The New Computer Hacker’s Quest and Contest with the Experienced Hackers: A Qualitative Study applying Pierre Bourdieu’s Field Theory

Abstract

IntroductionThe considerable body of literature seeking to understand computer hackers' motivations and behaviors still needs further inquiry as hacking cyber crime grows in sophistication and geographic reach (Decary-Hetu & Dupont, 2013; Nikitina, 2012; Turgeman-Goldschmidt, 2008; Yar, 2005; Taylor, 1999; Jordan & Taylor, 1998). Needing further investigation is the area of new computer hackers or newbies. This study specifically examines newbie hackers' acquisitions of skills and knowledge in their interactions with experienced hackers in a public hacker forum. The framework this study uses is Field Theory by Pierre Bourdieu (Bourdieu, 1990; Bourdieu, 1985; Bourdieu, 1977) with an emphasis on hackers' skills and knowledge trading, the cultural and social capital of the field (Bourdieu, 1986; Bourdieu, 1984), between newbies and experienced hackers.Although social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are used by hackers, online community forums are still utilized as spaces hackers gather online (Kubitschko, 2015). Newbies join to gain access to highly specialized skills, information-sharing, networking and support from experienced hackers (Turgeman-Goldschmidt, 2008; Meyer & Thomas, 1990) but may experience admonishment, mocking and insults for their lack of skills and types of questions they ask (Decary-Hetu & Dupont, 2013; Meyer & Thomas, 1990). Hence the field of the forum operates on power relations; that is, in Bourdieu's terms (1990), the capital of skills and knowledge is contested by newbies because they want what the experienced hacker possesses. This exploratory study focuses specifically on this aspect. Research on newbies has not adequately focused on describing and analyzing the relationships between newbies and experienced hackers in online community hacker forums.The investigation of hacker forums to discover their characteristics and activities for cyber security has previously occurred. For example, Imperva, a global computer network security company, conducted a qualitative content analysis of threads within a large hacker forum. Their report identified descriptive trends, such as increased Structured Query Language (SQL) injections discussions to cause Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to a noted increase in newbies joining the forums from previous years' analyses (Imperva, 2012). Although using a considerably larger sample size than this study, 250,000 members' threads were examined (Imperva, 2012), it is clear that hacker forums require further analysis to give computer network security professionals insights into hacker behaviors and identify trends in hacker culture.Newbie hackers desire to be a part of a hacking community even if their individual goals differ. Hackers' desire, as Nissenbaum (2004) describes, total and free access to computers and information, and mistrust centralized authority, have a disdain for obstacles erected against free access to computing and desire to be evaluated by their technical virtuosity and accomplishment. Hackers hack for reasons such as: conflicts with authorities and revenge motives (Chiesa, Ducci & Ciappi, 2009), beliefs that breaking into computer systems benefit society by showing how to increase computer security (Kao, Huang & Wang, 2009), achieving feelings of power due to low self-esteem (Fotinger & Ziegler, 2004), gaining entrance to a social group (Kilger, Stutzman & Arkin, 2004) and to satisfy an addition (Taylor, 1999). These also play a part in a desire newbies have to join a hacker community and work with experienced hackers to learn skills and knowledge to hack computer systems.Yet newbie hackers face a constant battle to be accepted by hackers from the beginning of their quests to obtain the capital they need to hack. For example, experienced hackers resent script kiddies and unskilled hackers who use hacking tools such as code and scripts developed by experienced hackers. In a display of power by experienced hackers, script kiddies are identified, shamed and called pestilence and other terms, and banned from hacker communities (Taylor, Fritsch, Liederback & Holt, 2011). …