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Brandon Grevious
Douglas
ENG 112
09/08/2014
Hacking Good or Bad ?

A hacker is someone who can gain unauthorized access to other computers by stealing
passwords, gaining information and bypassing security. By doing this hackers can see personal
information from other computers, which can cause a concern for a lot of people. The reader
read two articles on hacking, and both have very strong opinions on how they feel about hacking
activities. The article Hacktivist Collectives are Terrorist by author Phil Elmore who is a
freelance writer and contributor to the World Net Daily, is strongly against hacking. The title of
his article gave that away. While the other article titled Ethical Hacking improves Cyber
Security by author Sue Marquette Poremba from Security News Daily gave a different
perspective.
The Article Hacktivist Collectives are Terrorist says that the US National Security is
under cyber-attack from China, WikiLeaks and unnamed hackers that are attempting to destroy
the United States infrastructure. Author Phil Elmore feels that hackers are dangerous. He says
hackers are terrorist and those who excuse their actions are terrorist sympathizers (Elmore).
Hackers have become harder to monitor. In foreign countries like China it is very hard for the
United States to prosecute hackers. Elmore is against hacking, but he says hacking can be
helpful only when it is used for morally right reason, he states, When hackers distribute a
computer virus to disable Iran's nuclear program, they are arguably acting in the best interests of
all concerned (Elmore). After reading this article the reader can tell that the author Phil Elmore

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is all about what is right and what is wrong. He thinks hacking is bad, but can be used for
important things such as protecting the Country. The reader feels as though this article is weak
due to the fact that the author states a lot of personal opinions and doesnt really have and
evidence or proof to back up the statements that are made.
The Article Ethical Hacking improves Cybersecurity is all for hacking. Author Sue
Poremba believes that hacking is an important key to better improve cybersecurity. According to
Luke McOmie who is a data software provider, Ethical Hacking is the practice and exercise of
testing a company's security measures and business practices in an effort to identify
vulnerabilities and weaknesses that threaten their assets," (McOmie). Ethical Hackers and
malicious hackers both use the same tools to gain access to other computers. A company might
use Ethical Hackers to hack into systems to test and see how strong their security is or what
changes need to be made to make it stronger. Poremba believes that Ethical Hackers can give
insight on how hackers think and act, which can be helpful when it comes to making internet
security stronger. After reading this article the reader learned that not all hackers are bad and
that with the advancement in technology that Ethical Hackers are needed to protect people all
over the world. The author of this article made a good point about how hacking can help and
improve cybersecurity, the reader feels this article is the better out of the two simply because the
author states a lot of fact and has many reliable sources to back up his statements
Since the readers major is Software information Systems the reader would have to say
that the reader agrees with the second article Ethical Hacking Improves Cybersecurity. The
reader believes that hacking can help improve and protect information security technology for
individuals and organizations and companies. On the other hand the reader does understand
some of the points that the first article Hacktivist are Terrorist makes. The reader believes that

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if individuals use hacking for criminal reasons it is definitely unlawful and something should be
done to stop those individuals, but in order to learn more about hackers you need Ethical
Hackers. The article Ethical Hacking improves Cybersecurity had more factual information
and quotes than Hacktivist are Terrorist. Although both articles gave some great points the
reader feels as though Ethical Hacking improves Cybersecurity was overall better and factual.

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Works Cited
Elmore, Phil. "Hacktivist Collectives Are Terrorists." Hacking and Hackers. Ed. Margaret Haerens and
Lynn M. Zott. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Julian Assange
the Terrorist." WorldNetDaily.com. 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.
Poremba, Sue Marquette. "Ethical Hacking Improves Cybersecurity." Hacking and Hackers. Ed. Margaret
Haerens and Lynn M. Zott. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from
"How Ethical Hackers Make Computers Safer." SecurityNewsDaily. 2012. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.