I was just perusing some old topics on this subject. Rather than rekindle a years old topic, I thought I would start a fresh one. Here is an interesting quote I found in the DP archives: Could someone possibly expand on that quote above? The legalities: If one hacks a site with ill intent; perhaps to close it down for example. I am assuming that is illegal and one can be prosecuted for it? Or does it depend on where you are located? Also, can a site actually be closed -- other than temporarily -- by hacking? One assumes that, as when my sites have been infiltrated in the past, one merely restores from a back up, changes passwords etc, and you are up and running again. About denial of service attacks: My understanding of these is that a site is sent a whole heap of hits from somewhere causing the server to shut down? Doesn't the server simply reboot and be operational again? I am seeking to discuss the legalities, the intentions of those who do it and the harm that can be done. All hypothetically naturally.
First of all, take a further step back and define hacking If your talking about "legalities" it will always depend on where you, your victims etc are as each country has its own laws and there are different relationships between different countries. By the standard definition of hacking, ie you gain control of the computer/ site, then in the UK it is illegal. As you say, you can always restore a site from back ups so no way to take down a site forever unless you can also delete the backups. The problem is naturally the lost data between the last backup and the restore. So orders that the customer has had confirmed and monies paid to you but you have no trace of what they ordered. A DoS is exactly that, yes rebooting the site will bring it back up but if the DoS attack is still ongoing then the site will just fall over again. DoS is not normally considered hacking as it makes a site unusable but doesn't take control of it. There is no such thing as black/ grey/ white hat hacking (imo).
'There are three different forms of hacking. White hat, Black hat, and Grey hat. ' ??? I think you are getting 'hacking' confused with 'search engine marketing'
White/Grey/Black Hat doesn't only describe types of SEO, it can be used a general term. Now about hacking, there is only one sure way to avoid legal trouble... don't do it.
I'm all ears. Perhaps you can give us a definition of 'white hat hacking'. And I'm not looking for a conjectured instance of a programmer being paid to try and break the security on a site by the site itself as a security test, because that is 'system testing', not 'hacking'. Nope, I think you were getting confused, and weren't big enough to admit it. And I quote:- You find it interesting, you want people to 'expand' on it, and now you claim you don't believe it? Yeah... right.
Ethical hacking is white hat... Grey hat would be hacking for the empowering feeling (although may be illegal now days), such as hacking root just to watch the server run with tons of users. Black hat would be straight up hacking, screwing up a server, stealing, redirecting payments, controlling accounts, etc. Thats just my perception of the 3 if you had to categorize hacking.
all types of hacking are illegal, if it's legal then it's not called hacking. hacking basically breaking entry without permission. if you have permission then it's not called hacking. wonder what is "white hat hacking"
Actually you are 100% wrong. Hacking is working with computer / problem solving where cracking is the illegal part... haha read it in some stupid programming book.
Actually you are the one that is 1000% wrong: One targets computers/ networks, the other software. Hacking, in the UK at least, is always illegal because its unauthorised access where as cracking is in itself not illegal but facilitates illegal activity (ie the redistribution of the now cracked software)