The Effects Of Hacking
Computer hacking is a violation of computer security. This breach exposes
sensitive user information and risks privacy. The aim of computer hacking is to
expose confidential information such as banking and personal details. User
information in the hands of hackers makes the way for identity theft and other
types of illegal use.
The goal of some hackers is to disrupt production time in businesses by deleting sensitive
information and the corruption of files. Hacking can cause the loss of
productive time in a business as well as the loss of client’s personal data.
Business secrets are also a grave loss through the invasion of hackers.
Computer hacking has made huge technological advancements. Hackers have developed
software that enables them to produce software that enable key logging. This
software enables the recording of keystrokes of users to steal passwords and
account details. Other software can even render computers unusable for long
periods. For businesses this can be loss of business on websites. The DOS attack
is one such attack that refers to the attempt to make computer resources
unavailable to unauthorized users.
Hacking can expose email addresses to hackers, which they might use for spamming and
hampering email privacy. Information critical to national security, confidential government data, information related
to national defense, security and crime, if exposed by means of hacking, can
have grave consequences on the welfare of the nation. Hacking of highly
sensitive data can potentially risk the national security and stake the overall
well-being of the country's citizens.
Hacking can be used to convert computers into zombies i.e. Internet-enabled
computers that are compromised by hackers or Zombie computers are used for fraudulent activities like spamming and
phishing
Here are some of the ways to tell whether your computer has been hacked. A decline in the performance of your
computer, unexplained modification to files, sudden changes in network settings
of the computer and frequent disk crashes are some of the symptoms of a hacked
computer. The installation of reliable antivirus software, enabling a firewall
before connecting to the internet is an excellent start. Operating systems and
browser software updates are also important because as vulnerabilities are
uncovered and corrected the updates provide patches to close loopholes that
allow hackers to get to your system.
With the proliferation of these activities on the internet and World Wide
Web, it is hard to believe that these activities are illegal.
Our country has a data protection act that makes it a right to secure personal information. When hackers are uncovered
and some have been there have been severe fines and or imprisonment. The first
line of protection is up to us in taking steps to protect ourselves.