In the TED Talk, Hackers: the Internet’s immune system, by Keren Elazari, she discusses the topic of hackers in today’s society. She goes further in detail about hacker mentality and the Ethical vs Legal standpoint regarding hacking.
Until recently, hackers have been seen as a menace to society; exploiting holes in the internet for self-gain. These kinds of people are considered Black Hat hackers. Hackers are categorized in either Black Hat hackers, hackers who do it for themselves, and White Hat hackers, ones who try to alert users of vulnerabilities. White Hat hackers, once they find a bug, report the issue to the company. However, now we are beginning to realize the importance of these people.
Keren tells stories about White Hat hackers and how companies sometimes do not listen to the threats that get reported. Often, it took Black Hat strategies by White Hat hackers to get these companies to listen and act upon the security threats. This is where the gray zone of the internet begins. Hacking of any sort is illegal, and by doing this, they are breaking the law. However, they are not destructive nor steal information. Today’s society has not fully adjusted to the usefulness of hackers. The laws in place currently still want to punish them and don’t offer them useful jobs. A few countries around the world have begun reshaping their laws to allow government employed hackers. This is the first step in accepting White Hat hackers and utilizing their skills to better programs and websites.
Hackers have been, currently are, and will be causing problems in society. Either from stolen personal information or just being annoying, people do not like when we encounter bugs. We as a society need to accept White Hat hackers and offer them jobs to find the bugs and vulnerabilities.