Securing Your Network From Crackers

Not all hackers are bad guys; some are just very curious individuals who simply have to know how secure a site really is. A good example is Adrian Lamo, who succeeded in hacking the sites of major companies such as Yahoo!, Google, and The New York Times. It turned out Lamo was actually a good Samaritan who informed his victims—at no cost—about the weaknesses in their networks' security systems.

However, there are hackers who try to get into companies' and individuals' computing systems with malice in mind. Strictly speaking, these people should be called “crackers,” a term used to distinguish them from the less harmful “hackers”. Crackers get into systems primarily to extract information that may be used against the owners and users of these systems. The most common crime associated with crackers recently is identity theft, which can be committed against both businesses and individuals.

Sometimes, all it takes to hack into a system is to crack the password of a single user in a network. Once a hacker gets into this user's account, they can enter the entire network and access the system's database. This is why securing passwords is very important both in business and personal computing systems. What may seem to be the most secure password can still be cracked by a determined hacker, making innovative password protection systems necessary.