Hacktivism is the act of hacking, or breaking into an unauthorized access to a computer system, and carrying out various disruptive actions as a mean of achieving politically or social motivated goals. Hacktivism is superior to the state level, and has become a continued engagement between parties connected to ongoing conformist conflict, whose goal is power of the adversary.
Havtivism, Source: Security AffaiHacktivism is the act of hacking, or breaking into an unauthorized access to a computer system, and carrying out various disruptive actions as a mean of achieving politically or social motivated goals. Hacktivism is superior to the state level, and has become a continued engagement between parties connected to ongoing conformist conflict, whose goal is power of the adversary.
Hacktivism has become a controversial term, being that it has a variety of ranges from passive to active and non-violent to violent activities, it can often be formed as cyber terrorism. Hacktivism is often understood as the writing of code to endorse political thought and promote expressive politics, free speech, human rights, or information ethics. Acts of hacktivism are carried out in the belief that appropriate use of code will be able to produce similar results to those produced by regular activism or civil disobedience.
Individuals who perform this action are called hacktivist. A hacktivist uses the sametechniques and tools as a hacker, but does so in order to disturb services and bring attention to a political or social cause. Hacktivist have a goal to ensure free access to information, to get around the hurdles and securities of censorship and to prevent monopoly control of technology.
Two of the main attitudes about hacktivist as described in the book Hackers by Steven Levy are that all information should be free and to mistrust authority and promote decentralization. As far as putting hacktivism on a political spectrum, it cannot be put on the left or right, as the main objective is just to free information to the public, regardless of who is holding the information.
In the novel Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow two types of hacktivism occurred throughout the story which were Cyberattack and Cyberwar.
Cyberattack is the attempt to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorized access to a computer system, or electronic communication network. Cyberattacks use spiteful codes to modify computer codes, data or logic, resulting in disruptive results that can compromise data and lead to cybercrimes, such as identity and information theft.
Cyberwar is Internet-based war involving politically motivated attacks on information systems. Cyberwar outbreaks can immobilize official websites and networks. It can disrupt or incapacitate crucial services, steal or alter confidential data and cripple financial systems.
Relating back to the novel Little Brother, Marcus and his friends ditch school to take part in Harajuku Fun Madness (ARG), and found themselves caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, and trapped in a huge aftermath of a major terrorist attacks on San Francisco. Confused and shocked Darryl is stabbed and Marcus and his friends, become suddenly detained by the Department of Homeland Security, and are taken away to an underground imprisonment where they are harshly cross-examined for days. After the 3 days of cross-examination, they are released, and forced to sign documents saying that they are freely held and questioned. By this time, Darryl is still missing, and Marcus is still confused, irritated, but motivated to fight back against the DHS. He then begins a cyberattack and cyberwar using encoded Wi-Fi connections through his X-BOX, and creates an underground network with his friends to fight against the DHS.
Hacktivist, Source: Security Affairs
Whether hacktivism is a crime is a debatable subject. Antagonists argue that hacktivism causes damage in a medium where there is already a sufficient opportunity for no disruptive free speech. Others claim that such an act is equal or equivalent to protest and therefore falls within the realm of the First Amendment.