Is Hacking Ethical?

Yes, hacking is ethical. However, an objection can be raised to assert that hacking has never been ethical. This is because it entails people with certain technological skills accessing other people’s systems without their permission. On most occasions, it has resulted to theft of important information, some of which ought to have remained private. Some hackers that obtain information using such a mechanism use it as blackmail to gain financially. People have information that they are willing to pay any amount just to make sure it does not go public (Basta & Brown, 2016).

There have been scenarios in the past where nude photos of celebrities had been leaked by unknown hackers. Such aspects are likely to taint the image of these people since the society views them with high regard. Trade secrets have also been stolen through hacking. Such actions result to the objection that hacking is not ethical.

Nonetheless, the objection does not hold since it is through hacking that such vulnerabilities to data and other information can be deterred. When a company develops a certain system, it is prudent to determine whether the system is secure. Which is the best way to do this? The only answer that comes to mind is hacking. Such a company employs hackers who try to bypass the security that has been set-up. The main objective here is to identify weak points that might be exploited by individuals with the objective of breaching the company’s security. This helps in developing a firewall that would help to protect the company from such eventualities (Basta & Brown, 2016). Based on this, it is sensible to conclude that hacking is ethical. It helps to protect systems from being breached by helping anticipate potential vulnerabilities in advance.

 

Reference

Basta, A., & Brown, ‎M. (2016). Computer Security and Penetration Testing (2nd ed.). Cengage Learning: Boston.
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