Guarding Against Cyber Threats: Tools and Techniques for the New Year

The Right Toolbox Every hacker needs the right tools – programs and scripts – to help discover and exploit weaknesses in applications, endpoints, and networks. An essential point to cover is: what is a hacker? Some conceive of a hacker as a criminal. Others think of hackers as dangerous. I like this extended quote from the site, “Hacking is Not a Crime.” (1) “…being a hacker is an identity, lifestyle, and mindset. It is not a fashion statement or a movie character. A hacker is an inquisitive critical thinker who solves complex problems in an unorthodox manner. The means by which these are solved — be it social, financial, economic, political, technological, or otherwise — is "hacking"...We therefore assert that all hackers are implicitly ethical. It is not just the motive by which our persona should be characterized, it is the intent by which it should be. Hacking therefore, should....