9781422275177

Chapter 1

WHAT DO PROFESSIONAL HACKERS DO? WHAT ARE DIGITAL SECURITY AND COMPUTER HACKING?

Technology is everywhere these days—from our laptops and smartphones to the software that’s used to operate everything from our cars to massive assembly lines in manufacturing plants. If you think about it, there are few places where technology—including the internet—is not used in some way or another. Advances in technology make life easier and help people to become more connected. A task that used to take days can now be done in a matter of minutes with a computer. Before computers, the internet, and the telephone, it would take days—or even weeks—for people across the country or world to communicate. Email, instant messaging, texting, and other digital communication methods now allow people who live thousands of miles away from each other to communicate in real-time. Technology is also used to save lives. In the old days, people could become very ill or even die if they had an abnormal heart rhythm. Today, a pacemaker, which uses electrical pulses

Introduction: What Do PROFESSIONAL HACKERS Do? 11