User talk:Ashiu33/sandbox

Article Review

Hi Allen,

I really like the section on teaching hacking that you are proposing to add to the Hacker ethics page. Adding information about the ethical development of young hackers is really important to creating an ethical online community, like Vallor describes, and may even encourage young hackers viewing the page to seek out ethical education.

One suggestion that I have is that you try not to include “we” in your first paragraph. Because this is encyclopedic writing, all of the text should be passive. A way to rewrite this sentence may be to say: “cyber attacks have recently become a large concern in the online community because of the attacks’ ability to steal valuable information or render portions of the internet disabled.” It would be good for you to not only take a passive stance, but also explain what these attacks can do to both companies and internet users. Also, the first sentence which states that hacking can be dangerous seems a little vague. Can you elaborate on what types of dangers exist for hackers?

Another suggestion I have for you is that you take maybe just one sentence to describe what White Hat Hackers and Black Hat Hackers are. I know that you are planning to link this section of the article to the pages for White Hat and Black Hat Hackers but a small addition stating that White Hat Hackers practice ethical hacking habits and that Black Hat Hackers do not could really help clarify the difference between the two groups.

My last suggestion is that you add a final sentence to your last paragraph on creating the new generation of white hat hackers that explicitly states that hiring cyber security personnel that have training in hacking is a way in which companies can better protect themselves. I also think that if you can add a sentence about how this requires creating a generation of White Hat Hackers would really link the ideas of better cyber security with ethical hacking. If creating the next generation of White Hat Hackers is not the main purpose of your writing in this section, I would suggest changing the section heading to something else. Right now, I don’t think that the information under this heading actually discusses creating the next generation of White Hat Hackers specifically.

In terms of small grammatical stuff, I would suggest reading your article out loud to yourself because that can help you catch small punctuation errors and notice where the writing doesn’t flow properly.

I hope these suggestions help. Great work so far! —jrseidm (talk) 21:25, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi Jordyn, great suggestions! I've fixed all the issues that Jordan has given me so I'll start working on yours! Ashiu33 (talk) 17:00, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Instructor Comments:

Hi Allen, nice job here. I generally agree with Jordyn's comments, so try to implement some of those. In general, you will need to cite your sources throughout the new sections. If you're unsure how to do this, I can show you in our meeting together. I've put in a couple places that need it below, but it will need more than that. I also have other specific changes:

Why Teach Hacking? Teaching Ethical Hacking [to relate back to the general focus of the article]

Hacking can be extremely dangerous. In this digital age and our reliance on technology, we are vulnerable to these types of attacks. One way to combat vulnerability to unethical hacking this is to teach students to hack with the hopes that they become white hat hackers and follow the hacker ethics principles listed above. [Again, to tie back to general article] The movement of ethical hacking has gained traction through different programs such as the L0pht and GhettoHackers and courses have become integrated into university and college level curriculum.

Prevent the Development of Black Hat Hackers:

Often times, students become intrigued by the technical prowess that computers possess. Security researcher and application security engineer Joe Gervais points out that students who are intellectually curious enough may start to experiment with computers without thinking of the ethical repercussions of their actions. [cite] He points out that there are a lot of classes that exist for more gifted students in areas such as math, reading, etc. However, there doesn’t seem to be courses that can address the curiosity that a young hacker may have.

Hacking courses can create a moral compass for young hackers. They require a constructive environment that allows them to satiate their desire to understand computers. Students in these classes have the ability to learn what they are passionate about while also understanding the ethical boundaries that should not be encroached upon. However, the integral part of the curriculum would be to prevent the development of black hat hackers.

Creating the next generation of white hack hackers [keep capitalization of sub-division headings consistent with each other and the rest of the article

There seems to be a lack of skilled cyber security experts. [cite] However, there doesn’t seem to be curriculum that teaches individuals the skills required to protect security systems from malicious attacks. Teaching hacking is a plausible way to fill the gap in the supply and the demand of hackers who are capable of implementing defensive measures against attacks. Ymir Vigfusson, professor at the School of Computer Science at Reykjavik University and assistant professor in Emory University’s Math and Science Department, is a major advocate for educating students about hacking. Ymir Vigfusson [and all recurring] points out that teaching hacking can be a way for students to better understand the computer security. [Shorten the rest of this paragraph and work on improving clarity, though the ideas expressed are good] He believe that hackers have a unique mindset where they are constantly thinking about how they can get through cyber security. However, defenders, or the ones providing the cyber security are only thinking of ways to keep people out. The defenders have a tough job and are required to think of all that ways that a hacker can get in. However, hackers just need to identify one path that can bypass the system. Ymir brings up the analogy of a homeowner buying an expensive steel door for their home, believing that they are secure. By-passers, however, will notice the door but see that the windows are open. An individual working in cyber security that also has a background in hacking will have the vision of both the owner of the house and the by-passer, where they will be able to look for weaknesses in the system and prevent malicious hackers from exploiting these flaws.

--Jmstew2 (talk) 15:50, 3 April 2017 (UTC)Jmstew2