proportions. There are a couple of interesting sides to this business. Mark Seiden tests the vulnerability of corporate computer networks to hackers. Please read about his business and the general problem of intrusion into information systems in an article published in the New York Times available in Proquest.
Rivlin, G. (2005, Jul 31). The Sniffer vs. the Cybercrooks. New York Times, pp. 3.1. [Available at Trident online library]
SourceFire is a company that provides intrusion prevention solutions to its clients such as saleforce.com. Please check out the overview of its solution to get some sense of its views on vulnerability, cost, and solution.
SourceFire (2012). SourceFire Solutions Overview.
In addition, read the following article available at Proquest at our TUI virtual library:
Cross, T. (2006). Academic freedom and the hacker ethic. Communications of the ACM, 49(6), 37-40.
There aren`t a lot of businesses apart from organized crime where the boundaries between the Good Guys/White Hats and the Bad Guys/Black Hats become obscure, but information security is one of them. You might want to review a site on "hackers." PBS`s Frontline also has interviewed hackers and provided information of their culture and understanding:
Frontline. Hackers, a report on the explints of hackers and how they have highlighted the internet`s insecurities. FRONTLINE. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hackers/
Darnet.com (2012). http://www.darknet.org.uk/
Case assignment
There is material in the background information bearing on these questions, and you may wish to do further research yourself by following up some of the links or other references.
When you`ve had a chance to review these materials, and think about the issues involved, please prepare a 3-5 page paper addressing the question:
"Should you hire an experienced hacker to protect your IT systems? Or is there such a thing as too much experience on the "dark side" of the law?"
Case Assignment Expectations
Use information from the modular background readings as well as any good quality resource you can find. Please cite all sources and provide a reference list at the end of your paper.
The following items will be assessed in particular:
- Your ability to consolidate ideas from reading materials.
- Your argument to support your position.