Your System Has Been Officially WANKed

Worms Against Nuclear Killers, or WANK in this text, was the first computer worm that held a political message.



Thought to have been created in Australia by two teenagers, the WANK worm targeted NASA computer systems before the launch of a space shuttle containing the Galileo space craft. The worm made messages such as “Your System Has Been Officially WANKed”, “You Talk Of Times Of Peace For All, And Then Prepare For War” and “Even If You Win The Rat Race; You’re Still A Rat”.

NASA experts did create an anti-WANK program, however, when reading about this and the messages behind such worms and viruses I began thinking is there such a thing as ‘ethical hacking’?

Ethical hacking is someone who uses all the same skills and techniques as a hacker but uses them for good instead of evil. It is now seen as a professional qualification and the number of companies employing these people is increasing as ethical hackers are used to hack into systems and find security loopholes in order to protect systems from real hackers; with an end aim of preventing data theft and fraud.

Hacking is not a new discovery and in no way are the skills modern, however, the growth of hacking and especially hacking for good is something that has expanded dramatically in recent history. Change.org launched Hack For Good in 2011 where they rounded up 50 engineers with the aim of creating apps that would change neighbourhoods and lifestyles for the better.

You can read all about it, along with the apps that won here: http://mashable.com/2011/06/24/hacking-for-change/

You can see what I have referenced here and find out if ethical hacking is for you:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WANK_(computer_worm)
• http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/24/1053585748340.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certified_Ethical_Hacker
• http://www.pcworld.com/article/250045/how_to_become_an_ethical_hacker.html
• http://mashable.com/2011/05/25/hack-for-change/
• http://www.change.org/about/hackforchange