The ethics of hacking and computer abuse: Australian case studies

Organisations spend large sums of money to ensure that they are protected
against the risks associated with external threats. The perceived threats
against organisations are well known, and the losses can be quantifiable.
The perceived threat considered here is that associated with hackers. Much
is known about hackers, their rationale, and their ethical views. However,
it is harder to quantify what computer abuse is and what the associated
losses are. This chapter focuses on hackers, computer abuse, and ethical
issues.

Hacking the undernet : libertarian limits, commercial containment

In this article, we explare a recent incident involving aprolonged and severe denial of service attack directed at the Undemet Intemet Relay Chat network. It put the future viabifity of Undernet in doubt; it took some months for service quality to be restored. The circumstances of the attack and the responses, both technical and social, within Undemet are enlightening in themselves, as we discuss. But they also allow us to explore, contrast, and match up the limits of the libertarianism that seems embedded in the socio-technics of the Intemet and the possible and actual containment of 'free' services in a 'free' market, through the operation of commercial transactions.

Google hacking defence based on honey pages

 Many web servers contain some dangerous pages (we name them eigenpages) that can indicate their vulnerabilities. Therefore, some worms such as Santy locate their targets by searching for these eigenpages in search engines with well-crafted queries. In this paper, we focus on the modeling and containment of these special worms targeting web applications. We propose a containment system based on honey pots. We make search engines randomly insert a few honey pages that will induce visitors to the pre-established honey pots among the search results for the arriving queries. And then infectious can be detected and reported to the search engines when their malicious scans hit the honey pots. We find that the Santy worm can be well stopped by inserting no more than two honey pages in every one hundred search results. We also solve the challenging issue to dynamically generate matching honey pages for those dynamically arriving queries. Finally, a prototype is implemented to prove the technical feasibility of this system. © 2013 by CESER Publications.

Computer hacking and cyber terrorism: The real threats in the new millennium?

As the new millennium approaches, we are living in a society that is increasingly dependent upon information technology. However, whilst technology can deliver a number of benefits, it also introduces new vulnerabilities that can be exploited by persons with the necessary technical skills. Hackers represent a well-known threat in this respect and are responsible for a significant degree of disruption and damage to information systems. However, they are not the only criminal element that has to be taken into consideration. Evidence suggests that technology is increasingly seen as potential tool for terrorist organizations. This is leading to the emergence of a new threat in the form of 'cyber terrorists', who attack technological infrastructures such as the Internet in order to help further their cause. The paper discusses the problems posed by these groups and considers the nature of the responses necessary to preserve the future security of our society.

Security practice: survey evidence from three countries

Computer security is becoming a global problem. Recent surveys show that there increased concern about security risks such as hackers. There is also an increase in the growth of Internet access around the world. This growth of the Internet has resulted in the development of new businesses such as e-commerce and with the new businesses come new associated security risks such as on-line fraud and hacking. Is it fair to assume the security practices are the same all over the world? The paper tries to look at security practices from a number of different countries perspective and tries to show that security practices are not generic and vary from country to country.

Penetration testing professional ethics : a conceptual model and taxonomy

In an environment where commercial software is continually patched to correct security flaws, penetration testing can provide organisations with a realistic assessment of their security posture. Penetration testing uses the same principles as criminal hackers to penetrate corporate networks and thereby verify the presence of software vulnerabilities. Network administrators can use the results of a penetration test to correct flaws and improve overall security. The use of hacking techniques, however, raises several ethical questions that centre on the integrity of the tester to maintain professional distance and uphold the profession. This paper discusses the ethics of penetration testing and presents our conceptual model and revised taxonomy.

Australian hackers and ethics

The aim of the paper is to look at the way hackers act and ways in which society can protect itself. The paper will show the current views and attitudes of hackers in an Australian context. The paper will also include a case study to show how a hacking incident can develop and how technology can be used to protect against hacking.

The pubstro phenomenon : Robin Hoods of the internet

This paper presents a case study of a compromised Web server that was being used to distribute illegal 'warez'. The mechanism by which the server was compromised is discussed as if the way in which it was found. The hacker organisations that engage in these activities are viewed as a Virtual Community and their rules and code of ethics investigated.

A taxonomy of penetration testing ethics

In an environment where commercial software is continually patched to correct security flaws, penetration testing can provide organisations with a realistic assessment of their security posture. Penetration testing uses the same principles as criminal hackers to penetrate corporate networks and thereby verify the presence of software vulnerabilities. Network administrators can use the results of a penetration test to correct flaws and improve overall security. The use of hacking techniques, however, raises several ethical questions that centre on the integrity of the tester to maintain professional distance and uphold the profession. This paper discusses the ethics of penetration testing and presents our conceptual model and revised taxonomy.

Attitudes of Australian information system managers against online attackers

Examines the attitudes of Australian IS/IT managers to the concept of cyber-vigilantism. Also, it explores the policies and procedures which have been set in place by various organisations to cope with concerted attacks on their systems. It finds that although a majority of managers do approve of the concept of “striking back”, only a minority are prepared for this eventuality. There appears to be complacency about the threats posed by organised, offensive attackers.

What is it about hackers and sexy selfies?

While privacy is a growing issue for our digital selves, Martin Hirst (p.27) chronicles how our identities in the physical world are at an increasing risk of privacy breaches. Recent examples are the “hacking” of the voicemail messages of public figures by British journalists, and the widespread sharing of nude photographs stolen from their “cloud” accounts of celebrities.

The Syrian electronic army – a hacktivist group

Purpose – The aim of the paper is to assess the hacktivist group called the Syrian Electronic Army and determine what their motivations in terms of ethical and poetical motivations.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper looks at chronological examples of Syrian Electronic Army activities and assess them using a developed hacktivist criteria to try and gain a greater understanding of the motivations of the Syrian Electronic Army. The paper uses a netnography research approach.
Findings – This paper determines that the Syrian Electronic Army is motivated to protect the Syrian Government. This protection is highlighted by the new media and social media organisations that theSyrian Electronic Army attacks online.
Research limitations/implications – This paper focuses only on one group the Syrian Electronic Army.
Practical implications – A greater understanding of the Syrian Electronic Army.
Social implications – A greater understanding of the development of hacktivism.
Originality/value – A unique study into the motivation of the Syrian Electronic Army.

Combating cyber attacks in cloud computing using machine learning techniques.

An extensive investigative survey on Cloud Computing with the main focus on gaps that is slowing down Cloud adoption as well as reviewing the threat remediation challenges. Some experimentally supported thoughts on novel approaches to address some of the widely discussed cyber-attack types using machine learning techniques. The thoughts have been constructed in such a way so that Cloud customers can detect the cyber-attacks in their VM without much help from Cloud service provider