GCHQ Hacking is not Illegal – Can DBA Experts Help?

It seems that the whole world is concerned about the growing incidents of illegal hacking and both the private and public institutions are taking extra measures to protect their database from illegal hackers who can launch a cyber attack from any corner of the world.

In a recent case, the Campaigner Privacy International lost a legal challenge, where it demanded that spying post’s hacking operation is simply violating the European law. The case was registered by the organization right after the revelation of Edward Snowden about how the UK and the US are spying on others.

During the hearing in the court, the agency (GCHC) admitted that their hackers are accessing devices in the UK and other countries.

Devices Hackers Use in the Process

During the investigation conducted by the Powers Tribunal (IPT), it was revealed that the cyber attackers could turn on web cameras and microphones without even the knowledge of account holders. Hackers use log keystrokes and install malware, copy documents and track user’s actual locations. These are among the most used tricks in the process.

However, the Home Office has issued a code to practice hacking, which will be considered as a legal attempt in Investigatory Power Bill (IPB), which is expected to be a new law in future.

According to the tribunal, which is a panel comprised of senior judges, the code, published to practice hacking will strike the right balance between protection of people’s privacy, urgent call of intelligence departments and freedom of expression.

The panel has confirmed that the agency has been conducting such practice in a proper and legal way, no matter what will be the result of Parliament’s security of IPB.

However, Privacy International, which has been fighting cases against seven internet service providers hugely disappointed with the ruling declared by the panel of judges and said that it would continue its legal fight against the practice of state-sponsored hacking, which has been described as incompatible with human right standard and democratic principles.

The Intrusive Surveillance

According to the Privacy International’s legal officer Scarlet Kim, for intelligence agencies across the world, hacking is one of the best tools for intrusive surveillance. The officer said that the case of cyber attack revealed that the hacking has not been conducted only secretly but also in an undemocratic manner.

The officer said that the government should come forward to protect the privacy of every individual and organization and it should adopt a mechanism to fight against such external cyber forces.

DBAs to Fight Cyber Crimes

It has been proven and organizations that are getting assisted by professional DBAs are less vulnerable to any kind of cyber attacks. Despite knowing the consequences of a cyber attack, numerous government agencies are still running their websites and databases with their average technicians.

There is no doubt that the news of hackers illegally accessing government’s database has become a regular story, but the interesting fact is that despite knowing the fact, many organizations are not taking measures to prevent such attacks in their database.

However, millions of companies are closely working with primary and remote DBA experts and by doing this, they are simply keeping hackers away from their precious databases.

The Threat of Database Theft

Hackers across the world are targeting websites filled with valuable information because they will trace those data and will sell them to other third parties if they are not working for their country’s government.

Today, most of the government websites are keeping personal information of millions of their citizens that can be a soft target for hackers. For this reason, government or any other private organization dealing with the database should hire DBA experts who can make the data protection process simple.