Cracking and computer network break-ins

The crime of breaking into a computer network is known amongst the internet community as cracking. This is also often referred to as hacking. A distinction is often made between the less malicious activities, quasi-political activities of the hacker and the harmful cracker. This distinction however is not made by law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of computer crimes.

Starting in 2000, the federal government at the urging of congress and President Clintom has made computer crime a top priority. More resources than ever are being devoted to the investigation and prosecution of these crimes. This law enforcement climate does not favor the accused, who are increasingly being depicted as malicious especially the wake of high profile denial service attacks and internet fraud cases.

As with hacking, our defense of these cases is mounted with top computer experts and economists. We challenge the evidence, the manner in which it was obtained and the allegations of damages which are usually grossly inflated. Obtaining represenation at the investigation stage allows us to work with investigators to head off indictment and prosecution.

More Information:

cracking /n./

The act of breaking into a computer system; what a cracker does. Contrary to widespread myth, this does not usually involve some mysterious leap of hackerly brilliance, but rather persistence and the dogged repetition of a handful of fairly well-known tricks that exploit common weaknesses in the security of target systems. Accordingly, most crackers are only mediocre hackers.

cracker /n./

One who breaks security on a system. Coined around 1985 by hackers in defense against journalistic misuse of hacker.

Use of both these neologisms reflects a strong revulsion against the theft and vandalism perpetrated by cracking rings.

While it is expected that any real hacker will have done some playful cracking and knows many of the basic techniques, anyone past larval stage is expected to have outgrown the desire to do so except for immediate, benign, practical reasons (for example, if it's necessary to get around some security in order to get some work done).

Thus, there is far less overlap between hackerdom and crackerdom than the mundane reader misled by sensationalistic journalism might expect. Crackers tend to gather in small, tight-knit, very secretive groups that have little overlap with the huge, open poly-culture this lexicon describes; though crackers often like to describe themselves as hackers, most true hackers consider them a separate and lower form of life.

Ethical considerations aside, hackers figure that anyone who can't imagine a more interesting way to play with their computers than breaking into someone else's has to be pretty losing. Some other reasons crackers are looked down on are discussed in the entries on cracking and phreaking.

The following definition of "hacker" is from the The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, edited and maintained by Denis Howe. The Dictionary is fairly thorough, and contains encyclopedia-like entries on computing terms as well as many useful cross-references and pointers to related resources elsewhere on the Internet. This dictionary is Copyright Denis Howe 1993, 1998.


Hacking | Credit card fraud | Cracking & Computer network break-ins | Software piracy | Child pornography | Virus dissemination |

In the News | Meet Attorney Kyros | Home

Website designed by K. William Kyros and Lawyerviews.com