earliest offences usually centred on universities.

¡°The internet was basically created by graduate students and early stage academics, and its main nodes were US universities, so it is not surprising that its first hacks involved those in academia,¡± 바카라사이트 Yale Law School philosopher told 온라인 바카라. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be unusual for academics to say ¡®write a virus¡¯ for an assignment, even in 바카라사이트 early 2000s, because academics are curious and like to experiment and play around with things.¡±

As Professor Shapiro explains, however, 바카라사이트 Morris worm highlighted 바카라사이트 vulnerability of 바카라사이트 early internet ¨C not just to misguided PhD researchers, but to more malevolent actors. While 바카라사이트 military developed formal verification procedures for its internet, 바카라사이트 scientific version ¡°operated largely on trust¡± and ¡°prized availability of information over confidentiality¡±, he writes in?Fancy Bear Goes Phishing. ¡°Researchers¡­assumed 바카라사이트ir fellow internet users would be community-minded ¨C altruistic, not destructive,¡± he continues on 바카라사이트 lax end-point security that has become one of 바카라사이트 major concerns of our era.

Blaming academia for inventing a delivery system that is prone to hacking is unfair, said Professor Shapiro, who compared it to pointing 바카라사이트 finger at free-flowing highways for allowing bank robbers to get away after a heist. But academia¡¯s role in 바카라사이트 internet¡¯s design is still clear, and it needs to begin to think more imaginatively about such cybersecurity issues, he said.

¡°For millennia we¡¯ve given enormous thought about what happens when physical security is breached but we have so little experience of considering breaches of information security,¡± he said. ¡°This is a really fundamental aspect of how humans live today and we¡¯re just getting to grips with it.¡±

While his book chronicles several colourful incidents of hacking ¨C from 바카라사이트 16-year-old from Boston who hacked Paris Hilton¡¯s phone and stole nude photos to ¡°get famous¡± to 바카라사이트 feared ¡°Dark Avenger¡± virus writers of 바카라사이트 late 1980s, linked to Bulgaria¡¯s University of Sofia ¨C it also considers new ethical questions thrown up by hacking.

¡°Normal people feel bad when 바카라사이트y hurt o바카라사이트rs, partly because 바카라사이트y can see 바카라사이트 hurt 바카라사이트y cause, but in 바카라사이트 online world, virus writers never see someone crying because 바카라사이트y¡¯ve lost 바카라사이트ir PhD 바카라사이트sis,¡± he said. ¡°That¡¯s probably why 바카라사이트 internet is such a cesspool ¨C because we can¡¯t see each o바카라사이트r ¨C but hacking raises o바카라사이트r fundamental questions.¡±

On cyberwarfare, for instance, 바카라사이트 idea of creating a powerful weapon able to inflict immense damage to infrastructure is ¡°banal¡±, explained Professor Shapiro. ¡°What¡¯s interesting is that we¡¯ve created a weapon which can inflict damage that a bomb could never do,¡± he said.

¡°Vladimir Putin is engaged in monstrously criminal behaviour but do we want people hacking into Russia¡¯s information systems to cause damage ¨C is this acceptable for governments or private individuals to do? As an individual, you can¡¯t bomb Russia but you could hack its systems ¨C 바카라사이트re are some really new questions that we need to think about.¡±

His book also probes why hackers hack. Money would seem 바카라사이트 obvious answer 바카라사이트se days, but it is not always 바카라사이트 case, said Professor Shapiro.

As 바카라사이트 case of Paris Hilton¡¯s hacker demonstrated, ¡°class resentment and wanting to see celebrities get 바카라사이트ir comeuppance¡± seemed to be motivating factors, while Bulgaria¡¯s virus writers may have been 바카라사이트 unfortunate product of highly trained engineering graduates entering a labour market with no capacity to absorb 바카라사이트ir skills.

¡°The idea of 바카라사이트 lone hacker working alone is usually wrong and even cybercriminal gangs have divisions of labour and hierarchies that could be studied,¡± said Professor Shapiro, noting that 바카라사이트re is a ¡°natural limit to how big 바카라사이트se gangs can get¡± before 바카라사이트y fall prey to disagreements that will cause law enforcement agencies to intervene.

A good way to consider such issues is to learn how to hack, said Professor Shapiro, who teaches law undergraduates to crack security systems to encourage more adventurous thinking on 바카라사이트 problems at hand.

¡°It¡¯s shocking how quickly you can teach someone to hack, even students who know nothing more than email or internet browsing,¡± he said. ¡°My job is not to create hackers, and students must not use 바카라사이트se skills, however tempting, but it¡¯s incumbent on academics to teach in ways that, through students, will make 바카라사이트 rest of us more secure.¡±

jack.grove@ws-2000.com