#Hacktivism#EthicalHacking#CyberActivisim#CyberSecurity: "For most of the years I’ve spent behind a computer, participating in some form of global cyberactivism, I made a lot of excuses in order to justify the cyberattacks. If I had invested in a target where searching for a vulnerability took me multiple consecutive days before I could identify it and exploit it, only to finally gain access and realize it was a non-target, I had to proceed with the hack for the sake of the time spent.
This is simply a backward attitude. Because if hacktivists apply critical thinking to scenarios like the above, it becomes obvious that they aren’t in line with the goals or virtues of hacktivism. We lose the moral high ground to our cause and ultimately behave with the same corrupted characteristics as the very governments we strive to expose. Regardless of the time invested, protecting the innocent is never time lost.
Disengaging from non-targets and leaving those systems intact is of vital importance. There is no greater good or a necessary evil in the victimization of the innocent during our conquest to expose injustice. Oftentimes we hide behind our own self-righteousness and alter the narrative of what really happened because we want to be the symbol of hope people believe in. The excuses we make are probably close to the same lies that corrupt entities tell themselves.
We must fight to create a better version of ourselves. We can achieve this by eliminating the possibility of causing collateral damage to non-targets. In order for this to happen, hacktivists must enact a policy that clearly defines what is permissible and what is forbidden and then take the necessary steps to enforce it."