The first big-name hackers include Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds, all now highly recognisable names behind many of the computer technologies used today. These early hackers had a love of technology and a compelling need to know how it all worked, and their goal was to push programs beyond what they were designed to do. Back then, the word "hacker" didn’t have the negative connotation it has today. The original hacker ethic, rooted out of simple curiosity and a need to be challenged, appears to be dead.
The objectives of early hackers are a far cry from the goals of today’s hackers. The motivation of the new breed of hackers appears not to be curiosity, or a hunger for knowledge, as it used to be. Instead, most of today’s hackers are driven by greed, power, revenge, or some other malicious intent, treating hacking as a game or sport, employing the tools that are readily available via the Internet.
The rate of security attacks is actually outpacing the growth of the Internet. This means that something besides the growth of the Internet is driving the rise in security attacks. Here are some realities you should know about: Operating systems and applications will never be secure. New vulnerabilities will be introduced into your environment every day. And even if you ever do get one operating system secure, there will be new operating systems with new vulnerabilities--phones, wireless devices, and network appliances. Employees will never keep up with security polices and awareness. It doesn’t matter how much you train and educate your employees. If your employees disregard warnings about the hazards of opening questionable email attachments, how are you going to educate them about properly configuring firewalls and intrusion detection systems for their PCs Managers have more responsibility than ever. And on top of the realities listed above, security managers are being asked to support increasing degrees of network availability and access.
There are some good security measures you can take: Employ a layer 7, full-inspection firewall. Automatically update your anti-virus at the gateway, server and client. Keep all of your systems and applications updated. Hackers commonly break into a Web site through known security holes, so make sure your servers and applications are patched and up to date. Turn off unnecessary network services. Eliminate all unneeded programs. Scan network for common backdoor services--Use intrusion detection systems, vulnerability scans, anti-virus protection.