How to hire a hacker? It's right? 4b555e

Despite being commonly associated with illicit practices and individuals of dubious nature, the word hacker, in fact, refers to a subculture related to the field of technology and computing. With the advent of an increasingly interconnected society, the importance and influence of hackers in the job market grew to the point of becoming a professional category of their own. r2y3x

Thus, companies around the world seek to know how to hire a hacker to try to understand the digital contemporaneity and adapt to issues involving the virtual security of both their own assets and their employees.

Demand for hackers and cybersecurity rises 83% in 2022 1c3u5z

In Brazil, specifically, hacker services have started to be taken more seriously in recent years. second data from brasscom, the Association of Information and Communication Technology Companies, Brazil has a deficit of twenty-four thousand technology specialists trained to work with cybersecurity — that is, if there is a deficit, there is a demand that cannot be met. Every year, Brazil trains around forty-six thousand IT professionals, but these numbers fall short of the market's needs, since the break-even point should be around seventy thousand professionals.

It is noted that this demand is still far from being met and it is believed that it will increase. According to the PwC Digital Trusts Insights report, the trend is that 83% of companies in Brazil end up having to increase investment in cybersecurity throughout 2022. Another trend is that cybersecurity spending will also grow by around 69%, a percentage higher than the leap from the previous year to the past, when the increase in investment by Brazilian companies was 55%.

Such a trend is still one of the extended effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the exponential growth of digitally operated businesses, there was also 330% increase related to hacking activity in the face of the mass adoption of home office that were not so common before. Before, personal and work computers were separate machines, but there is a convergence of these functions to a single machine, which increases the information flow and becomes a gold mine for bad-natured hackers.

However, not every hacker fits this description, as there are also professionals who work precisely to avoid the action of cybercriminals and, as has been seen, it is a market with a shortage of professionals. According to information from Inter, a digital recruitment company, there was a 265% growth in revenue from the action of professional hackers, with a 125% increase in its customer base, especially with regard to the big retail brands that are able to understand the importance of this kind of service.

Thus, observing the opportunities in the face of an increasing demand for cybersecurity, there was the emergence of a “hacker market” of consultants and professionals who turned to fill this gap. In the same way, there are certain recruitment and human resources companies that have specialized in this area, facilitating the action of entrepreneurs concerned with the security of their company's systems.

It is also possible to co-opt these hackers directly, but hiring such intermediaries speeds up the process. THE Intera, for example, specialized in attracting talent to the point of guaranteeing 90% assertiveness and reducing the search time for a skilled hacker by 80%. Another Brazilian company specializing in cybersecurity is saftec, which also specializes in the area and offers services ranging from network monitoring to digital law.

Thus, it is important to understand that a hacker does not always correspond to an individual who acts on the internet committing crimes against unsuspecting s. In fact, it is just a category within this classification that has to do with a kind of lifestyle and code of conduct that originated in the counterculture of the 60s and that generated fruits that are harvested to this day in the professional market. 

What is a hacker? g6o63

The idea of ​​what a hacker is and what can be called a “hacker culture” dates back to the 60s, originating from a group of computer enthusiasts in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (the MIT) called Tech Model Railroad Club. Having housed famous names in the field of technology, such as Steve Russell (responsible for creating Spacewar, first widely distributed video game), the TMRC was a kind of shelter for a group of technology enthusiasts where they could develop their skills.

It was in this club that the term “hack” emerged in order to define the activity of modifying computers and systems in order to improve their functions. More than that, the hacking it became a kind of way of life, an ideology to be followed, with its own code of ethics. According to Steven Levy in Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolutionl (1994), computers can change our lives for the better and, therefore, should be freely and unlimitedly accessible, just like information.

Hackers believe that essential lessons can be learned about the system of how the world works by taking the components apart, seeing how they work, and using that knowledge to create new and more interesting things.

LEVY, Stephen. Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. New York: Dell Publishing, 1994, pages 32-33, free translation.

For them, computing is a reflection of the world (and vice versa), and the main objective of a hacker is the constant improvement of any and all systems, always looking for flaws and trying to solve them. It's like it's a primal instinct to try to correct mistakes and seek ever more perfect systems. For hackers, this type of practice is comparable to artistic production, with each individual having their own programming logic, a kind of signature.

Another important aspect of hacker culture is that, in order to improve systems, hackers also aim to improve themselves and prove their own quality to their peers, showing their expertise and unique skills and proving themselves to be the best of hackers. The valuation of a hacker within a community is indifferent to his gender and age, as long as he is good. MafiaBoy, one of the most notorious hackers in the world and known for taking down websites of big brands such as Yahoo and CNN when he was only 15 years old at the time of the deed, explains a situation applicable to such a characteristic of the hacker culture that happened to him:

I literally walked into one of the chat rooms and said, “I'm going to show you guys that I can do this. List for me who you consider the most powerful networks in the world and I will take them down.” Several suggestions were sent, one of them was the CNN network. So I said, “Okay, CNN? CNN in 30 seconds,” and then CNN was down, including 1.500 other sites that were hosted on the company's servers. The motivation was to scare and make every other hacker on IRC submit in some way.

MafiaBoy, in an exclusive interview for Showmetech

According to hacker ethics code, all information needs to be free. Usually linked to this “commandment”, there is another one that encourages the disbelief to the authorities and promotion of decentralization, since often the idea that such information is constantly monopolized by figures considered authorities and the best way to maintain a system in which information can flow freely is precisely open systems free from limiting authorities. It is precisely in the ambiguous interpretation of this ideal that conflicts about the nature of the hacker community arise.

How to find a reliable hacker? t166l

To hire a hacker, it is necessary, initially, to take some care. As we have seen, the issue of certification is important, but it is also necessary to take into the nature of whom we want to hire. After all, we can't trust our cybersecurity to just anyone, can we?

Although it is a common idea to stereotype that “hackers live on the Dark Web”, or even that they only accept bitcoin payments because they are hard to track virtual currencies and the like, such ideas, when witnessed in real life, are considerably problematic and can rightly trigger an alert. , since “good” hackers don't need to hide behind this type of gimmick. After all, what we want is nothing illegal.

This is because taking precautions is nothing outside the law. If you think your company is vulnerable or even already suspects that there is something wrong with it, suspecting that the systems have already been victims of suspicious activity — on of crashes, slowness, files disappearing, vestigial files without justification — it might be a good idea to go find someone who can make a diagnosis.

Thus, in of completely legalized practices, there is no need to dig into the deepest layers of the internet underworld. A simple search for service sites on the net can greatly facilitate this practice. One of them, for example, is the GetNinjas, a portal that aims to make the connection between business developer and those who need them. On the website itself there is the category “IT services“, which may fit the quest for a cybersecurity hacker expert.

It is also possible to find these professionals directly in the training centers. For example, Brazil has the Hackaflag Academy, a specialized platform whose mission is to develop computer professionals in the area of ​​cybersecurity. They themselves have a method called “in Company“, which provides the services of the wards themselves to companies that need them. On their website there is a tab, which shows that they are open to those who have this type of need.

In addition, we have also mentioned two companies focused on cybersecurity in this same report, such as Intera and saftec. As they are specialists, they can suggest the best actions and services according to the company's needs, Custom. Communication is therefore very important. Costs, in turn, will obviously vary according to the specificity and scope of the service. The hiring process may also vary depending on the policy of the intermediary or hacker in question.

Note that some services that seem to need specialized hacking can sometimes be solved in a more practical way. One hacker can identify a cloned cell phone, but actions can be taken by reporting the distrust directly to the mobile operator. On occasions like these, the hacker himself will also recommend this type of action, in addition to suggesting changing s, configuring a two-step and others. common online safety practices. Of course, the opinion of such an expert is always important, if it is possible and available.

It is worth noting that social media intrusions, such as Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn, or the irregular collection of information from someone, attacks against digital security fall under of an individual, as protected by the General Data Protection Law and the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet. Therefore, they are illegal practices. The same goes for intrusions against websites and online servers. We don't even need to go into detail about the bank information, do we?

What is a hacker for? 6t5044

Commonly classified as experts in technologies and systems, hackers have a role in understanding our increasingly interconnected society and helping to build and maintain it in a safe and optimized way. Hackers see the world as systems and therefore always see room for improvement.

Considering that society aims at a constant migration to digital environments, it is important that we have specialists in such systems so that ordinary people, without an interest in this type of knowledge, can feel safe and protected.

That's where this dichotomy comes from. Hackers have an increasingly important and present social function in our daily lives, even if we often do not see them acting in a practical way and even end up in the news for illicit and immoral practices. However, there are those who care and care for a peaceful interconnected society free from threats, even from malicious hackers.

White Hat/Black Hat 2d6v1l

The way the Hacker Code of Ethics is interpreted by the community is quite varied, which made hackers themselves end up being categorized into different definitions according to their way of acting.

The hacker who corresponds to a negative stereotypical view, the one responsible for invading vulnerable systems looking for other people's information and who promotes network disorder is customarily called Black Hat (the black hat hackers, in free translation), since it justifies its illicit actions through the commandment of the decentralization of authority and informational freedom, even if it is related to private information. They are still hackers, but they still don't represent the whole of this subculture. Occasionally they are also called crackers.

Kevin Poulsen, for example, was a notorious Black Hat Hacker in the 80s known as the “Hannibal Lecter of Hackers”. He gained fame for hacking the phone lines of radio stations to win a car. Today, he is retired and, after getting out of jail, he became a journalist specializing in technology.

On the other hand, hackers White Hat (white hat hackers) are those who are concerned with building increasingly secure systems. From this point of view, he is normally responsible for finding faults in systems to either notify those responsible (in a discreet manner), or resolve them in their entirety. Well-known names in the market, such as Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, Tim Berners-Lee, responsible for the WWW protocol, and classic of the TMC, such as Steve Russell, are considered White Hat.

In addition to these two, there is also a kind of middle ground called gray hat (gray hat hackers), who usually identify system failures and rescue data related to them, but do not actually commit crimes. A very paradigmatic case related to Gray Hat was in February 2021, when the Ministry of Health was invaded by a hacker who simply left a message publicly warning of system flaws and leaving an ultimatum that the next attacker might not be as good as he was.

Months later, in December, the same Ministry of Health was the target of a new hacker attack. Apparently without listening to Gray Hat's advice from months ago, another group invaded the system and ended up hijacking the data referring to ConectSUS, taking the site down and leaving only a warning. Considering that such an attack jeopardizes national security and therefore commits a crime, it may well be framed as Black Hats action.

A curiosity: this classification came from a convention of old western movies where the good guys were recognized precisely by the white cowboy hat, while the bad guys were quickly identified by the black hat.

Common good hacker services 2m6v5y

The Ministry of Health was even warned by a Gray Hat Hacker about the vulnerability of the system, wasn't it? Theoretically, the next step to be followed by those responsible for the Ministry of Health was to check the integrity of the systems involved. For this, the ideal was to hire professional hackers and experts to find the flaws present in the system and then fix them to avoid potential consequences if the vulnerabilities are exploited.

Thus, White Hat Hackers are considered the good guys responsible for identifying potential open loopholes and then closing them. This practice takes place not only by analyzing the system and pointing out such flaws, but also by forcing intrusions — obviously programmed and previously warned to their contractors — in order to simulate the context and variables existing in a real attack.

That's why a "good" hacker also needs to have excellent knowledge in tactics considered illicit, as he needs to always be one step ahead of those with less noble intentions. Knowledge about how malwares and other viruses act is important because it can prevent the system, which can be reprogrammed to behave more safely in the face of adversity.

In addition to understanding systems at a technical level, professional White Hat hackers also need to have knowledge of social engineering, that is, referring to the behavioral understanding of the very employees of a company for which he is working and ing the integrity.

O human factor still bears a lot of responsibility for possible breaches that may arise in a company's systems. That's why hackers themselves conduct fraudulent email campaigns — again and again, always targeting with the contractor's authorization — to be able to identify weaknesses in the employees themselves, who end up having difficulty differentiating a real email from a harmful one.

This also has a lot to do with social engineering, a branch of information security that involves emotional and psychological manipulation to acquire data considered confidential, often welcomed through conversation and persuasion.

It is noted that this incessant search for the flaws of a system still corresponds with interpretations of the hacker code of ethics instituted by the Tech Model Railroad Club. After all, hackers work to continually improve systems to make them more and more efficient — and the systematic composition of a company is made not only by computers, code and technological equipment, but also by the people who use them.

In a practical example and within the governmental sphere, for example, White Hackers are commonly recruited by the Superior Electoral Court to participate in the conduct of Public Safety Testing (the TPS) with the objective of simulating in a controlled way the conditions of an election and trying to identify potential failures in the systems by carrying out various tests related to electronic voting machines.

It should be noted that computational understanding is not exactly the only requirement needed to officially become a White Hacker or a professional hacker. It is necessary to be reliable and, for that, there are certifications that can be conferred by respected bodies for those who intend to follow this path. THE EC Council, for example, is an organization specializing in cybersecurity focused on electronic commerce and is qualified to grant this type of diploma. THE Foundstone Ultimate Hacking, from McAfee, is another entity that was even a pioneer in granting this type of certification.

Common Evil Hacker Services (And Why They're Illegal) 3c1h3v

While White Hat aims to strengthen systems, Black Hat aims at just the opposite, exploiting system flaws for their own benefit in activities considered illegal, configured as cybercrimes. As with any crime, there are laws determining what illegal activities are and, from this point of view, a cybercriminal, even being in a network environment that he believes he has conquered, is still susceptible because he is a physical individual who responds to the laws. of a country where you are a citizen.

For example, the security of a citizen's digital information is guaranteed by the law corresponding to the Internet Civil Landmarks, enacted in 2014 and which, despite some controversies, was considered a pioneer in of policies related to networks and the virtual environment as a whole. Since the Marco Civil da Internet is a law that ensures the confidentiality of our data, invasion attempts can be considered a crime under Brazilian law. The same goes for the General Law of Data Protection.

In addition to the end goals that can be seen as shady, the means used by Black Hat are also subject to judgment. For example, aiming at cryptocurrency mining, it is not uncommon to invade third-party computers in order to install mining scripts without the knowing, using other people's machines for their own gain.

To this end, it is common for Black Hat Hackers to take advantage of invading code and scripts (such as Trojans and other Malware) in disagreement with the and conditions of the operating systems that also assume the role of guaranteeing the 's safety (as if the failure to comply with the State's own legislation was not sufficient reason).

The same goes for those who maintain pages aimed at illegal practices, ranging from making pirated content available to selling drugs or maintaining networks of illicit pornographic material, who constantly need to remain outside the law so that those responsible do not get caught and can keep their business underground — often operating on parallel networks like the Deep Web and the Dark Web.

It is worth noting that the social engineering and Phishing — fraudulent emails and websites that masquerade as official — are also methods used by black hats, especially on the most unsuspecting.

That is why, in the end, cybersecurity is a topic that is increasingly discussed and taken into in our interconnected world today, whether in situations that involve small to large companies, which involve the citizen as an individual to important government bodies.

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Marcus Hutchins is a known hacker to have found a flaw in the powerful Wannacry virus, but this has brought his black hat history to the fore and brought it to the attention of the authorities. Check your story.

Sources: Forbes, pandasecurity, CNN, New York Times, PrimeIt, UFSC, brasscom