So just what is a hacker? There are so many movies about hackers, so many idea’s & definitions of that word that we couldn’t possibly begin to talk about them all. Everyone has a different take. The term "hacker" has come to mean "someone who can break into my computer" and it's fair to say that a lot of fear & mystery has been attached to it. But not all hackers are bad. Universities around the world are teaching hacking skills, and these skills are being used to help governments, businesses, and individuals protect themselves from the bad guys. That's where we get the Cyber Security Professionals from.
Many governments including the Australian Government run “hacking competitions” to find the best people to deal with the worlds emerging cyber threats that might be aimed at the technology that we use every day. They train to protect the technology that is used to run airports, shipping, water supplies and so on. A great example of these competitions can be found by Googling Cyber Challenge Australia.
These are the good guys, the ones who find the weak spots in our systems and tell us how to fix them. They’re often known as "white hat" or "ethical hackers" and they are not the ones that we need to worry about, so after this post, we won't really talk about them. But without them working against the Bad Guys, the world might just be a whole lot more dangerous. So, from here on in, we will be focusing on the Bad Guys, what they do, and how that can affect you and your business.
So what's up next? The Bad Guys and what they do