Can hackers be stopped ?

Who are hackers, anyway ?


This Special Report is an excellent overview of
hackers and crackers, both the white hat side
and the black hat side of civilian efforts, and the
efforts of the government and its funded projects.

The article discusses the potential impact on
businesses as they depend more on the web.  It
also discusses how the stakes are getting higher
for consumers as they do more banking, stock
trading, and purchasing online while putting ever
more confidential information online.

The National Security Council feels that the major
threat is from foreign countries.  Countries have
already been identified that want to go after and
damage U.S. critical infrastructure components.

Of particular note is the discussion on Page 52 of
"inside jobs".  It is estimated there that up to 65%
of all incidents are created by disgruntled employees.

The dark side of hacking and cracking is discussed
too, as there are businesses out there that want to
compete so badly that they provide cash in exchange
for stolen information.

Sounds familiar from last week's article --- identity
thieves pay handsome cash fees to personnel clerks
for copies of complete files so that they can steal
the file's identity and run up huge bills.