Why we need hackers

Life would be easier if we didn’t have to patch our operating systems and apps. Patrick Gray explores the real reasons why updating is important.

It would be easier if hackers, who say they’re acting in the public interest by releasing information on the vulnerabilities they find, would just get real jobs and stop pointing out the weaknesses in our software, right? Wrong.

As most who work in the IT security field will tell you, all the software that we use is shipped in a vulnerable state. The security holes are there from day one, and if the good guys don’t find the bugs, the bad guys will. The only way to defend an operating system or an application against a bug is to know of the existence of the bug in the first place.

Just 10 years ago, the bug-hunting community was a mish-mash of hackers, system administrators and programmers. Many were geeks seeking kudos for finding the latest "zero-day" or "fresh" vulnerability.

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