Hacking

 
 
 
 

Vocabulary

lab	classified	hack/hacker
nuclear	research	break/broke/broken
access	alarmed	investigate
FBI	identify	perpetrator
trial (2)	intrusion	infancy (2)
crime	issue (3)	associated with
scandal	scene (2)	differentiate
agenda	motivate	processor
reveal	security	make up your mind
greed	smuggle	legitimate
cyber	damage	steal/stole/stolen
evasion	paper (3)	vulnerable
exploit	make off	distinguish
legal	clear-cut	when it comes to
end up	case (3)	behavior (2)
expose	public (2)	define (2)
tax	payment	influential
fraud	term (2)	inherently
virtual	divide (2)	dividing line
flaw

 
 
 
 
 

Video: Hacking

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Hackers.

Are they good or bad?

In 1982 in the US, a group of six teenagers calling themselves the “Four-One-Fours” broke into some of the country’s classified computer systems, including one at a nuclear weapons research lab.

The public was alarmed.

The FBI investigated, and the perpetrators were identified. Some of them went on trial for the intrusions. And the term “hacking” began to be associated with crime.

But hackers are not all inherently bad: the computer security scene differentiates between good hackers and bad ones.

“White hats” have a legitimate agenda. For instance, they look for security flaws in computer systems to reveal or correct them.

“Grey hat” hackers haven’t quite made their minds up: they search for vulnerabilities in systems, and occasionally exploit them.

The “black hats” are bad. They’re often motivated by greed to damage computer systems or steal data, like in the 2008 cyber attack on one of the world’s largest payment processors.

The hackers in that case wrote their own software, smuggled it into the payment firm’s computer system, and made off with up to a hundred-and-thirty (130) million credit card numbers.

But distinguishing the color of a hacker’s hat isn’t always easy. When it comes to hacking, what’s right and what’s legal is not always clear-cut.

Sometimes illegal behavior can end up revealing other illegal behavior. A good example of this is the Panama Papers scandal.

In it, gray hat hackers accessed millions of documents illegally. Then they used them to expose tax evasion and fraud by well-known and influential people.

Back in 1982, with the Four-One-Fours, hacking was in its infancy. Now it’s become a massive issue in our digitally networked world.

And in the virtual world, just as in the real one, the dividing line between good and bad is sometimes very hard to define.

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Questions

1. Hacking began in the 1990s, with the proliferation of the internet. Is this right or wrong?

2. Where the early hackers renegade computer scientists?

3. Was the 1982 a minor event? What happened to the culprits?

4. All hackers are evil, malicious criminals. Is this entirely true, mostly true, partly true, yes and no, both, largely false, entirely false, or it depends?

5. Who are the white hats or “good hackers”? What do black hat hackers do?

6. Did hackers in 2008 transfer money from other company accounts to their own?

7. Can hacking be “good” or beneficial? What example was given?

 

A. My computer, account or app has been hacked. Yes or no?

B. Is hacking a serious issue in your company, institution or organization? Have there been problems?

C. There are many hackers and professional anti-hackers.

D. What might happen in the future?

E. What can or should institutions, organizations and individuals do?