Leaks and Hacks. When Is It Illegal To Get Hacked Essay

Leaks and Hacks. When Is It Illegal To Get Hacked - Essay Example The term is also used to describe variation of a program or mechanism to give the user entrance to computer features that otherwise would be inaccessible like the DIY circuit bending. Hacking has been considered a serious crime especially when one hacks in to a government. There are instances when some get involved in what is termed as "ethical hacking"; this is company's strategy to determine their security weaknesses or target for intruders. Even so, the ethical hacker may get in trouble with the law, it is therefore necessary that some one gets the Get out of jail Free Card (GOOJFC) which is a document that states that you have been authorized by someone in power to do so. Hacking is a federal crime and any cases of suspicion would be investigated by the federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ), the crime can never be expunged unlike the other state crimes, depending on the damage caused, one could also be sued for damages ion the civil court leading t o possible jail term or job termination. There are some critics who are proposing that any company hacked should be held responsible and make it a rule that it's illegal to be hacked. Taking Responsibility In the recent years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued claims and charged hefty fine to some companies that had leaked data to hackers. This of course brought about some critical questions about taking responsibility if the firm in question is hacked (Severson.1997, 36). Usually it's very difficult to stop a company's computer system from being hacked if not impossible; hence imposing liability to the affected company could result in unintentional consequences. The development of disclosure laws has played a great deal in revealing that some of the security breaches that have bee common over the pas t few years were actually due to negligence on the part of the corporate information technology (IT) team failing to lock down the data in any considerable mode. This revelation encouraged the pressure on companies that get hacked to take responsibility for the crime. The computer systems hold very critical information about consumers, company's corporate management, finances and other critical information that should not be accessed by just anybody; companies that leak such information should be help responsible (Hammond & Hammond 2003, 36). This is according to Slashdot post at info world. Imposing serious penalties on the involved companies especially on claims of negligence is also very risky undertaking on the company and consumers. This is because the regulations may be very strict and could result in unintended consequences bearing in mind that hacking is inevitable, companies may even totally stop accepting credit cards from customer since the liability could be very great (Severson.1997, 42). This means that people would have to forego the convenience of using credit cards to protect their safety. Most of the credit card users however would rather use their credit cards for convenience and risk their safety since benefits outweigh the chances of risk. Leaks and Hacks The difference between leaks and hacks is not very distinct as in leaking information facilitates hacking and it's likened to the difference between negligence and wickedness (Hammond & Hammond 2003, 39). This is the basis on which some penalty is imposed on companies with arguments that doing something stupid that hams others should be penalized. This is like the situation when a driver falls asleep at the wheel and because a fatal accident, it's quite justified to hold him accountable for being negligent with other people's life, in the same way a negligent