The stereotypical view of hackers being savant-like loners who still live with their parents and pick apart government security systems just for fun is sorely out of date.
In fact, it is safe to say that with the dawn of the digital age, hacking has become a mainstream concern. From sizeable black hat organizations to their white hat counterparts on the virtuous side of the spectrum, it has moved from a casual pastime to a legitimate profession.
Here’s a look at the trajectory that took hacking from the basement to the boardroom, charting its rise to prominence and assessing its significance today.
Humble Beginnings
The concept of hacking has been in circulation for almost half a century, gaining traction at a time when home computing became viable in the 1980s and then expanding to factor in the subversion of security governing remote systems when network connectivity blossomed.
When early practitioners were toying with coding in their spare time, it was more of a curio of computer culture. Once it became apparent that it could have problematic applications, as well as beneficial ones, things changed.
By the 1990s, entire movies based around hacking were commonplace, from the descriptively titled Hackers to Sandra Bullock vehicle The Net. While Hollywood may not have depicted the process accurately, the fact that it was attempting to in the first place showed how prominent it had become.
Significant Steps
Big businesses started to take note of the potential for hacking to cause disruption at the dawn of the millennium when a 15 year old Canadian took out various prominent e-commerce and media sites. The aftermath cost more than a billion dollars to clear up but also set a precedent for how the industry would develop.
Its perpetrator is now a cybersecurity specialist, helping businesses to face down the threats that are posed by malicious third parties. And he is not alone; companies like Fidus Infosec now provide penetration testing services, using ethical hacking techniques to empower organizations of all sizes and weed out weaknesses in security setups to prevent real attacks from succeeding.
Of course, such services come at a price, but it is one which many organizations are willing to pay, especially when contextualized in comparison with the cost of suffering a data breach. On average a US business can expect to be hit to the tune of $1.3 million if a cyber attack occurs. For larger organizations, the expense can be significantly greater; companies listed on the FTSE 100 will suffer a £120 million ($155 million) fallout.
From the perspective of the boardroom, embracing hacking as well as having a healthy respect for it is now a no-brainer. As such it is also no surprise to see that IT security spending is expected to grow by 16.1 percent annually over the next decade, hitting $365 billion in 2026.
Current Conundrums
The robust size and continued rise of ethical hacking may have turned this once niche hobby into a vast international market stewarded by professionals, but this has only been possible because the scope of the risks associated with operating a business today has expanded exponentially.
Sure, teenagers can still take down major businesses alone, but the larger issue is that cybercriminal gangs are operating on a large scale, with well-organized operations allowing them to orchestrate attacks on a whim.
Some hackers even sell their services on-demand, allowing corporate rivals or entire governments to gain easy access to extensive, disruptive resources.
The need for hacking has never been greater, and this is an arms race that shows no sign of slowing down.
