I.

CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS

 History of the word “Cyber”

Before there was cyberpunk or cybersecurity, there was cybernetics. In

the late 1940s, cybernetics arose as the study of control systems and
communications between people and machines. Today, it has evolved
into a transdisciplinary approach to regulatory systems. Cybernetics
influences game, system, and organizational theory.

Cybernetics derived from the Greek kubernētēs which refers to a pilot or

steersman. Related is the Greek word kubernēsis which means “the gift
of governance” and applies to leadership. Because the study of
cybernetics involved the fields of computer science, engineering, and
biology and their advancements, it calls to mind all things futuristic.

 Definition of “Cyber”

It is a combining form relating to information technology, the internet and

the virtual reality.

 Definition of “Cybercrime”

These are the crimes referring to the ones that were committed using a
computer and the Internet to steal data information.
  Definition of “Cybersecurity”

Internet Security/ Cyber Security is a branch of computer security

specifically related to the Internet.

Its objective is to establish rules and measure to use against attacks over
the Internet.

 Importance of Cybersecurity Awareness

The importance of cybersecurity awareness is not just about the

preventive measures on the Internet but also the cyber crimes that we are
encountering nowadays.

II. HACKING

 Definition of “Hacking”
This is the process of attempting to gain or successfully gaining, unauthorized
access to computer resources.

 History of Hacking

1903- Magician and inventor Nevil Maskelyne disrupts John Ambrose Fleming's
public demonstration of Guglielmo Marconi's purportedly secure wireless
telegraphy technology, sending insulting Morse code messages through the
auditorium's projector.

When hacking first started it was not thought of as that serious. The hackers
were not even known as hackers but as practical jokers. The very first hack came
in 1878 when the phone company, Bell Telephone, was started. A group of
teenage boys, hired to run the switchboards, would disconnect or misdirect calls.

NOTE:(This section is for the reporter/speaker only)

The first authentic computer hackers came in the 1960s. During those times,
computers were mainframes, locked away in temperature controlled, glassed in
areas. It cost a lot of money to run these machines, so programmers had limited
access to them. The smarter students, usually MIT students, had an insatiable
curiosity about how things worked. So, the smartest ones created what they
called "hacks", programming shortcuts, to complete computing tasks more
quickly. In some cases the shortcuts were better than the original program. One
of the hacks that was created in the 60s, 1969 to be exact, was created to act as
an open set of rules to run machines on the computer frontier. It was created by
 two employees from the Bell Lab's think tank. The two employees were Dennis
Ritchie and Ken Thompson and the "hack" was called UNIX.

 Famous Hackers

Kevin Mitnick used to be the most wanted computer criminal in US history. He

committed many offences, including stealing computer manuals from Pacific Bell,
hacking the North American Defense Command, and hacking the network of Digital
Equipment Corporation. After serving five years in prison, this once famous hacker
decided to become a white hat hacker, to work as a computer security consultant and
public speaker, and to run his own consulting firm.

Julian Assange started his activities as a hacker when he was 16 years old, under the
name “Mendax”. He has hacked into many government, educational and corporate
networks.

This famous hacker is mostly known for being the creator of WikiLeaks(research about
WikiLeaks) in 2006. The United States have launched an investigation against him, and he
is now living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

Gary McKinnon, working under the name “Solo”, has been responsible for the biggest
military computer hack of all times in 2002. He has accessed many computers belonging
to the NASA and the US Armed Forces, and has supposedly deleted several important
files.

Jonathan James, under the name “c0mrade”, started hacking computers when he was
15 years old. He hacked into commercial and government networks, including NASA and
the United States Department of Defense. He spent a few months in jail. He was then
accused of many network attacks in 2007. He claimed he was not involved, and eventually
committed suicide because he was afraid of being wrongfully convicted.

Michael Calce, under the name “Mafiaboy”, was 15 years old when he discovered how to
hack into the networks of university computers to attack Yahoo!, Amazon, Dell, eBay, and
CNN, among others. His actions raised concerns about cybercrimes, and the importance of
improving cybersecurity. He eventually became a security expert, writing a book about his
story, as well as a column on computer security for Le Journal de Montreal.
Anonymous is not a hacker, but a group of famous hackers who have assembled over the
concept of social justice to attack different targets, including Amazon, the Westboro Baptist
Church, and the Church of Scientology. Many businesses and IT services have taken
security measures to protect against these organized hacking attempts. Anonymous
started their activities in 2003, and since the group has no membership system and no
hierarchy, it’s impossible for the authorities to find all the hackers who claim to be a part of
it.

 What should you do to prevent your accounts from being hacked?