Hacking: The untold truths about hacking

Hacking has been associated with a lot of things both legal and illegal. The common image that comes to mind when people hear hacking is that of an individual wearing a mask with a disturbed radio-like robotic voice, a laptop probably wearing a red or black jumpsuit with a lot of pizza boxes thanks to Hollywood movies.

I will be telling you the facts and myths about hacking in this article. Here we go:

1. Myth: Hackers work in a dark room usually alone or in a very small group.

Truth: very far from the truth, many hackathons usually have day jobs, while some, unfortunately, work with the company they are hacking and they may or may not be working alone, it depends.

2. Myth: Hacking is usually a race against time

Truth: Another thing to thank Hollywood movies for are the scenes where the hackers are depicted to be running against time, with the famous ‘we will be in 5 mins’ line ,so funny. Hacking is a very strenuous, brain tasking and time-consuming activity. Hackathons spend days testing software or infrastructure before they strike and trust me hacking is not a child’s play.

3. Myth: Hackers can easily get your password.

Truth: discounting social engineering, most password hacks are usually done by scripts that take hours to run, usually trying different combinations. Breaking into phones and workstations is not as easy as it looks on the screen.

Interested in Cyber Security?Check out what honey pot means in cybersecurity

4. myth: It is all about zeros and ones 

Truth: If it was that easy and true, world commerce should be close to crumbling don’t you think so? All I need to do is know my zeroes and ones. Hackers like programmers use high-level programming languages deployed through command prompt, softwares.

5. Myth: Hacking is illegal

Truth: some people are paid to hack systems to know the weak points and help reinforce security. As long as there is consent it isn’t illegal.

What other myth about hacking have you heard?

Comment below and let’s discuss.

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