The origin of ‘BlackHat’ , ‘WhiteHat’ and hacking.
‘Hacks’ started as programming shortcuts in the 1960s, to complete computing tasks more quickly. In some cases shortcuts were better than the original program. The UNIX operating system was accidentally developed as a result of attempts to ‘hack’
The first anti-virus ever was during the 1970’s called ‘Reaper’, but was actually a virus mimic which was designed to take out one of the earliest viruses known as ‘Creeper’. Fully functional anti-virus programs didn’t start coming along until the 1990’s with Avast, Symantec’s ‘Nortons’, Dr. Solomon and Mc Afee being some of the first. Modern networks deploy UTM (Unified Threat Management) solutions, where Security Software companies and Firewall/Gateway Router Hardware companies partner to provide network security. Antivirus, Anti-malware, Firewall, Intrusion Prevention, Virtual Private Networking (VPN), Web Filtering, Data Loss Prevention and Anti Spam are common threat management tools on a UTM device.
Fortinet, WatchGuard, Barracuda, Zyxel , Sophos, Sonic Wall and Symantec Bluecoat are some of the leading providers. While many provide their complete solution end-to-end, Kaspersky and McAfee are common choices as software end-point integration partners. DarkTrace, F-Secure and Kerio Control, are examples of Cloud based providers.
‘BlackHat’ virtual marketing
BlackHat mass email campaigns use The ‘Brute Force Method’. In cyber attacks, “Brute force attack” refers to a method used to obtain private information such as usernames, passwords, passphrases, and similar. By repeatedly submitting different combinations of credentials, attackers can ultimately guess them correctly, and gain access to the data those credentials protect.'(Security Trails Blog). In similar fashion the ‘Brute Force Method’ harvests email addresses indiscriminately from various sources (such as the registered email account of LinkedIn contacts). It then sends emails with identical content (spams) the whole of the harvested list without any effort to target only those people for whom the content will be relevant. It is often only a fraction of a percent of the mailing list that find the email useful. This means it becomes a timewasting nuisance to 99.9% who have been mailed. UTM’s generally co-operate on blacklists and such behaviour lands the spammers address on the blacklist which is updated regularly by ‘software definition’ files on the UTM. Those operating outside corporate services might be best to use ‘burner’ email addresses when signing up for stuff, especially anything ‘free’. Review content and burn the burner once a month.
Engagement in online platforms generally falls into three categories of users. 1. The SMO Machine of large corporations who have a professional SMO structure. 2. Amateur/Freelance SMOs who don’t consistently represent a specific brand or client. Some may have some aspiration to monetize their engagement on a platform, but as yet are only building an unfocused network/following by weight of numbers. Some see it as a potential ‘side hustle’ and don’t yet have a clear plan or a firm commitment. 3. Generic users.
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What is the Pareto Principle?
The Pareto Principle, is also called the 80-20 rule.
It is ‘an aphorism which asserts that 80% of outcomes (or outputs) result from 20% of all causes (or inputs) for any given event. In business, a goal of the 80-20 rule is to identify inputs that are potentially the most productive and make them the priority. For instance, once managers identify factors that are critical to their company’s success, they should give those factors the most focus’.
References and Acknowledgements (not in the main text body) :