Analyse, Assume & Conclude.
“Missing Requirements”
12 hours ago
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
End of Round Three
Why this question ?
The idea behind the question was to make You think about different sides of the same thing. Describing him as Artist or Hacker does not change what he did but only changes how it is thought of. And by thinking differently about something gives a creates a wider range of questions about it.
And for testers - trying to answer different questions gives possibility to discover more.
My view:
Kevin Mitnick is a convicted criminal, found guilty in number of computer crimes. Before he can be labeled as artist or hacker or something else, those labels should be defined. And then it becomes basically a mentality problem – how to look at things that he has done (and allegedly done)? What to praise and what not?
But the important bit is:
He was using limited information on a given subject to locate the weak spots and then investigated those until he found a way to exploit the subject.
So he is excellent in the following skills:
· Social engineering – for acquiring information and specifications
· Information analysis – for finding the possible weak spots in spec and systems
· Investigating the weak spots – creating the different scenarios in which those weak spots
could be used for something they were not intended for.
One other thing that made him the best:
· Mindset –he wants to find the answers and he knows he can do it.
These are skills that all testers need to be excellent in.
There are other stuff too– documenting your work, following the law, working in teams, etc…
Before the discussion the answer nr. 3 was voted the best.
The following are all the answers I received :
(Spelling not corrected. )
Tester 1:
Kevin Mitnick is a tester.
Why:
Hacker is a tester who try to find bottleneck (error for testers) in the system.
Successful hacker or tester is always a hero.
Hacking and testing is an art.
Tester 2:
d) all of the above
It takes an artist to think up creative methods, it takes a hacker to know how to apply these methods and it takes a hero to have courage to discover the unknown.
Tester 3:
I guess, for Government he was a Hacker, for hackers a Hero and for
programmers an Artist. So it depends of the background of viewer.
Tester 4:
Kevin Mitnick is a hacker or a good tester because:
1. He get to know system where he's going to hack - like reading MMI
2. Hacking in - like testing
3. Use holes (bugs) in system to make pranks - like reporting bugs
4. He currently works as a computer consultant and solving these problems - like testing again and see if the error is removed or not.
Tester 5:
Kevin Mitnick have impressive tester qualities:
- different approch to problems
- good knowlege of the system (is essential to find flaws)
But still he is a hacker because he used his skills without permissions.
Tester 6:
Most correct definition for Kevin Mitnick is hacker.
Artist and hero are subjective evaluations and are not related to Kevin Mitnick's actual activities.
Kevin Mitnick is most known by gaining access to closed computer networks and systems. He used mostly social engineering methods for this.
So he is(was) hacker by negative meaning of the word.
Tester 7:
He's a genius who thinks in binary.
Tester 8:
When we look at the big picture, Kevin Mitnick was definitely an innovator and a genius for hacking into several "secured" networks. For sure, he helped develop a more advanced network security systems for all the websites and databases out there. But, we must keep in mind the "spec" - the property law, which we are forced to follow. Keeping that in mind we are safe to say that Kevin Mitnick WAS a criminal, and a bad one to be precise, because he got caught. Every house has security holes.. But that does not mean you can just break in, so my answe to this question is - Kevin Mitnick was a criminal.
Tester 9:
e) He can be any of the given choices depending on the viewer. For programmers he can be
Artist for his programming skills. For government he is hacker and for other "hackers" he is hero.
From testing point of view he can be a regular tester, one who is responsible for security tests :)
Tester 10:
d) anyone
It all depends in what circumstances he is observed. Object background and the main purpose of a question must be defined properly.
Kevin Mitnick has a cool-looking beard (he can be artist), he got million of fans (he can be hero to someone) and he is criminal (he can be named a hacker or cracker) who was owning profit by using computer system weaknesses.
Tester 11:
K. Mitnick is an artist because:
1. Found new and interesting ways of interpreting modern technology.
2. Is one of the first to be convicted in computer related crimes. After that he has a lot of followers, which is similar to most artists who have set the tone in history.
Tester 12:
Not in time..
The idea behind the question was to make You think about different sides of the same thing. Describing him as Artist or Hacker does not change what he did but only changes how it is thought of. And by thinking differently about something gives a creates a wider range of questions about it.
And for testers - trying to answer different questions gives possibility to discover more.
My view:
Kevin Mitnick is a convicted criminal, found guilty in number of computer crimes. Before he can be labeled as artist or hacker or something else, those labels should be defined. And then it becomes basically a mentality problem – how to look at things that he has done (and allegedly done)? What to praise and what not?
But the important bit is:
He was using limited information on a given subject to locate the weak spots and then investigated those until he found a way to exploit the subject.
So he is excellent in the following skills:
· Social engineering – for acquiring information and specifications
· Information analysis – for finding the possible weak spots in spec and systems
· Investigating the weak spots – creating the different scenarios in which those weak spots
could be used for something they were not intended for.
One other thing that made him the best:
· Mindset –he wants to find the answers and he knows he can do it.
These are skills that all testers need to be excellent in.
There are other stuff too– documenting your work, following the law, working in teams, etc…
Before the discussion the answer nr. 3 was voted the best.
The following are all the answers I received :
(Spelling not corrected. )
Tester 1:
Kevin Mitnick is a tester.
Why:
Hacker is a tester who try to find bottleneck (error for testers) in the system.
Successful hacker or tester is always a hero.
Hacking and testing is an art.
Tester 2:
d) all of the above
It takes an artist to think up creative methods, it takes a hacker to know how to apply these methods and it takes a hero to have courage to discover the unknown.
Tester 3:
I guess, for Government he was a Hacker, for hackers a Hero and for
programmers an Artist. So it depends of the background of viewer.
Tester 4:
Kevin Mitnick is a hacker or a good tester because:
1. He get to know system where he's going to hack - like reading MMI
2. Hacking in - like testing
3. Use holes (bugs) in system to make pranks - like reporting bugs
4. He currently works as a computer consultant and solving these problems - like testing again and see if the error is removed or not.
Tester 5:
Kevin Mitnick have impressive tester qualities:
- different approch to problems
- good knowlege of the system (is essential to find flaws)
But still he is a hacker because he used his skills without permissions.
Tester 6:
Most correct definition for Kevin Mitnick is hacker.
Artist and hero are subjective evaluations and are not related to Kevin Mitnick's actual activities.
Kevin Mitnick is most known by gaining access to closed computer networks and systems. He used mostly social engineering methods for this.
So he is(was) hacker by negative meaning of the word.
Tester 7:
He's a genius who thinks in binary.
Tester 8:
When we look at the big picture, Kevin Mitnick was definitely an innovator and a genius for hacking into several "secured" networks. For sure, he helped develop a more advanced network security systems for all the websites and databases out there. But, we must keep in mind the "spec" - the property law, which we are forced to follow. Keeping that in mind we are safe to say that Kevin Mitnick WAS a criminal, and a bad one to be precise, because he got caught. Every house has security holes.. But that does not mean you can just break in, so my answe to this question is - Kevin Mitnick was a criminal.
Tester 9:
e) He can be any of the given choices depending on the viewer. For programmers he can be
Artist for his programming skills. For government he is hacker and for other "hackers" he is hero.
From testing point of view he can be a regular tester, one who is responsible for security tests :)
Tester 10:
d) anyone
It all depends in what circumstances he is observed. Object background and the main purpose of a question must be defined properly.
Kevin Mitnick has a cool-looking beard (he can be artist), he got million of fans (he can be hero to someone) and he is criminal (he can be named a hacker or cracker) who was owning profit by using computer system weaknesses.
Tester 11:
K. Mitnick is an artist because:
1. Found new and interesting ways of interpreting modern technology.
2. Is one of the first to be convicted in computer related crimes. After that he has a lot of followers, which is similar to most artists who have set the tone in history.
Tester 12:
Not in time..
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