ABSTRACT
“Hackers” have been present since the earliest incarnations of the internet, which began as a Department of Defense project known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) in the 1960s. However, in addition to white-hat hacking activities, there exist today a much larger variety of black hat hacking activities – to include criminal hacking activities such as identity theft as well as state-run, state-sponsored, or independent activities to include attacks on critical infrastructure belonging to nations, individuals, or corporations. Hackers may include individuals or groups acting upon their own volition often in support of a particular cause. Regulating the creation and dissemination of cyberweapons is particularly difficult since, like chemical or biological weapons, cyberweapons are often dual-use technologies. States have been aware of the vulnerabilities created due to hacking and have responded by establishing Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs).
