Hacking: A Crime That Destroys Lives2 min read

I sometimes see posts online glorifying hacking as if it’s some cool game or harmless prank. But the truth is, hacking into someone’s private data or accounts is not only illegal but can completely devastate that person’s life.

When you hack someone, you’re not just messing around with zeros and ones. You’re messing around with someone’s livelihood. For many people today, their online presence and accounts are critical parts of their income and ability to provide for themselves or their families.

Bloggers, online store owners, freelancers, and many more depend on having secure databases and accounts to conduct their business.

By hacking them, you don’t just cause inconvenience. You can genuinely destroy people’s ability to feed their kids, pay their rent or mortgage, afford medical expenses, or keep their businesses afloat.

Taking away someone’s income is no joke or harmless prank. It’s cruelty. Lives and families could be utterly ruined because you thought it would be “fun” to show off your hacking skills.

Not to mention, hacking also often involves stealing private information, which again can financially and emotionally devastate people.

Imagine if your most personal information and data got stolen by some stranger who thought they could have some laughs exposing it online or exploiting it. It’s a horrific violation of privacy and security.

So no, hacking is absolutely not fun or cool.

It’s frightening and traumatic for victims. And it’s a serious crime that can land offenders massive fines or even jail time, as it should.

The next time you think approvingly about hacking, I urge you to picture the single mom store owner sobbing because her shop’s website database got corrupted, or the retiree filing for bankruptcy because his nest egg got wiped out from his hacked account.

Hacking isn’t a game. It recklessly toys with people’s hard work, businesses, peace of mind, sensitive information, finances, identities, and lives.

We need to start taking it far more seriously as the deeply criminal invasion of privacy that it is, not chuckling about it as harmless “hacker culture”.

The victims are all too real.