The Hacker as Security Informant

Another do-gooder myth revolves around the hacker as an either self-appointed or hired security checker. Many hackers, true to their ethos of simply wanting to push the limits of their ability and not to cause harm, will report holes in security after they've breached them. To the hacker who is inter-ested in the gamesmanship and challenge of pene-trating a system, tipping off the system's adminis-trators means a new level of challenge should they ever return. Hackers who are hired for purposes of testing system security, called "tiger teams," also work to compromise the security of a system to find weaknesses. Often times, these hired guns are convicted computer criminals who "go straight." Several members of the legendary Legion of Doom, caught in the Operation Sundevil busts, formed COMSEC, a computer security team for hire. While many hackers bristle at such turncoat maneuvers, other more politically neutral hackers point out that it doesn't really matter to them who they're working for as long as they get to hack.