Hands on Hacking

Chapter 2Hacking Ethically and Legally

Unfortunately, the term hacker has negative connotations for many who automatically attribute hacking to an illegal activity. Just like any professional however— be it a doctor, lawyer, or teacher—the job title hacker is neutral; we can have inept doctors, dishonest lawyers, and poor teachers, but we tend to assume that these roles are inherently “good”.

The following definition from Wikipedia outlines the term “hacker” as it has come to be understood in technical communities:

A computer hacker is any skilled computer expert who uses their technical knowledge to overcome a problem. While hacker can refer to any skilled computer programmer, the term has become associated in popular culture with a security hacker, someone who, with their technical knowledge, uses bugs or exploits to break into computer systems.

—Wikipedia, November 2018

Using bugs and exploits to break into computer systems is something you'll be doing a lot of in this book; breaking into computer systems is legal provided you have written permission to do so from the owner of the system. Using your skills and knowledge to gain unauthorized access—that is, access where you do not have permission—is most likely illegal where you live. Breaking the law is something that every ethical hacker and penetration tester needs to avoid. The goal of this chapter is to give you some guidelines for avoiding this predicament as well as a basic understanding of the legal, ethical, and ...