From the Pastor’s Heart OP-ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
This morning at 5:00, as our church prayer group was about to pray, one of our leaders asked if there were special requests. One attendee requested prayer for release from her stress because her computer was hacked the day before. Her stress heightened because the apparent hacker informed her that everything on her computer was now public. She was shocked to find that the hacker could tell her even things she considered private. After the prayer was over, I mused that hacking what is private and personal is not only the norm in the private space but in the public sphere, today.
The day before writing this reflection, Microsoft reported a large hacking of many companies across the world with which it is dealing. There was the hacking of USAID. Then there was the hacking of the Windsurf Industry and the Gas Company a few days before. The Gas Company paid $4.4 Billion to get back online, but we are all paying higher gas prices as a result.
Hacking has become a “normal” part of our contemporary lives. But to say that hacking is our new normal does not mean that it is not dangerous and destructive. The following comments, taken from an article that I have read, seeking to understand what is taking place in the hacking industry, were quite enlightening and even frightening. I have taken a few pieces of the comments from six of the ten areas named in the article where hackers are engaged.
1. Computer Hacking: “Computers are no longer novel, and hackers are no longer messing around. Gone are the social misfits entertaining themselves with a bit of all-night geek hijinks, energy drinks and junk food. Today’s hackers are skilled professionals with serious jobs. They are paid well, have human resource teams, and take holidays off.”
2. Bank Robbing: “Once there were bank robbers and road agents who rode horses and pointed guns as they stole money from banks, travelers, merchants and anyone offering an easy target. Today’s financial hackers ride into town on ransomware and use fake invoices, dating scams fake checks, fake escrow intermediaries, denial of service attacks (DoSA), and any other scam or hack that will help them steal money from individuals, companies, banks, and stock accounts. Greed: It’s a story as old as humanity.”
3. Nation States Hackers: “Today, most sophisticated nations have thousands – if not tens of thousands – of skilled hackers on the payroll.”
4. Corporate Hackers: “For many hackers, a day in the office involves stealing corporate intellectual property, either to resell for personal profit or to further the objectives of the nation state that employs them.”
5. Professional Hackers: “This is a relatively recent phenomenon where a group of expert hackers develop, buy or steal powerful malware and offer advanced-persistent-threat (APT) services to target their skills and tools for a fee. The goal might be financial gain, disrupting a competitor or enemy, or theft of valuable data or intellectual property. Their clients might be nation-states, companies interested in corporate espionage, or other criminal groups looking to resell what the hackers steal.”
6. Rogue Game Hackers: “You might consider your teenager’s gaming habit nothing more than an obstacle to good grades. For millions of people, though, gaming is a serious business. It has spawned an industry that’s worth billions of dollars. Some gamers spend thousands of dollars on cutting-edge, high-performance hardware. They spend hundreds, if not thousands, of hours annually playing games.”
I do not know that this reflection will speak to the heart of a hacker, but I am hoping that you who read will take all the necessary precautions so that you might not be hacked. Of course, I am fully aware that most of us today do not have total governance over our lives, to the extent that we might not be hacked. Thus, while I might say that we need to take caution and pray, I also say that those who do not know what else to do, just need to say, “God protect us.” The reality is that when we have come to the end of our resources, we are going to need some special resources from outside of us. Such resources I believe will need the help of God. We really need to pray for the security experts.
Let me note further that we need to be careful how we treat others in any business we do or participate in. Hacking is not the only way of being dishonest. Scripture is clear that we need to be careful if we ever seek to disadvantage others to advantage ourselves (cf. Psalm 15:2; 25:5; John 16:6; 17; 2 Cor. 8:21; Ephesians 4:15; 25; Philippians. 4:8). Whether it is being dishonest in cyberspace or dishonest face to face, all dishonesty is sin. All dishonesty is destructive for relationships. And God is going to bring judgment against all dishonest persons. Yes, one day.
