Hacking, although known mostly for it's negative effects has also been a major help in our advancements in the computer industry. In order to understand why there are hackers you must first understand why they are needed. There are negative, as well as positive effects of hacking. In this day and age when the word hacker is spoken it is met with stereotypical bias, maybe even compared with an infectious disease but what most people dont understand is that hackers in most cases are needed and have provided us with technological advancements that we use in our everyday lives. Hackers also cost our country over half a billion dollars every year in computer fraud and theft. There doesnt seem to be much protection against them and their effects are undeniable. Hacking is something we can live with and without, the only thing you can do is understand what and where it is and choose whether to compliment or fight it's success.
The recent increase in Computer crime could very well be a result of the continuing rise in modern day computer dependency. As the world continues to introduce newer forms of computerized advancements greater or at least basic knowledge of computers has become a necessity. Now on the other hand there are those that delve head first into the art of conquering the computer hemisphere. Computer Crimes challenges the very premise of trustworthiness, and Computer criminals are members of a disorganized army of volunteer systems analysts who inadvertently demonstrate the vulnerabilities of our computer systems (BloomBecker 7). One of the first groups to be caught for hacking were the Milwaukee-based 414s, who were accused of 60 computer break-ins ranging from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to Los Alamos National Laboratory. Some time later AT&T long-distance service crashed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which resulted in law enforcement launching a national crackdown on hackers (St Petersburg Times Online: A history of hacking).