Gary McKinnon: Scottish Hacker Who Hacked NASA for UFO Evidence - Essay Sample

Gary McKinnon is a Scottish hacker who becomes famous worldwide for allegedly hacking both theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration and other computer systems in the early 2000s (Cook, 2013). Gary McKinnon's reason for these acts was that he searched for evidence of UFO activities that the American government was hiding from the world (Cook, 2013).

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During this paper's research, it was established that Gary McKinnon had vast knowledge in Information Technology. He had nearly 20 years of experience in this field. The law enforcement agencies stated that in the early 2000s, Gary infiltrated up to a dozen computers that were owned by the Department of Defense, and 16 NASA computers (BBC New UK, 2012).

While some facet of the authorities perceive that Gary McKinnon's actions were planned and executed to distract the government via force and fear, McKinnon believes that his actions in no way and form had malice in them, nor did he want to become famous (BBC New UK, 2012). The impact of the actions of Gary McKinnon is significant and should be a lesson learned by computer security analysts as a red flag of worse things to come.

Any intrusions like the one performed by Gary allow the victim to probe to other threats and computer attacks. Most nations and companies in the world have gone to the extent of investing millions and millions of dollars to ensure that their systems are protected from such kind of attacks. This has not entirely stopped attacks like the one carried out by Gary from taking place.

As a result, counties have taken further measures to ensure that the whole space is entirely shielded from attacks and that the perpetrators charged and prosecuted. For instance, the United States uses law enforcement agencies, e.g., FBI and Homeland Security, to find, prevent, and detain cybercriminals to restrict attacks on America (Homeland Security, 2016). As the awareness of the importance of cyber protection increases with advancements in technology, so do the cyber-attacks carried out by criminals and hence more lethal than the previous attacks.

Most cybercriminals in the world often see the United States of America as the epitome of computer security. Therefore, these persons' successful intrusion is usually a sign in the hackers' community of the person's brilliance. Various things motivate thieves to participate in criminal activities that can easily be explained by criminal theories.

These theories are psychoanalytic, learning, and control theory that can effectively explain Gray's actions. From the analysis of the matter's facts, it is best to place Gary in the control theory. The ground for this is that Gary McKinnon thought that he was morally justified to do what he did because the United States of America's government was concealing essential data from the world.

The pressure that the United States government puts on the British government for Gary's extradition is not a political ploy. It is exceptionally significant for any nation to charge and prosecute these criminals. Whether a person is a citizen of that country or not, they should be held liable for their actions. The American government sent a message to the global community that Gary's actions would not just be in vain, and there have been trying to extradite him ever since.

It would prevent other nationalities from trying to hack the United States of America. Unfortunately, all attempts by the United States of America government have failed on human rights grounds. If the government would have been successful, it is estimated that Gary would be facing up to 100 years in prison and be fined up to 1,000,000 million dollars. With my broad knowledge in computer security and best practices, it is clear that the continual adoption of new security measures to deter cyber criminals is warranted in most fields.

Experts have defined Cybersecurity as a combination of tools, technologies, practices, and techniques established to protect computers and other similar technologies from unwarranted intrusion (Rouse, 2016). Therefore, Cybersecurity is crucial in many areas since their neglect may lead to massive damages like stealing confidential trade data.

It may even lead to nations' downfall, as most countries in the world have sensitive information in various industries. The united states of America have set a precedent as it knows the impact a breach of data has on a country, as it has taken heavy steps in protecting itself from such attacks. Therefore the protection of this data is so important that it outweighs protection in other fields. It should be noted that the various ways of protections of these technologies and important information involves massive investment into that hardware and software.

The equipment and all the associated tools and processes make it costly, and thus the people need to know that it has immense value in the long term. Furthermore, there is a need for companies to give jobs to hackers so that they can hack into their systems to be able to prevent attacks from cybercriminals. It would protect their companies from similar attacks in the future.

References

Combating Cyber Crime | CISA. Cisa.gov. (2018). Retrieved 3 September 2020, from https://www.cisa.gov/combating-cyber-crime.

J, C. (2013). What did Gary McKinnon find?. Retrieved 3 September 2020, from http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/features/report/6243/what-did-gary-mckinnon-actually-find/.

Profile: Gary McKinnon. BBC News. (2012). Retrieved 3 September 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-19946902.

Rouse, M. (2016). What is Cybersecurity? Everything You Need to Know. SearchSecurity. Retrieved 3 September 2020, from https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/cybersecurity.

Staff, W., Staff, W., Dan Goodin, A., Pardes, A., So, A., & Parham, J. et al. (2006). 'UFO Hacker' Tells What He Found. WIRED. Retrieved 3 September 2020, from https://www.wired.com/2006/06/ufo-hacker-tells-what-he-found/?currentPage=a.