Hacking Sources Research Paper

Simply put, research hacking.  This is both easier and harder than it
seems.  It is easier because many hackers consider themselves to be
"white-hat" hackers, or good-guy hackers.  They see their role as
loyal opposition.  They are trying to find holes in the web so that
others can fill those holes.  They are bug finders.

In their role as bug finders for the Internet, they do not get paid in
the traditional sense.  Instead, they get a form of psychological pay
from the attention and notoriety that they achieve.  Fame.
Accordingly, they are likely to publish their findings on the web, or
even run a website for the sole purpose of sharing their information.

There are also black-hat hackers.  Bad-guy hackers.  Also called
"crackers."  Their motivation is to romp, have fun, break a few
things, just be pranksters.  Or, their motivation is deep and dark
espionage for corporations or governments.  You will not hear anything
from the second type.  From the first type, you will hear bragging
about their exploits, and possibly you will find links to the tools
they use.

As a system administrator charged with defending your computing
infrastructure, you are assigned to research hacking.  Go out on the
web.  Use the search engines.  See what you can learn.

Part One of your research paper must list at least ten web sites by
URL (not just pages of the same site) that feature hacking.  Maybe
they explain hacking.  Maybe they show how to do it.  For each web
site write a one or two paragraph summary of the site, giving your
evaluation of its content.  Is it a good site for hacking information?
Is it just a rehash of material you have already seen?  Make sure that
at least five of your web sites are good sources of information.

Part Two of your research paper must list at least five techniques
that hackers can use to compromise your site.  For each technique,
write a paragraph explaining how to use that technique.  Write a
second paragraph explaining how to defeat that technique, or telling
that there is no way to defeat it.

Your paper should be composed as a plain-text email message (no
formatting fancier than than capitalization and blank lines).  Email
your paper to <don@colton.byuh.edu>.  I will forward your paper to
everyone else in the class, once I have all four papers, and we will
make this the basis of a class discussion and possible extra-credit
in-class quiz.