OTM Replacement: Darkode

Physical: Hackers are getting into private computers and holding owner’s files for ransom. They hack into the computer, capture the data, and lock the owner out of the data. Until the owner pays the ransom to retrieve their data back, the files will be locked. Sometimes, there is even a timeline in which the owner has to pay the ransom, or the files will be lost forever.

And then there’s Darkode… which hackers use to communicate, and trade information.

Psychological: I would imagine that this would have the similar, if not the same psychological effect on someone, as physical theft would be. They’re devastated that their files, or family photos, and other data have been stolen. I can imagine, that especially for the older generation, it would be quite confusing to figure out.

Dan speaks about how he became intrigued with malware and viruses. I would imagine that his story is quite similar to that of other hackers. You start with a computer enthusiast with a curiosity, and they find a way to make money off of it.

Temporal: With the progression of technology, people have started to store information, sometimes sensitive information in a technological form. Like a burglar can break into your home and steal your items, hackers can break into your computer and steal your files.

Daniel Placek was one of the creators of Darkode, and speaks about his involvement. He started his hacking career by playing video games in his parents basement. He meets a guy on an online game who is into malware, and viruses on computers.

Cultural: This is theft, and at least in our culture, theft is illegal. This is a really confusing, and somewhat hard type of theft to track, because it’s so indirect. People use the internet to enact their thievery, and although we can track IP addresses, and things like that, it’s hard to identify the thief.

As they are talking to Dan, they speak about the progression of hacking, and how it started out as spam, and then the hackers realized that they could use these programs to do other things to people’s computers.

This is so wrong, and so sad. Like I said earlier, this IS theft! And theft is wrong. I constantly see my friend’s Facebook and Twitter accounts hacked into. I don’t know that it’s really had any ill effects on them, other than having to create a new account, but it sucks, nonetheless. This is the number one reason why I back all of my information up on an external hard drive. I don’t know what I would do if I lost a client’s photos, or even lost the ability to work on them for a while. That would be absolutely devastating. I hope that with time, we will create a safer system for navigating the technological world, and there will be an easier way to identify these thieves. I thought that the section about Darkode was really interesting to hear, especially the part about the progression of computer hacking.