Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Geek Speak => Topic started by: syhprum on 05/02/2018 19:12:47

Title: How could an amateur hacker endanger USA government systems?
Post by: syhprum on 05/02/2018 19:12:47

I beggars belief that an amature hacker could hack into USA government computers , do millions of dollars worth of damage and endanger national security.
This is what Lauri Love is accused of doing making him liable to 99 years in jail, if I was an American IT technician in any way responsible for security I would expect to lose my job !

Title: Re: How could an amateur hacker endanger USA government systems?
Post by: alancalverd on 05/02/2018 19:27:10

Agreed. If anyone can access a nation's secrets through a public network, the target nation is at fault and certainly shouldn't be trusted with any other nation's secrets.

Same problem as "identity theft": if a bank parts with your money without your authority, the bank is wholly liable for a serious breach of contract.

Title: Re: How could an amateur hacker endanger USA government systems?
Post by: evan_au on 05/02/2018 21:01:00

Julian Assange started his career by hacking US government computers.
I guess it is such a big target that there must be some holes...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange#Hacking

Title: Re: How could an amateur hacker endanger USA government systems?
Post by: smart on 21/04/2018 21:32:51

You just cannot "hack" the US government system just like you can hack Linux... Someone who have malicious/hostile motivations to break into government computers should not be considered a "hacker" period.

tk

Title: Re: How could an amateur hacker endanger USA government systems?
Post by: Ophiolite on 22/04/2018 01:59:07

Quote from: tkadm30 on 21/04/2018 21:32:51

Someone who have malicious/hostile motivations to break into government computers should not be considered a "hacker" period.

As phrased, your post suggests you think that all hacking of government systems is malicious/hostile. It that was your intent note that there are other motivations for such hacking. For example,
1. A patriotic act to highlight weaknesses in the system.
2. A (probably) warped sense of fun.
3. An act to acquire status in the hacker community.
4. To satisfy ones own ego.

Title: Re: How could an amateur hacker endanger USA government systems?
Post by: evan_au on 22/04/2018 05:23:05

Quote from: tkadm30

Someone who have malicious/hostile motivations to break into government computers should not be considered a "hacker" period.

Every government has "professional" hackers who break into computers for:
- collecting evidence about crimes (in the USA, the FBI is one of the larger players)
- collecting information on foreign governments so they can attack them or defend against them (the US Cyber Command is a big player)
- spying on foreign citizens, companies and governments to gain a military, political or commercial advantage (the NSA is a big player here)
- What would you call these people?

They have basically the same skills as amateur hackers who do it for a hobby - but the government-funded hackers are probably more organised, have more formal training, and have access to more computer resources and university experts.

Title: Re: How could an amateur hacker endanger USA government systems?
Post by: Bored chemist on 22/04/2018 13:08:36

Quote from: tkadm30 on 21/04/2018 21:32:51

You just cannot "hack" the US government system just like you can hack Linux

Why not?
What's the difference?
In particular, given that some bits of the US govt system use Linux, how is it different.

I suspect the answer to the OP's question "How could an amateur hacker endanger USA government system" is  that the people who built it thought " We are the US govt! we are un-hackable!".

A bit like the Enigma coding machines which were used badly because everyone had been told they were "unbreakable".

Title: Re: How could an amateur hacker endanger USA government systems?
Post by: EricBoss on 23/04/2018 15:17:36

Quote from: syhprum on 05/02/2018 19:12:47

I beggars belief that an amature hacker could hack into USA government computers , do millions of dollars worth of damage and endanger national security.
This is what Lauri Love is accused of doing making him liable to 99 years in jail, if I was an American IT technician in any way responsible for security I would expect to lose my job !

The funniest thing are IT security companies. You can't secure a computer. If you can code it, you can decode it as well. The only way to limit "hacking" would be to only allow a person to use the computer for a certain amount of time. I have a feeling that will be implemented by local government if hacking continues. More lack of freedom coming soon . . .

Title: Re: How could an amateur hacker endanger USA government systems?
Post by: Bored chemist on 23/04/2018 21:19:10

I heard that the only unhackable computer was one that was switched off and not connected to anything.

Title: Re: How could an amateur hacker endanger USA government systems?
Post by: David Cooper on 07/05/2018 20:05:02

It's bonkers to punish people so harshly for hacking from a free country instead of doing it from the safety of a rogue state where they can't be caught - the latter type of hacker does inordinately more harm, while the former type serves as a canary, showing up the woeful faults in the "security" of the systems they're hacking into. They should always be given a job offer instead.